Spire

Dear Spire, Please consider reducing my natural gas rates? I have watched for months now as your three- to six-person crew has worked on a single block of houses on Lawn Place, replacing aging gas lines and exchanging indoor meters for outdoor. But the crew spends most of their time standing over open holes in

Spencer

Proud of my Spencer, a once-upon-a-time voice student, who opens a run of A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical tonight in Chicago!

Vincent Carter

My paternal grandfather, Vincent Carter, died on this morning forty years ago, in 1985.

Penny

The New York Times has published an obituary for the penny.

Sydney

Proud of my Sydney, a once-upon-a-time voice student, who opens her third Broadway show tonight!

My desk

My desk at home, and the surrounding environs in my home office/library . . . well, stacks. Stacks everywhere. Each stack represents something I’ve started, or an interest I’m pursuing. A body length away from me is all the resource material for the long-intended project in American operetta. To my left is a stack of

Spongebob

Break a leg to my students in MUSC 2910 Applied Musicianship for Musical Theatre, and to my college voice students Vera and Nat and Michael, and to music directing students Carter and Randon, all of whom are on stage tonight in Spongebob at Sargent Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University! I’m eager to see

NATS

The National Association of Teachers of Singing Central Region annual conference took place Halloween weekend at Illinois State University, Normal. This was my last conference as chair. Leanne Freeman-Miller of Drake University received a lifetime achievement award. More than 350 student singers vied for prize money in the region National Student Auditions. Nearly 20 early

War Requiem

Britten’s War Requiem is one of the monumental choral/orchestral works of all time. One is blessed to hear it live one in a lifetime, so vast are the forces necessary for a successful performance, and so challenging are the complexities of the score. To witness a live performance twice in a lifetime is perhaps blessing

Something new

Something new to me: a carillon concert on YouTube. And the University of Kansas carillon! Thanks to my friend Ken for pointing me this direction. True to form, the alma mater made me a bit weepy.