by Helen Gagel | Aug 18, 2025 | Singer Profile
Jason Allen’s singing career began at the tender age of two while riding in the back seat of his Aunt Bet’s car. “We were headed down south for a funeral, and my aunt started singing. I kept saying, ‘Sing, Aunt Bet, sing’ and soon I began to sing along.” Jason went on...
by Sounds Good | Aug 5, 2025 | Music, Composers & Musicians
Whether you’re a fan of the historical novel or a science-based inquiry into music’s effect on the human brain, a mystery lover or a Beatles fan… there’s something for everyone who loves music on this list of new and classic books of fiction and nonfiction,...
by Jonathan Miller, Artistic Director and Co-Founder, Sounds Good Choir | Jul 20, 2025 | Song Spotlight
George Harrison and Eric Clapton Rock history is full of great stories about the ways in which iconic tunes came into being. One of my favorites is the tale of George Harrison’s writing “Here Comes the Sun,” a favorite of our singers in the Summer Rocks 2025 session....
by Jonathan Miller, Artistic Director and Co-Founder, Sounds Good Choir | Jul 20, 2025 | Musings
There are stories of pieces of music just coming to the composer or songwriter as if it’s an immediate download. There is a sense of not even thinking, not exerting with effort, but rather of being the receiver of the music. As a composer myself, I’ve had that...
by Helen Gagel | Jul 14, 2025 | Singer Profile
Judy Peres is writing a memoir that promises to be what booksellers call ‘a good read.’ “Old Growth: A Memoir of Love, Lumber, and Late-Life Exuberance” relates Judy’s adventures after age 60, when many of us are easing into retirement. Not Judy! She took a buyout...
by Jonathan Miller, Artistic Director and Co-Founder, Sounds Good Choir | Jul 7, 2025 | Music, Composers & Musicians
If you used your powers of visualization to imagine the personality, look, and temperament of the person who wrote all of the music for the 1968 counter-cultural Broadway smash “Hair,” what sort of person would you see in your mind’s eye? Take a moment and try to do...
by Helen Gagel | Jul 7, 2025 | Musings
My friends and I often despair about the “stuff” that crowds our closets, bookcases, file cabinets and storage units. We dread the thought of going through it, making decisions about what to keep and what to toss. But occasionally we come across a forgotten gem that...
by Elizabeth Taggart | Jul 2, 2025 | Musings
Offbeat Ways to Experience Music in the City Chicago is known for its rich spectrum of musical offerings and summer in the city only heats up what’s on offer and doubles it. You can’t beat the Grant Park Music Festival, or the Millennium Park Summer Music...
by Sandy Siegel Miller | Jun 20, 2025 | Musings
The care partner pulled me aside on the second rehearsal of the session, eager to ask some questions. But first, he offered a few comments. Frank, care partner for his wife, Sarah, is new to Good Memories, referred by a friend. Sarah, in the early stage of dementia,...
by Sounds Good | Jun 17, 2025 | Health & Wellness
The human brain is basically symmetrical, split down the middle: the right cerebral hemisphere receives sensory input from and directs movement on the left side of the body, while the left hemisphere governs corresponding functions for the right side. Symmetry only...
