arrange • compose • conduct
I’ve struggled with the right system for students to log and report their personal practice. I’ve given detailed logs requests, simple ones, even built forms to complete. In the end, though, I typically don’t see a great response rate, particularly for an extracurricular choir like mine. The burdens our students face are […]
I was repeatedly heard yesterday urging students to make mistakes, loudly. Why loudly? The better to fix them. Because fixing mistakes is a three step process. MAKE mistakes. DISCOVER mistakes. FIX mistakes. As makers of mistakes, we tend to overlook step 2, and that’s where making them loudly can be of use. […]
The most unexpected moment to bring me to repeated tears in Hamilton: An American Musical is this song, “One Last Time.” It dramatizes George Washington’s decision not to run for a third term as president, and the reasoning for establishing the presidency as an office greater than any office holder. This level […]
Frustration is an inevitable part of learning a new skill. At the beginning of the process, you can visualize what you want to do, but you can’t actually do it. The gulf between the two is a consistent and profound source of frustration. How you handle this frustration can make a huge difference for the […]
This is the soulful, rich, true music I need today. What about you? Bobby Mcferrin’s VOCAbuLarieS came out almost seven years ago; if you haven’t listened deeply, you’re in for a magical treat today.
It’s easy to fall into the mindset that we are intellectual beings – that we are in essence brains with built-in transportation. But come across an unseasonably warm February day with a bright sun shining, and you will be reminded that your whole body is in the world. We are physical beings, head […]
How do you respond when the Fraud Police come calling? “The Fraud Police are the imaginary, terrifying force of ‘real’ grown-ups who you believe – at some subconscious level – are going to come knocking on your door in the middle of the night, saying: We’ve been watching you, and […]
My writing is often focused on improvement. Strategies, goals, reasoning. How to get better, and how to keep getting better. It’s just as important, and maybe to often overlooked in our society, to be happy in stillness. Be happy where you are right now. Even as there are too many people stuck in […]
Looking ahead, success can seem like a straight shot. Insert Tab A into Slot B/preheat the oven to 350º/don’t forget to floss…and you’ll be there in no time! Success isn’t like that. You can start out next to an equally talented friend, and they might reach pinnacles years before you. They’ll […]
Daniel Levitin’s The World in Six Songs names love as one of the six archetypal song subjects (along with friendship, joy, comfort, religion, knowledge). Certainly that’s my experience – particularly in pop, jazz, and other contemporary styles, love is the most consistently present theme in the music I program. Here is a favorite; A Case […]