Today I finished up my first year of teaching voice at an official college. Last night two of my students sang in a recital, and this morning, between hospital drop off and pick up times for my son, I taught my last lessons of the semester. Now that I am on the other side of […]
Category Archives: Music
Song of the Summer
Now that the summer entertainment season has officially started with the smash opening of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” (go see this movie, by the way), it is time to think about choosing the “song of the summer.” Summer, of course, used to start in June, but studios and record companies found that they could […]
How to Tell Whether You Are Writing an Opera or a Musical
It’s a classic conundrum that every human being has encountered at least once in their lives. There you are, writing music for an over-the-top production of some sort, and you suddenly realize that you have no idea if you are writing an opera or a musical. We’ve all been there, right? Luckily for you, I […]
Trapped Between Two Lives
It’s funny how life seems to keep happening, no matter how much you wish it would just take a break for a minute. No sooner have you figured something out, but it changes. Or you change. Or the world changes around you. Sometimes you don’t even notice the difference until long after it has settled […]
A Few Thoughts on Pink, Pharrell, Bette Midler, and Adele Dazeem
Sunday night, as I invented a new dessert, a group of friends sat around my apartment and watched the 86th Academy Awards. This year, there were a lot of things that people were not able to complain about. The orchestra generally did not cut people’s speeches short. The “filler” segments were kept to a minimum. […]
It Runs in the Family
Though I admit the sound was not very good (turn your speakers way up!), you have already heard my daughter sing a little when I posted her version of “Frozen Heart.” I love hearing her sing, and taking after her old Dad (not to discount the good musicianship and musical influences of Tenor Mom!). But […]
Opera Bowl 2014
Well, it happened. The most opera ever in a Super Bowl. After all of the “hype” and “controversy” that the media stirred up, an opera singer sang the national anthem at the Super Bowl. Was it good? Was it terrible? Did it help the world of classical music and opera? Did it hurt it? Well, […]
How Important is This Rehearsal?
There is a classic, unanswerable question that seems to constantly be flowing from someone’s lips on the day of almost every rehearsal. I’m not pointing fingers here, because this is not confined to one person; it’s more of an epidemic. But last week, a few hours before choir rehearsal, I got a message from one […]
My Daughter Acts Out the Only Scene From “Frozen” Without a Princess In It
There have been several videos out there lately that feature cute kids singing princess songs from the hit animated movie “Frozen,” and it doesn’t seem like the internet really needs another one. Luckily my kids are not interested in the princessy parts (not true: they are interested in all the parts). Ruby’s favorite song from […]
How to Write a Song
I like to write songs. Some of them are okay. Most of them are terrible. A few might even be good. But it occurs to me that people could be interested in how songwriting works, since music is this weird ephemeral thing that we sort of pull out of the air and create out of […]