arrange • compose • conduct
I’m on the organizing team for the MSVMA Summer Workshop. It’s three days of sessions on a wide range of choral topics, including a headliner – this year the fabulous Sandra Snow. I started working on this year’s workshop about 50 weeks ago, just after the last one finished. It takes […]
I recently got to see two digitally animated films in the movie theater – with three sons, it’s been a good movie month. Movie One was mind-blowing: laughs, tears, and a message of great depth that has continued to resonate in the weeks since we saw it. Movie Two had plentiful bodily-function jokes, […]
Long journeys come with setbacks. Keep going. There will be some times in your struggle when you feel in charge, and others when you feel like your work falls on deaf ears, with every step taken in reverse. It’s part of the journey. Keep going. Trust your community, trust your friends, trust yourself. Don’t walk away […]
Do you feel like in your field, there’s no room for growth in form? The great ideas have already happened and we’re left in a world that’s been fully explored. If so, then consider children’s books, and young author Mac Barnett. His picture and chapter books are hilarious and engaging and do things […]
The longest-lived choral composer/arrangers – including most of my favorites – had groups they wrote for in much of their writing. Gene Puerling – The Hi-Lo’s and The Singers Unlimited Alice Parker – The Robert Shaw Chorale Darmon Meader – The New York Voices Anders Edenroth – The Real Group J.S. Bach – the St. […]
The signs are coming into focus: Stores have prominently displayed school supplies. Our school’s auditorium manager is scheduling work calls for September. Next week is the MSVMA Summer Workshop – what I think of as the yearly kickoff to the school year. It’s like a turkey thermometer for me; all at once, POP! It’s […]
You’re hardly alone when you’re feeling lonely You’re hardly alone but you’re on your own You’re hardly the only one to think what you’re thinking But the only one who really knows what you mean. -Katarina Henryson, “Commonly Unique” What an idea: that we have our uniqueness in common. I’ll be […]
I have two questions for you to consider today. 1. What is your hobby? What do you do outside of your career that most consistently revitalizes you? One friend I know lives for gourmet baking. His weeks off of work are spent with lemon-curd filled doughnuts and all manner of delicious […]
Ambitious projects come with proportionally big challenges. Some are predictable, but any sufficiently large goal will come with utterly unexpected hurdles. In the Washington Monument’s construction, production continued for six years from 1848-1854, when money ran out. While it appears that political machinations led to the elimination of funding, the underlying truth is that our […]
The Washington Monument stands 555 feet and weights about 80,000 tons. It’s the most visible and among the most recognized landmarks in Washington, D.C. Actually, what you see weighs about 45,000 tons. The additional 35,000 tons comprise the weight of the underground foundation. For any sufficiently great achievement, you can assume the […]