arrange • compose • conduct
How do you help students take a Cabaret/Lounge-style solo to the next level? I watched a student rehearse with a big band yesterday, and offered these three tips. I share them because I find them to be near-universal in applicability.
How do you plan a tour program? Tour programming comes with some special challenges. These might include: Programming more sacred repertoire than usual, to meet requirements of religious performance venues. (You want to perform in these venues!) Programming for limited rehearsal time. (My touring choirs have almost always been ad […]
2021 started and ended with huge rises in COVID spread. It’s tempting to say that it was 2020 all over again, but it was palpably different. With vaccinations and more knowledge about effective mitigation, we were able to do a lot more normal things, even as we missed out on […]
The idea of musical genres are a convenient fiction. Program accordingly. Some argue that the very idea was created as a way to better market music by segmenting listeners into different genres. I think genres arise more organically than that – we need a word to describe all the music […]
With a vocal jazz quartet, you can’t have someone sick with COVID and still go on. That’s precisely what happened to Shades of Blue a few weeks ago, scuttling our performance at GRCC Jazz Night. We conspired, planned, and got support to put on a Family and Friends Concert after […]
Don’t only program wow pieces. Some pieces don’t wow you right away. But sometimes, they’re essential parts of your repertoire selection. It’s easy to program wow pieces, because they immediately engage the ensemble. When the ensemble is excited, they work harder, grow faster, and are committed to preparing performances that […]
Ensembles go through many phases with a piece. “That sounds cool.” (while listening to a recording on YouTube) “I don’t like this piece.” (while slogging through sight reading) “That part is fun to sing.” “The rest of it, I’m not so sure.” “This is too hard.” “I’m kind of getting […]
What’s the high-quality problem you spend the most time solving? My brother recently introduced me to the idea of “high-quality problems” and I’ve been thinking about how they might apply to musical situations. A high-quality problem is a problem, to be sure; it’s something that needs solving. But unlike a […]
Mark Murphy was born March 14, 1932 – making today his 90th birthday. Across a wide career of creative and innovative recordings, he pushed the edges of what it meant to be a jazz singer, incorporating a much more contemporary approach to phrasing, musicianship, improvisation, and repertoire. He also incorporated […]
If you’re not a good leader, it doesn’t matter how polished your musical skills are. There’s a reason I spend so much time thinking, reading, and writing about leadership. I think it’s undervalued when we train music educators and conductors, and I think its value is far greater than your […]