When I was in college, I was notorious for walking around in the winter time wearing shorts, sandals, and a t-shirt. Hey, I was from Vermont! 40 wasn’t cold! Come on, wimps! It drove my voice teacher crazy, and he gave me some good advice/knowledge that completely changed my mind on coat-wearing, even if I […]
Category Archives: Singing
A Child’s Reaction to the First Snow of Winter
Okay, look, I know that we had a few late night flurries last week, and I know that it is not technically winter yet, but my children did not see that snow, and as far as they are concerned, if it’s snowing, it’s winter. So let us start with the baseline assumption that, according to […]
When in Doubt, Blame Your Parents
It’s parent-teacher conference week once again, which means that my wife and I got to sit down with the people who hang out with our kids all day and hear how they don’t do any of the bad things that they love to do. Seriously, they are basically angels dropped out of heaven directly into […]
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 […]
Everyone Can Sing
This is just a note to all humans out there who think that they cannot sing. Are you listening, humans? You can sing. Everyone can sing. Maybe you do not want to sing (although my brain cannot wrap its head around that thought), or maybe you feel embarrassed about the level of quality at which your personal […]
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 […]
Driving to Rehearsal With My Foot in My Lap
Last night, as I was preparing to head out to a rehearsal almost an hour’s drive away, I stepped onto a toy, wrapped in a blanket, and shrouded in laundry. It was a sharp and pointy gem of some sort, and I have lightly stepped onto one of them before to my great pain and […]
The Homophobic Opera Singer, and Other Living Oxymorons
If you were following the news in the opera world over the past week, chances are you came across the story of Georgian soprano Tamar Iveri, who was happily preparing for a show with Opera Australia when suddenly somebody noticed that she had posted a letter online last year that referred to non-heterosexual persons as, […]
What If My Kids Want to Be Musicians?!
So here’s a funny thought. I am a musician by trade, and my children are way too young to know what they want to be yet. They think they know, but I don’t believe “Iron Man” is an actual job. At least not yet. But someday they will have to make career choices, and there […]