Insights and information
about music, brain health, aging, and much more.
Guess Who’s Singing Beside You? Tom Wolff
If the Sounds Good Choir were a baseball team, Tom Wolff would be a utility infielder—the guy who shifts between shortstop and second base and plays both positions well. In choral parlance, Tom might be called a utility vocalist. That’s because he can come into the...
Is Laughter Really the Best Medicine?
What did the drummer name her twin daughters?Anna 1, Anna 2. What's small and red and has a rough voice?A hoarse radish! Whether these jokes made you groan or giggle, undoubtedly a smile crossed your face as the meaning became clear. Research shows that you don't need...
Bring on the Funny
We asked for your best (worst?), most groan-inducing, belly-laugh provoking musical jokes and puns... and you sent us plenty. Some of you gifted us with a list of your favorites, while others shared entire websites devoted to music-related humor; one person even wrote...
Perfectly ordinary, perfectly funny
There is a wonderful world of funny things that happen during rehearsal. Most of the time, they are just a natural outgrowth of the camaraderie and relationship that any conductor has with singers. Recently, for example, at a Gold Coast rehearsal that I led, we were...
Guess Who’s Playing for Sounds Good Choir – Amy Wurtz
Sounds Good accompanist and conductor Amy Wurtz was literally present at the creation of Sounds Good when the first two choirs were launched in Evanston and Hyde Park in April 2016. Her role has expanded along with the choirs: she’s at the piano for the Good Memories...
Angelique Kidjo – This legendary Beninese singer is the heart of world music
No matter where Angelique Kidjo performs (Royal Albert Hall, the Telluride Jazz Festival, the Syndey Opera House), what she performs (R&B, funk, Afrobeat, traditional West African music), or with whom she performs (Carlos Santana, Ibrahim Maalouff, Alicia Keys,...