2024, Second Quarter Thoughts

Things on my end have been quite busy over the last month. Last night, I completed another concert with the phenomenal members of the Circle City Orchestra as we played the third concert of our "From Our Roots" series (repertoire that represents and reflects our musicians). I had an incredible time with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra and fellow International Conductors Guild Workshops members as we spent time learning and working with the great Maestro Robert Franz. My students had two successful performances at the Music for All Indianapolis School Music Festival in preparation for our adjudicated assessment performance at the ISSMA Organizational District Contest later this month.

During the ICG Windsor Workshop, I pushed myself to fully embrace the music and use proper stick technique to convey those feelings about the music. It was pretty liberating to let go of the fundamentals to a degree where I could be with the music. I was conducting the first movement of Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 and got to conduct with my eyes closed and....BOOM.

As I continue this lifelong journey of evolving my presence on the podium and growing as a conductor, this is the next level I want to be second nature in my rehearsal process with whatever ensemble I am in front of.