Insights and information
about music, brain health, aging, and much more.
SONG SPOTLIGHT: When the Song of the Angels Is Stilled
Singers regularly come up to me at rehearsal—and I imagine this is true for all of our conductors—and tell us how much they are enjoying the music. Repertoire is not only an important feature of our choirs for older adults. It’s one of the building blocks of any great...
Guess Who’s Singing Beside You? John Mueller: A Poet, a Playwright, a Porsche Racer
As I reviewed the transcript of my conversation with John Mueller, I kept hearing Frank Sinatra singing “That’s Life,” his 1966 hit about life’s ups and downsThe song features this refrain: “I’ve been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king.” John...
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Vibrato
Let me be very clear: For most of my life, I have not liked vibrato. It’s even safe to say that from age 9 to almost age 60, I have been afraid of the whole idea of vibrato. I didn’t like using it, I didn’t like listening to it and I was mostly just down on it. Below...
Better Together
We stand side by side, we support each other and make each other better, and we know that the whole is so much richer than the individual sum of its parts.Every once in a while, Jon and I take a pause and reflect on what we hope to accomplish with Sounds Good and Good...
Guess Who’s Singing Beside You? George Klippel: Bilingual, Bongo-playing Bass
George brings his beautiful bass to every choir he sings with! As Sounds Good Choir added more choirs in different communities throughout Chicagoland, a new type of singer was born—the choir hopper. Choir hoppers are those singers who can’t get enough of Sounds Good...
Guess Who’s Singing Beside You? Jason Allen: Conductor, Caterer & Care Partner
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...