arrange • compose • conduct
Have you shared one of these articles on Facebook recently? It feels great to read a scientific study that confirms what you already know about music education. You are affirmed, emboldened, reassured. But there are two problems. First, you and your colleagues didn’t need convincing. If you’re a music teacher, you’ve already […]
When we finished rehearsing “That Which Remains” by Andrea Ramsey (text by Helen Keller) one rehearsal, I looked around at my twelve students. I asked, “What are you waiting for? Helen Keller, who never heard a word spoken or saw a mouth move, and who spent the last decades of […]
Last week I threw out hours of work on an arrangement. About half way through, I stepped back, took stock, and didn’t love what I had written or, more importantly, where I saw it going. So I highlighted the music, hit “clear” and started over. And I owe it all […]
We have a new motto during my sons’ piano practice time: The frustration is the best part. That’s how you know you’re learning. It’s one of the most important life skills we all need to get better at: our children, our students, and ourselves. Seth Godin calls it “dancing with […]
I always sprint the last 100 yards. Whether I’ve run 1 mile or 4, when I hit that flagpole just down the hill from my house, I push myself to go full-out to my mailbox. I do it so tomorrow I will know that I still had something left when […]
I recently saw someone write that it was a poor use of their school choir budget to commission new choral works, because it doesn’t really give anything educational to the students. Nothing could be further from the truth. Of all the projects I have undertaken with the Rockford Aces, the […]
Most of Lower Michigan is waking up to a Snow Day today. Here’s a little letter I wrote to my students this morning. Dear Students, Consider this: You have been granted a seven hour bonus to your life. Are you really going to spend it all sleeping? Or watching Friends […]
Jon Butler, the Executive Director of Pop Warner Football, recently wrote in Time Magazine: “Nothing teaches [leadership and fitness] like football and team sports.” Many things teach leadership and fitness like football or other team sports. My choral students are held personally accountable for their preparation, are taught practice regimens […]
Over and over and over again I heard variations on the following from music teachers at the Michigan Music Conference (MMC). “The job is so hard. More and more is being asked of me and I’m getting less and less support. I feel every day like I’m drowning. How long […]
The story of my connection with Alice Parker is the story of dreaming big dreams and then asking. “Those who can ask without shame are viewing themselves in collaboration with—rather than in competition with—the world.” ― Amanda Palmer, The Art of Asking: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let […]