arrange • compose • conduct
I get anxious at the start of Spring Break. Of course, everyone involved is ready for a week of rebuilding capacity: the students, the teachers, their families. Nonetheless, it feels like a huge momentum stopper, just at the final buildup to the year’s final peaks. In the last seven weeks of the school year, […]
Happy Gene Puerling Day! Let’s take a lesson from his writing today. Born on March 31, 1929, Gene Puerling didn’t invent close harmony singing, but he perfected it. With two remarkable ensembles (The Hi-Lo’s and The Singers Unlimited), Gene developed a vocabulary of distinct sounds that remains the bedrock of vocal arrangers to this […]
Repeat: Try. Learn. Grow. Repeat until the very end.
To high school students everywhere, here are two sentences worth memorizing for those two questions you always get from well-meaning adults. Q1: What do you want to be when you grow up? Your response: What did you want to be when you were sixteen? At sixteen, I was certain I was going to […]
A recording studio session can be a powerful learning tool for students. I wish more high school students had the chance to spend a few hours tracking in a studio; they can learn great lessons about: Consistency Musicianship Musical Process Personal responsibility Patience Ensemble trust and forgiveness Breaking down a well-learned piece of music […]
One of the best results of embarking on a new personal learning journey is the educational insights it brings along. As educators we would do well to remember that there is often a time when a skill is being developed that no progress is apparent. You are learning and growing, but you cannot show–or […]
I remember my Latin professor laughing at a joke in Horace one semester as class began, and then asserting that the best way to recognize your fluency is when you “get the joke” in another language. I was reminded of this the other day, when I was able to make some members of The Real […]
Make your goal as a conductor this one word: less. What must you do to encourage musicality from your singers? Do this and nothing more. Can you discern between necessary and unnecessary work? Try less. The biggest goal I set for myself as a conductor this year was to be offstage […]
Our lives are ever more rushed. Music teachers especially: we run from event to event, in an uninterrupted blur of weeks running from August to June. (Then the planning begins…) I am here to encourage you to give yourself a break on the day after a big event. You’ve planned, you’ve cajoled, you’ve […]
The first time I saw The Real Group was March of 1996 – I was a freshman in college. A couple of non-music-major friends had planned to join me, but canceled at the last minute. I was so floored by this remarkable group that I ran to a PAY PHONE, called, […]