Last week you will remember that I told you all about the time my a cappella group was hired to sing at a Billy Joel-themed wedding, and that it was, shall we say, an adventure. I don’t know how much we got out of it, artistically speaking anyway, but what we did get out of […]
Category Archives: Singing
Infamous Gigs: The Billy Joel Wedding
Today I am starting a new Throwback Thursday feature called “Infamous Gigs,” in which I will attempt to tell the stories from some of my more bizarre and memorable musical jobs. Today I will tell you the tale of: “The Billy Joel Wedding.” Back when I was directing an a cappella group called Passing Notes, […]
Local Tenor Reviews His Own Concert
When I lived in the D.C.-Baltimore metro area, one thing I could count on was a review. When the Washington National Opera performed, it was written about in the papers. When the local choruses sang major concerts, reviews appeared in print and online. Even as I have traveled to other parts of the country, major […]
Do As I Sing!
Here’s a fun fact for you: children are much more likely to do what you say if you sing it to them. I have discovered this through almost a decade of experimentation, and today I share the results with you. So here are my conclusions: singing at your children instead of yelling at them makes […]
Bad Second Careers For Opera Singers
Look, being an opera singer is hard. Many people undertake years of training, only to find themselves with no work and no prospects. Some singers make a go of it for a while, but then either the jobs of their voices dry up. And there are still others who are legitimate opera singers, but who […]
The Song I Refused To Sing in Church
I sing a lot of things in church. I have sung hymns, anthems, spirituals, arias, and chants. I have also sung contemporary Christian songs and pop stuff right from the radio. I have sung “Some Nights” by Fun., and “Don’t You Worry Child” by Swedish House Mafia. I have sung Owl City, Nico & Vinz, […]
I Can’t Stop SINGing! (Yes I Can)
Today I would like you to watch a short video of my son, dancing around the living room to a tune that he wrote. The video was funny enough on its own, which is why I started recording it in the first place, but the twist ending, in which he learns not to wave his […]
A Fun Game to Play When Faced With an Audience
There I was, sitting on stage for a concert of Magnificats. First row, front and center, surrounded by a chorus and hanging over an orchestra, I had nowhere to hide and nothing to do. First was an a cappella setting by Tallis that I was not singing in, and then came the Vivaldi version. That […]
2014 Christmas A Cappella Round-Up
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 […]
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 […]