I didn’t want to write this post. I’ve been putting it off. I’m too busy, too many others things going on, and so I have neglected this as if it were a chore, something draining, and I just didn’t feel like doing it. But now that I’m writing I feel great. I love writing! Why […]
Category Archives: Singing
Oh, to be Free of the Beard
[rafflecopter ]I usually have a beard in the winter, and I usually don’t have a beard in the spring. I often shave for Easter morning, and in fact this year I had a great plan to shave my facial hair into a Lin-Manuel Miranda style goatee for our Hamilton tribute that day. But it was […]
Teaching High School is a Lot Like Watching a Sitcom
I was trying to explain to my wife why I was cracking up during the serious parts of the musical that we were watching last weekend. We sat in the audience with the other families, friends, co-workers, strangers, and community members enjoying an excellent performance of the musical “Big Fish.” The cast was populated by […]
The Two Kinds of Nervous
There are two kinds of nervous, and I’m afraid I can only help you with one of them. I am a voice teacher, not a psychologist. I cannot solve your social anxiety, nor can I take away the fear that comes from the possibility that you might make a fool of yourself due to the […]
Please Stop Voting For Me
Last night I had the super-fun opportunity to participate in Life Of Dad‘s first Dad Singing Competition. Through the magic of Facebook Live I got to sing, head to head, with another dad who lives on the west coast. It was such a good time, even though I lost, but now I need you to […]
The Difference Between a Voice Student and a Voice Studio
I used to have voice students. I still do, but I used to too. Only now there are a lot more of them. Now I have a voice studio. And a voice studio is very different from a voice student or two, as I am quickly discovering. When I had only a few voice students it […]
Engaging Activities for Young Children in Music Class
I am spending most of this week at church, teaching music to a bunch of 4-10 year-olds at Vacation Bible School. This is why my posts are coming later than usual. This is why I am making sad faces at perpetual morning person Rumple Station from 8 AM to at least 10:15. But we have […]
I Only Take My Clothes Off for Other Musicians
This past weekend I performed in a series of concerts with the magnificently redundantly named Green Mountain Monteverdi Ensemble of Vermont. We did some 16th century lute songs as well as the Tallis Lamentations, and it really was a fantastic show. The music was a joy to sing, and apparently to hear as well, judging […]
When Things Aren’t Hard Anymore
Today I want to talk about something I am going to call the “success delay.” I don’t know if that’s a real thing, since I just made it up, but is rings true for me anyway. I’m referring to the period of lag time that exists between the moment that things are no longer difficult, and […]
The Problem With Being Creative
Do you know what the world values? Productivity. It values output. It values results! And we creative types can get results. Most of the time. We output all over the place. We can be productive. But the creative process is different than other processes. Sometimes we need to sit and do nothing for two hours. We […]