arrange • compose • conduct
A recent post about Broadway singing gives an important reminder: don’t try to sound like the record. It’s true regardless of genre. Commercially released recordings are all – all – engineered to within an inch of their life, because of the nature of digital recording and the increasing use of headphones. […]
I’ve been thinking about the “educational” computer games that are increasingly prevalent and available. Especially the idea of gamifying education. In my experience, they’re generally a failure on both educational and gaming fronts: the games aren’t as well-designed as commercial games, and they generally don’t help kids learn any faster. I know that […]
A recent Facebook discussion renewed my faith in humanity. The poster asked, “Do you let your students go to Festival with neon colored hair?” Overwhelmingly, the responding conductors said, “Of course!” Responses ranged from “Yes. Full stop.” to “Absolutely. I can’t imagine any choir being adjudicated by the color of their hair.” […]
How am I going to wake up my students? How do I shake them loose from their long weekend, their ACT worries, their algebra homework, their family drama, their dating life – and get them to start making music together? Sometimes the hardest part is dropping the baggage at the door […]
Last night I attended TED Live in Cinemas – the opening session of TED2016, simulcast to my local movie theatre. I was inspired, uplifted, encouraged, and challenged by the entire group of presenters: from 10-year-old author Ishita Katyal, to Google X head Astro Teller, from geneticist Ricardo Sabatini (my son’s favorite) to TV […]
Milestones aren’t destinations. The ancient Romans built them so travelers would know how far they had come, and how far still to go to their goal. When you treat a concert as a destination, you are ignoring the real destination (yearlong goals of artistry, knowledge, teamwork). So I ask my students to think of concerts as […]
Let’s face it: you only do this job if you love it. Here are seven things I love about teaching choir (for Valentine’s Day). Transcendent musical experiences. Helping students make beautiful music that they’ll never forget. Teaching theory. I admit it: I love it when I see a student finally get a music concept. Modes, scales, chords, […]
Nate Silver, the celebrated statistics maven, is above all a brilliant pattern-noticer. As his site has evolved into an organization with employees he is managing, he’s broken down the code for leadership into three strategies. You have three fundamental strategies you can use as a manager, right? Let’s say you think […]
Yesterday I published my post late by several hours. I like to be posted by six, and have been a little late all week thanks to not having the opportunity to write before the morning. Yesterday, I didn’t write because my six-year-old asked to play a game. At 6. A. M. As […]
In college, I loved the soundproofing in the practice rooms, because I wanted to make mistakes only in front of myself. (I didn’t really want to do that, even…) The last week or so has found me working on Mozart’s Twinkle Twinkle Variations, just for fun. I have found myself generally practicing […]