The Hermitage Artist Retreat surprised me this August by inviting me to become a Hermitage Fellow for the 2022-2024 cycle. With no application process, a national curatorial council awards Hermitage Fellows residency time at the historic Hermitage Artist Retreat in the Florida Keys. There, artists from diverse disciplines rest, reflect, create, and share their art […]
Music Camp as Radical Catalyst
So you’re back from music camp! At their best, music camps are radical catalysts for learning. Your mind brims with memories, teachings, discoveries, and good intentions for continuing your development. You’re determined to return the following year a much-improved musician. Sadly, our best intentions for self-improvement often go unrealized unless we apply discipline, strategy, planning, […]
Music Camp Withdrawal Syndrome: A Survivor’s Guide
Music camp withdrawal symptoms hit hard once you return to “the real world.” Just listen to this distraught message I received from Chuck Bontrager, heavy metal violinist and concertmaster of Chicago’s Hamilton orchestra, two days after the MWROC festival concluded: “Doc! Doc! You gotta help me, Doc! I think I might be going through some kind of withdrawals. […]
Road to Nowhere: Covering a Classic
What’s the first CD you ever bought? Back in the 80’s, when those shiny new laser disks appeared in elongated cardboard packages, my first purchase was Talking Heads’ Little Creatures. I enjoyed the entire album, but I particularly liked to play the final track, “Road to Nowhere,” on endless repeat. ABOVE: Watch David Wallace & Friends perform […]
A Teaching Artist Nightmare
Do you dream about your work? A colleague of my father’s once invoiced an employer to compensate his sleeping hours. (Purportedly, he had solved a problem in a dream.) Because chemical engineers are expected to sleep on their own time, his request was denied. Billing for dreams may sound ludicrous and pretentious, but I get […]
Dear Prudence – The Story Behind the Song
During The Beatles’ Indian sojourn, John Lennon wrote “Dear Prudence” as a serenade for Prudence Farrow, sister of actress Mia Farrow. Along with Mike Love of The Beach Boys and a handful of other celebrities, they all had traveled to India to study transcendental meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. After ten days, Ringo Starr left. (Apparently, […]