arrange • compose • conduct
One of the things I’m most excited about starting this year is a new concert series. Our amazing local non-profit education supporter, the Rockford Education Foundation, gave the high school music department a grant to start a series that can be self-sustaining, providing masterclasses and concerts of first-rank musicians for […]
In Friday’s RAMChoir rehearsal, I had 40+ tenors and basses in a room, learning four pieces for an hour and half. (After school on a Friday!) As an arranger at heart, I love to pepper my rehearsals with theoretical questions and an eye to what’s happening musically. Friday, that ended up being about first-inversion chords. First-inversion […]
Robert Shaw, arguably the most influential American choral conductor of the 20th century, would have been 100 today. He left us before I had moved from vocal jazz to a wider love of choral music, so I never had the chance to experience his legendary conducting, as so many of my colleagues […]
Tim Ferriss’ podcast can be excellent: he brings on smart, wise guests and gives them the space to tell stories worth listening to. But sometimes he can say pretty crazy stuff. Indeed, he’s known for pushing the envelope of sanity in personal development. But what got me calling him “Crazy Tim […]
That’s the unofficial – and very popular – motto of my school district. It’s profoundly affected my aim. The intent isn’t “succeed or quit”. The idea is, a failure from aiming high is way more worthwhile than a success from aiming low. What you have to lose from chasing outsized dreams is much […]
Commissioned premieres are a special kind of anxiety and stress. First comes month of discussion, negotiation, waiting for the piece to arrive. Then, if you’re lucky, the piece is a beautiful, challenging piece that pushes your ensemble in the best possible ways. Hours spent in rehearsal, interaction with the composer, […]
I get the value of procrastinating; creativity can require the pressure of a looming deadline to flower. As Calvin tells Hobbes, “You can’t just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood. … Last-minute panic.” The danger is that we all have decided to apply this same logic to non-creative […]
I recently enjoyed a small excerpt from Louis CK’s recent conversation with Marc Maron on his podcast. In describing the development of his new show, Horace and Pete, Louis describes the ultimate test of your ideas. “Does it write?” All the good ideas in the world are nothing if they don’t flow into […]
It’s that time of year where we watch seniors get ready to go. Many have made their post-high school plans and are starting to wonder whether they’ll sing in a choir again. In my experience, if they don’t join a choir as soon as they start college, they never do. They get busy […]
Wise words from Duke Ellington this Saturday: “I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.” First, let’s just acknowledge that if his music had been expressed in pout form, it would have been the most epic, legendary pout in history. That is some substantial pain he […]