SUNDRY UTTERANCES

This is a re-post from the Connect . The . Dots . 2 (where I have been doing all my writing lately):

Asking for help can be terrifying; it implies an acknowledgment of vulnerability. Then again, that vulnerability can be the source of tremendous strength.

From the beginn...

Try as I might, I still don’t quite know what makes a piece “click” for a listener. Sometimes, a composition I think is brilliant gets little more than a lukewarm response. Other times, something that I think is pedestrian has audiences applauding for more. My own fluc...

A while back, I ended a post with the words “Connect . The . Dots 2 is coming...”

Well, Connect . The . Dots . 2 is now here.

For those not yet familiar, the project seeks to empower people to better understand and connect to new music by involving them in the creative p...

You’re doing it wrong.

That may sound like an odd thing to say about how someone experiences experiences, but, really, you’re probably doing it wrong.

Modern society has been on a seemingly unstoppable path towards a friction-less, on-demand – even pre-demand – culture t...

Nearly three years ago I began a project that would become the definitive catalyst in my search for a voice as a composer, artist, and even human. I know; that sounds like hyperbole, but it really was one leap of faith that emboldened me to brave many others by embraci...

My mind is constantly buzzing: composition ideas, project ideas, idea ideas. It’s a bit of mess, but every now and then that mess results in something worthwhile, not just for me as an artist, but – more importantly – for those that might engage with my work.

...

Teachers are vital. Without them, progress would be like a needle at the end of a record, endlessly skipping back. Thankfully, they do exist. More than that, advances in technology have allowed them to do so in numerous new guises that go beyond the chalk-in-hand stere...

This morning I read this.

It’s very difficult to assess the impact of something in the moment. Context and precedent can give you hints, but until you’ve had a chance to see the change brought about by an event, you simply don’t know.

But “the music knows things you don’...

This is a continuation of Part 1.

As anyone reading could probably guess, I speak quite passionately about art. Though this has always been the case, this is especially true now because of where I am as a composer, both musically, and, more broadly speaking, in life.

Hav...

(Header image: Painting (Peinture) by Joan Miró. More information on the header image can be found on the Guggenheim website.)

I love reading Maria Popova’s writings. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that Brain Pickings, her “one-woman labor of love — a subjec...