arrange • compose • conduct
My busy season for writing commissions is behind me, but that means the busy season for hearing commissions is here. I don’t think I’ll ever not float four feet off the ground when I hear music I wrote performed for the first time. Yesterday I was sent an MP3 rehearsal recording – just a “check […]
I said to a student last night, “you’re practically a senior!” The student said, “I still have no idea what I’m doing!” I leaned in and said conspiratorially, “Me either.” My advice: keep faking it, and eventually you have a career. The patterns will only be clear in reverse; keep working […]
In our culturally segmented society, we all-caps NEED Cultural Experiences that help us remove blinders from our entrenched viewpoints. Where in school are you most likely to have these experiences? In the arts, of course. Arts field trips that expose us to fine art we wouldn’t otherwise experience. Travel abroad or around the […]
Performing at a venue like Carnegie Hall is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And yet, probably hundreds of school and community ensembles participate in concerts there every year. Which makes it sound more everyday. Which is it? Once-in-a-lifetime or everyday? It can be both. Even if your school performs at Carnegie Hall […]
Virtually every statement of fact can be appended with the sentence, “The truth is more complicated.” 8th grade physics is a simplification of high school physics, which is a simplification of college physics, which is a simplification of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics…which are simplifications of how the world actually works. The truth is more complicated. […]
As children grow, they crave autonomy; often, before they possess the skills to actually achieve it. Part of the reason children want this self-sufficiency is that they lack so much agency in their own lives – in school and at home, they are accustomed to adults making many or all decisions. Who wouldn’t […]
There is a natural disappointment that comes from not experiencing fabulous live music when it comes right to your door. Over one disappointing week recently I missed local performances from: The Nidaros Cathedral Girls’ Choir (direct from Norway) Roomful of Teeth Chanticleer WMU GCII (featuring two of my former students) […]
If you stub your toes more than once or twice in the same spot, it’s likely you put the dresser in the wrong place. Sometimes as conductor you come across spots that your choir just can’t seem to lock. It’s tempting in those moments to tell your singers to work harder, listen more, […]
How do you measure the success of a choir over a year? The percentage of chords sung in tune? The hearts opened by performances? The passion instilled in your students? The human connection between your students? The festival ratings and prizes? The theory and sight-singing knowledge? The amount of laughter […]
What is something you can do in your classroom tomorrow to surrender control? Good teaching doesn’t need to be top-down. Good music-making doesn’t, either. Can you do something to give over a little more control to your students? What will that look like? What will they gain? The era of […]