The human animal is in essence a pretty simple thing when you peel away all the leisure suits and sunglasses. It’s really just stimulus and reaction that you can break down into five basic pieces: Stimulus: thirsty Reaction: drink Stimulus: hungry Reaction: eat Stimulus: cold Reaction: seek shelter Stimulus: big animal looking at me knows […]
Last week I talked about the rhythm part of sight reading, this week it’s time to dive into the arcane world of notes. No, no, don’t run away…it’s not as scary as you think. As Maria Von Trapp presented it, “Let’s start at the very beginning” with the simple DO-RE-MI scale. (Back when I was […]
Back in the stone age of mankind when dinosaurs ruled the earth (right before the comet wiped them out) I was fortunate (lucky) enough to perform in the All-New England Choir for two years during high school. Crazy good fun, there was always a big-time guest conductor and I got to travel to new places […]
So here we go again, another spring season of choral music…and it’s going to be a whopper. A major work that’s 40 minutes long, an orchestra, holy jumpin’ tenors WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!! No we’re not, chill out. We’re setting up to perform our ninth spring concert (where did the time go?) and the core group […]
Have you heard the latest? Chorus America, “the advocacy, research, and leadership development organization for choruses, choral leaders, and singers,” has come out with a study recently on How Children, Adults, and Communities Benefit from Choruses. Here are some of the key findings: 1. Choral singing continues to be the most popular form of participation in […]
If you run into me around town in the next week or so your first reaction will probably be, “What ever possessed him to grow that truly hideous beard?”. The answer brings out two things worth sharing (no, it’s not musical; the only musical beards I know of are these). First, since we live in […]
Further on last week’s entry, here’s the story of the Christmas Miracle as it appeared in the local paper. A great read: http://www.miltonindependent.com/an-unlikely-outcome/ Moving on, unless you’ve been under a rock for the last few days you’ve probably seen Mariah Carey’s lip syncing disaster; here’s what happened: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mariah-carey-new-years-eve-lip-sync_us_58688b67e4b0de3a08f8cb4a Okay, I’ll admit it. I thought it […]
Note to the reader, this story has a happy ending… A couple weeks ago my brother-in-law was minding his own business, hanging out with his family when his heart stopped. Yup, shut right down. He’s a seriously fit 52-year-old guy and down he went. Fortunately his (now REALLY favorite) son was there and recognized what […]
The Christmas concerts are behind us. The two “A Carol of Joy” shows were crazy successful no matter how you measure it. So let’s measure it, shall we? You can look at the nuts-and-bolts pieces: More than 740 people attended (and that despite the other shows out there on Friday night – Willie Nelson, multiple […]
From my all-time favorite comic strip… Calvin: “You can’t just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood.” Hobbes: “What mood is that?” Calvin: “Last-minute panic.” If you were there then you already know. The concerts were epic. Seriously epic. Makes me proud to be a part of it […]