arrange • compose • conduct
I just received my second major commission for the Rockford Aces. After the success of our 2013 commission of Alice Parker (Cindy) I was hungry to commission again, and with the help of a grant from my local education foundation I was able to commission Michael McGlynn, founder and music director […]
The first performance of a new group is kind of like a Band-aid. Best to tear it off fast. My personal preference for first performance includes two big criteria: 1, slightly before they feel ready; 2, in front of an audience without astronomical expectations. One great solution is to book a performance of the […]
If you are worried about people rejecting, criticizing the art you want to make, don’t worry. They will. No art is for everyone. People reject Lin-Manuel Miranda’s brilliant Hamilton, saying “I hate rap.” The crowd rioted at the first performance of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. Your art won’t be […]
It won’t happen. I think a lot of young artists are afraid that if they use up their good ideas before they’re ready to execute them properly, that they will fail with them and have nothing to replace them. They very well might fail with their first ideas; that’s part of […]
From a conversation yesterday with a young artist… Start making art. If you want to be a filmmaker, write and share a 1 minute film every week. Post it on your Youtube channel. If you want to be a singer, learn a new song every week. Put it on Soundcloud. If you want to write songs, write […]
One of the most significant ideas I left my week with Alice Parker was placing text front-and-center. Both as a composer and as a conductor, Alice doesn’t address the notes until she (or her choir) has internalized the words. With my new commission from Michael McGlynn, I was afforded a unique […]
I’m starting my last morning of Rockford Aces retreat with a trust fall. We’ve done it for the last four or five years, and I find the message to be powerful. Choirs are built on trust. You won’t really sing subito forte if you don’t trust your neighbors to join you. So without […]
I’m renaming my fall choir retreat. The Rockford Aces spend Friday-Sunday at a local camp, singing, team building, sharing, and getting to know each other better. The ~44 hours we spend together is worth 2 months of rehearsal in the way they become an ensemble, both musically and socially. And retreat just doesn’t […]
What do we want from the future leaders of our society? Overwhelmingly, we are hearing attributes like the following: Self-starter Flexible and able to learn new skills on their own Creative problem solver Insightful with a grasp of the larger world Technologists, scientists, engineers: certainly they will be an important […]
In a recent parent-teacher meeting, the teachers urged us parents to give our kids the opportunity to grapple with failure, and learn that making mistakes is an important part of having success. (They referenced this article about the Growth Mindset research of Carol Dweck.) I don’t know a better way […]