Blog
Ending Your Anthem: Go Big or Go Home?
Every composer/arranger’s dilemma (at one point or another): How do I end this anthem??? I’ve run out of ideas!After all, how many ways can one finish an SATB choral piece? If you write for choirs long enough, and do as many
WRITING. ABANDONING. (A Musical Tale)
In 1991, while still a newly-signed writer/arranger with Word Music, I took my first shot at the art and craft of musical theater. Or, to be more accurate – church musical theater. One needs to understand that “church” is a powerful modifier
Finale’s Finale
The End of an Era and What It Means to Music Geeks A bomb dropped on the music industry yesterday when it was announced that the venerated music notation program, Finale, the software users loved to hate, would cease to
Adventures in Rewriting – “Turning My Steps”
“Writing is rewriting.” I wasn’t the first to say it. I wouldn’t be surprised if that quip pre-dates Shakespeare. But it’s an important truth for writers to accept as a crucial part of their creative efforts. It’s a (sometimes brutal) reality
Zagging in a Zigging World
I think it’s safe to say that I can be something of a contrarian. (Duhh!) So – when I decided it was time to introduce a new line of orchestra arrangements (after considering it for years), it should come as
The Kindness of Strangers
This is embarrassing on two levels. First – I find myself once again trying conjure up an excuse for blogging soooo infrequently. But it always boils down to the same thing: I get so wrapped up in composing, or editing
News of the Day
Seeing as how I’m the world’s most inconsistent blogger, I thought I might oughta post a little update blog. So here are some truly Random Neural Firings that might be of passing interest. Thanks to all the sympathetic responses I
James Randolph Smith
Looking back on more than four decades of a career in music, there are people who made a crucial difference along the way. Yesterday, I lost one of those people, and too soon. James Randolph Smith, Randy to everyone who
Showing – the (Mostly) Finished Stage of Creativity
I recently I finished a new choral composition. When I say “finished,” I don’t mean “finished” finished. I mean more like “mostly” finished. In my catalogue, I’m not so sure anything is ever “finished” finished. But I digress. (Look! A
Changes
Wow. Has it really been some five months since I last posted??? Truly – I am the World’s Most Inconsistent Blogger. Where is my award for this great distinction? Somebody call the folks at Guinness! So – what have I
For the Children
Anytime a government huckster (and they are ALL hucksters) want to grab more money for something, one of the standard appeals is – it’s “for the children.” Now this is a blatant, emotional approach. But it works – because grown-ups
The Twelve Choral Books of Christmas
I haven’t published a new choral book in a decade. For one thing, I don’t know what I could possibly add to the mountain of cantatas, choral collections, and musicals that is already out there. For another thing, nobody has