Ladies and gentlemen, it’s Christmastime! That magical time of year when choral music and a cappella singing suddenly become beloved by all. That brief period in which the rest of the world remembers what you and I have known all along: that using your voices to make music is aca-awesome. And quite aca-beautiful. I don’t […]
Category Archives: Music
To Be a Better Singer, Stop Caring About How You Sound
There is an epidemic going around these days that I feel the need to weigh in on. It has been around for as long as I can remember, was probably around long before my time, and I too fell victim to this plague when I was first starting out as a musician. Amateur singers, professional […]
23 Christmas Carol/Pop Song Mash-Ups No One Will Ever Do
As the holiday season approaches and overwhelms us, it is important to make our way through the haze of it all and focus on what really matters. And music can be a beacon to guide us through, because it is everywhere, and because it summons memories of holidays past. But music can also be used […]
The (Opera Singer) Prayer of St. Francis
Lord, make me an instrument; where there is silence, let me sow voice; where there is repression, emotional outbursts; where there is stage fright, self-confidence; where there is dullness, drama; where there is cracking, support; and where there is Bieber, Puccini. O St. Cecilia, grant that I may not so much seek to be entertained, […]
Get Out and Vote! Taylor Swift is Off Spotify!
There are two important things happening in the United States today and, believe it or not, they are related. The first, of course, is that today is the day of the midterm elections. A day when a small minority of annoyed Americans will go out to the polls and try to defeat their enemies. And […]
Quest For the Perfect Halloween Dance Party Mix
We are having a Halloween dance party on Friday, and I have been put in charge of the music. Apparently my living room dance parties are now the stuff of legend, and so I gladly took on this task. But if I was going to do this, and it wasn’t just going to be in-house, […]
Should the Opera World Ban Smoking?
For those of you who don’t follow this sort of thing, there has been a bit of controversy in the opera world recently regarding smoking. West Australian Opera, who is sponsored in large part by Healthway (the independently run but still government sponsored anti-smoking association), was possibly thinking about performing Bizet’s classic and beloved opera Carmen, […]
I Sing Because I’m Happy! Or is it the Other Way Around?
There is a great song that includes the line ‘I sing because I’m happy,” and I was thinking about that this morning, in a chicken and egg sort of way. Do I sing because I’m happy? Or am I happy because I sing? Music has been used for so many purposes and expressions over the […]
The Green Mountain Monteverdi Ensemble of Vermont
This weekend I had the pleasure of singing some concerts with the absurdly named “Green Mountain Monteverdi Ensemble of Vermont,” or, translated into English, “The Green Mountain Green Mountain Ensemble of Green Mountain.” It has been pointed out to me that the only way to make this more ridiculous would be to hold out concerts […]
Instructions For Building an Actual Time Machine. Just Add Music.
I traveled back through time on Sunday, through days and hours, months and years, in a machine made of melody and gossamer ribbons of sound. I didn’t do it intentionally; it just sort of happened. My true intent was to stay in 2014 and attend the 200th anniversary celebration kick-off service at my old church […]