Insights and information
about music, brain health, aging, and much more.
Sounds Good Choir: Research Update
Leading up to our holiday concerts in December, the question I heard most often (aside from, “What’s our call time for the concert warm-up?”) is “What’s happening with the research project… aren’t you almost finished with it?” That’s actually not an easy question to...
Singer profile: Rosalie Fruchter
Rosalie Fruchter is the teacher you wish you’d had in second grade: a teacher who turned square dancing into a math lesson; created an archeology “dig” with broken pottery; and showed enough confidence in her students to let them grade their own papers. In a 40-year...
Feels Like Home – Belonging… finally.
On my ninth birthday, my family’s moving van arrived on the South Side of Chicago. For a nerdy white kid from the Boston suburbs—meaning me—starting from scratch in the relative rough-and-tumble of Chicago’s public schools was a big change. And with one exception, up...
“I’ve Totally Got Your Back”
It’s humbling when a professional singer and choral director ends up down for the count, which is exactly what happened when yours truly tested positive for Covid. Thus began a period of self-isolation, the last thing I expected to be doing—or more like not doing—in...
When You Don’t Feel Like It, Come Anyway
A number of singers in our choirs for older adults have had tragic losses and other difficult personal situations. I am deeply grateful that they sometimes bring me, Sandy, other conductors and staff, and fellow singers into their confidence. They share the hard...
Candles, Israel-Gaza, and a World We Don’t Have Yet
We have been rehearsing “Light One Candle” in all of the Sounds Good Choirs for the many weeks. When Linda Powell and I picked the song for this fall’s concerts, we had no idea how timely it would seem now—almost prophetic. It suddenly feels deeply relevant,...