arrange • compose • conduct
Final concerts are behind you – or about to be so. What many do is focus forward immediately after things wrap up. Start planning next year, program music, calendars, fundraisers, and on and on. Those are all important things, and I advocate staying as far ahead of the curve now as you can. But I think […]
When Alice Parker worked with us on this piece, she described it is the most powerful anti-war song ever written. I never fought in a war and I hope beyond hope that my sons (and students) never do either. The profound loss of life breaks my heart. How many leaders, how many artists, […]
There is nothing like a stellar performance of Shakespeare at the Stratford Festival to remind you that art is specific. Of course, Shakespeare’s As You Like It is plenty specific – specific lines, characters, motivations. 400 years’ of scholarship can give you plenty of specific ideas on motivation, blocking, interaction. The production we saw […]
On this long weekend, dive into this great series of creative conversations with photographer Chase Jarvis of CreativeLive. He’s curated a series of 30 60-90 minute talks with experts in creativity, entrepreneurship, etc. Here are three I highly recommend. Austin Kleon – the author of some of my favorite books to recommend on […]
John Quincy Adams wrote, I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, […]
Dear Seniors, I read with relish your heartfelt tributes on social media and in letters; I watch your faces raw with emotion after our Farewell Concert. I love it all. But today is also my chance to thank you. Thank you for teaching me, for challenging me, for pushing me to be […]
Last evening I held the first of two three-hour studio recording sessions with my choir. Most years we spend some time in the studio; this year we are putting together the first half of an album that we’ll complete next year. We started tonight with May, the piece we commissioned with Michael McGlynn. […]
Here’s what I aspire to in my professional and personal interactions: Generosity. Generosity of spirit is the bedrock of my collaborations. I try to make every interaction I have be built on generosity, and when I lapse in my generosity, I apologize and fix it as quickly as I can. Generosity is giving more […]
As we near the end of the year, I am reflecting on the skills I most want my students to have built over the last year. Here are my top three: Work ethic. Musicianship. Teamwork. I am reflecting because I know I can’t hit each of these skills equally; perhaps work ethic […]
So is yours. So is everyone’s. We have blind spots, preferences, biases. In hindsight, our experiences appear to be leading us – but in the right direction? Who can say. A mentor can. That’s why it’s so important to have a mentor in our life. (Especially before our mid-20’s, when our prefrontal cortex is […]