The COVID-19 pandemic has brought most collaborative in person music making to a halt. Us choir directors are often working on digital projects/rehearsals with our singers/students to keep some music making going during social distancing and quarantines! What us conductors … Continue reading
“Never upstage the choir!” I heard these words spoken by Henry Leck to a group of singers during a National ACDA children’s honor choir rehearsal (Chicago, 2011). The choir was incorporating some non-choreographed movement into a particular piece, thus causing the … Continue reading
Happy 2017! I wanted to start the new year celebrating some of the finest blessings of 2016 as a composer. Highlight #1: Having “One Thing Have I Desired” sung by the Walla Walla University Touring Choir Reunion in the Spring. … Continue reading
Tension! Vocal tension is generally a bad thing, often even a VERY bad thing. It is bad because it hurts voices. In graduate school I had some great teachers that helped me overcome some significant vocal tension issues. To them I … Continue reading
In the fall of 2012, my wife, Heidi, and I decided to write a new Christmas piece to send as a Christmas card.My wife, who is a writer as well as a musician, would write the poetry, and I would … Continue reading
MusicSpoke is a retailer of artist owned (self-published) music. There are several other companies/services (SheetMusicPlus, JWPepper MyScore, CadenzaOne, Swirly Music, and several coops) also retailing artist owned music. All of these organizations are doing a great job in their various … Continue reading
Balancing composing, teaching, conducting, and marketing my music with family, health, church, etc… takes planning and focus. With my time spread between many important parts of my life, I have taken a simple philosophy for building up this website and … Continue reading
