arrange • compose • conduct
I have several students preparing for music school auditions. You probably do, too. The next two weeks of school vacation are crucial in their final preparation. In my experience, students overwhelmingly squander them. Here’s what I want to say to them: You are letting fear win. You are choosing the quality of your audition. I […]
It’s your last day of school before a well-deserved break. I’m taking a few minutes to reflect, as I often do at mile-markers like this one. What have we done well so far? What will we want to refocus on when we get back to rehearsal? What do I love about my job? […]
It’s Star Wars opening night; it’s also the night of our choir concert. My wife had to start warning students in October that Star Wars isn’t a valid reason to miss the concert. There are showings literally every 15-30 minutes at our local theater this weekend. There are two kinds of communal activities we can experience: […]
Alice Parker is a living American treasure. Today she celebrates her 90th birthday. I’ve written before about her influence on me, both as a musician and as a person. If you aren’t familiar with her work, get familiar. Read one of her books. Stage one of her operas. At the very least, dig deep into […]
I love to set aside time for a guided Christmas listening during the last week of school before Christmas Break. A Christmas listening is especially enlightening because the songs are so familiar. You can find a bunch of wildly different versions of one song, and listen back to back. Because the song is known, […]
To be a creator you have to hold two opposite thoughts in your mind. The dance of this cognitive dissonance is one of most tenuous parts of ongoing creativity. I can write whatever I want right now, because I will keep it private for as long as it takes to shape it into good art. […]
Frank Sinatra’s 100th birthday was yesterday. For me and many others he is the pinnacle of phrasing. For all the bravado-posturing-political-tabloid public life, when he got to the mic with a band behind him, he was the absolute master. I think for a singer at Sinatra’s level, time actually slows down. He never is […]
They’re making the rounds again. Several different school rankings show up in social media every year. Of course there’s US News & World Report for high schools and colleges. I also regularly see updated rankings from greatschools.org and music school rankings from musicschoolcentral.com. You’ll generally see them posted by: Proud alumni Residents/current students The schools […]
I saw this posted yesterday as the Robert Shaw Quote of the Day: Great choral singing depends upon blending individual voices together, but there’s no magic or secrets, you have to have them sing the same pitch, with the same vowel at the same dynamic level, at the same time. That […]
Dear fellow artists, (hint: that’s everyone) Please stop hiding your art. I need it. We all need it. We need more songs, more sculpture, more drawings. We need more plays, more symphonies, more ballet. More knitting, more gardens, more LEGOs. More novels, more bridges, more cancer research. More of whatever makes […]