Once a year or so, Rev. Aija lets me take the reins (and the pulpit) for what we call "Music Sunday"—a worship experience that's all about music, except when it's not. Coming up with a theme for Music Sunday is always pretty easy—there's always a song I've wanted to find an excuse for the choir to sing, or a topic I've wanted to write a song about, or a story I've wanted to tell. Except for...
My good friend Jeremy Patterson has a new YouTube interview show called the Capital Area Theatre Show. Guess who he invited to be his second-ever interviewee? Tune in below or on the show's YouTube channel to hear our milkshake-fueled conversation about art and life and idols and dreams and fears and insecurities, and why we do all that we do. (And he eventually was able to steer me back...
It sounds like a Harry Potter spell, doesn't it? It's not, but it can have a magical effect on the demeanor of a beginning singer. So many of the most common challenges for singers are simply matters of acoustics: the physics of how sound bounces around (or doesn't) on its way out of your face. Because singing isn't much more complicated in our conscious minds than "say ah," it's easy to...
I used to carry a coffee mug around the music building at Dickinson. On it was a lovely photo of several snowflakes, with the caption, "Always remember that you are unique. Just like everybody else." One of the things I love most about teaching is the way it reminds me (on my best days, of course) that, while we all may speak different languages and connect most readily with different...