Jed Scott Music

Auditions are a leap of faith – for everyone involved. As an auditionee, you are trying something – something you might not feel ready for – because you want the experience. You go into the unknown. As an auditioner, you are trusting that at the other end, there is an ensemble that […]

A couple of years ago I committed to a little note (sometimes words, sometimes drawings) in each of my kids’ lunchboxes, every school day. Today I was reflecting on what makes something special, in reality and perceptions. First, I have to say up front that I’m not tied to their reaction – I’m doing […]

There ain’t no tired like a first-day tired…whether you’re a kindergartener, a high school senior, or a veteran teacher: the first day back to school is a beast. Take comfort in the fact that your body will soon adjust to the new rhythms; and take comfort that part of your exhaustion is […]

As you start up the new year, ask this chicken-egg question… Which comes first? Vulnerability or trust? Does willingness to be vulnerable engender trust? Or can you only be vulnerable when you have amassed sufficient trust? We can agree, at least, that both are important traits of the successful choir: […]

Think of three of the best in the field you want to succeed in. If it’s choral conducting, you might pick Robert Shaw, Craig Hella Johnson, Sandra Snow. Broadway performers? Audra McDonald, Bernadette Peters, Barbara Cook. For leading vocal jazz, I’d pick Steve Zegree, Phil Mattson, Duane Davis. If I were […]

It takes a long time to be ready on day one. Teachers perform extensive training before their first day of teaching – college, accreditation, internship – but Day One of Year Fifteen finds you feeling much more ready. Basic Training is meant to prepare soldiers, but my guess is most would say they […]

Imagine two genetically identical tree seeds, planted in different locations – and then imagine them in 20 years. Do they still look identical? No, of course not. Weather, soil, neighboring plants, animal traffic, and 1,000 other factors are distinct enough to cause slight differences that magnify over time. Even with the same starting point, […]

Without a doubt, the best way to see Europe is with a choir. Your travel group is made up of people you already know well from rehearsals and performances. When everyone else is taking pictures of famous locations and moving on, you get to make music in places expressly designed for singing. After all of […]

We embrace the picture of the free-spirited creative individual, following whims to make art. The reality, though, is that creativity thrives in routine. It is only in daily practice that creative ideas can be hammered into hard reality. I am reminded every August that the freedom of a routine-free summer […]

Solar eclipses have been predictable to astronomers for millennia. And yet, they feel decidedly strange to us as we experience them. Predictable and strange is an interesting pairing – we tend to think of predictable events as boring, and strange experiences as unpredictable. Yesterday I did a trust fall, and though I’ve […]