Craig and David, originally uploaded by Behold How Free.

Choreographer David Justin (of the American Repertory Ensemble) is assisting Conspirare with our PBS project.  Our music is performed in this program with movement and a variety of standing positions.  The movement is subtle and tasteful, but creates a sense of breadth and fluidity to the program that might not otherwise be there.  Personally, I find it incredibly refreshing and innovative.

under the watchful eye of the camera, originally uploaded by Behold How Free.

I’m currently spending a couple weeks in Austin with my musical “home away from home,” Conspirare. I’ve talked about this group several times on my blog, and every experience manages to excite and inspire me in a different way.

These are good times for our group: we sang this summer at the World Symposium on Choral Music, we will sing at the American Choral Director Association convention next year, we have a Grammy nomination under our belt, and our latest CD entered the Billboard Classical Chart at #10. Most choirs would be happy with just one of these accolades.

All those accomplishments are good for our ego, but I can honestly say that very little has changed in the way we approach our craft. The group, under Craig Hella Johnson’s centered leadership, somehow seems to stay focused on just making good music, first and foremost. This is really inspiring to me and I am so happy to be part of it.

That said, our current project is another exciting new step for us. We are spending 2 weeks recording a full-length special to be aired nationally on PBS. It will be broadcast nationally as part of PBS’s spring pledge drive and also be released as a full-length DVD and CD.

Last weekend we performed this music for our Austin audiences and this week the cameras have begun to arrive. The camera crews continue to grow, getting footage of us rehearsing and catching some casual interviews with members of the choir. They even followed us to dinner and caught our social time on tape. (See above picture!)

It brings up a lot of questions and feelings being on recorded on video. It’s not everyday that you have camera staring at you when you speak in rehearsal or watching you eat your dinner. (I feel slightly like Anna Nicole Smith!) However, we have been instructed to carry on just as we normally would and let the producers do their work. But it’s still hard not to sit up a little straighter and choose your words more carefully. This is going to be seen by 4 million people, you know!

Tomorrow we move into our concert recording venue, Austin’s Long Center. We are recording about 2 hours of music memorized, with full staging, lighting, and a production crew of 60. This weekend is certain to be full of adventure. More inside scoop to come!

Currently I am typing far from home in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Abby and I are staying with some of Abby’s best friends Jack and Heather and their precious children Lavender and Moss. I sit here wondering, “How did I end up here? Less than a week ago I was going about my weekly routine and now I’m waiting it out here in Tulsa not sure when I’ll be back home.”

It’s been a HARD, complicated week for me, for Abby, and for most Houstonians. A couple days after arriving here in Tulsa (where Abby used to live), Abby and I were sitting at Jack and Heather’s kitchen table having a slight freak out moment about money, jobs, electricity, gas, food, and general sanity. Heather came downstairs, somehow knowing what we were feeling in that moment. She put a hand on each of our shoulders and said, “It’s going to be okay. You are safe and welcome here, and you don’t need to worry about all those things. I would hate for you look back on this evacuation period and remember how worried you were about things. Imagine being able to look back on this week as a time when you connected with people, inhaled life, and captured beauty around you.”

I think that’s what I’m doing right now. I’m so glad to be here and trusting God that things are working out the way they need to.

Much Love,
Dan

Woodward Park in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

This is right down the street from my place in Houston. We don’t really know how serious Hurricane Ike going to be tonight, but Abby and I evacuated north with a few friends and are having a movie marathon. We’ll see how long we have electricity…

And here’s what you do when you have nothing to do but to wait out the storm:

- Musician John Mayer, in an interview with Sky Magazine

I appreciate the break from teaching during the summer, as my heart really belongs on the road and on the stage. But the sabbatical from teaching gives me a fresh perspective when I get back into the routine. Just a few thoughts:

- I taught some strings of private voice students the past two weeks. They were my first lessons with each of the students, and they were all high school kids. There were so many thoughts that came to mind during those hours of teaching, i.e. each person is so different, each voice is so different, everybody has their own way of communicating, everybody has a different balance of what they think they need to work on and what I think they need to work on.

- I also got a general sense with these high school kids that they all seem to be dealing with deep issues.  At their tender ages, they show so much heaviness and searching in their eyes.  They are looking for belonging, for affirmation, to be left alone, to be noticed.  They show it in how they dress, what they say, what they don’t say, and how they interact with their peers.  I feel a genuine sense of humility about being put in these students’ lives.  Staying present to these students as a music teacher alone is a large task, but also being sensitive and understanding about these life situations is incredibly important.

- I am working on a new approach as a teacher this time around. I’m trying to teach and inspire students to learn without having to introduce guilt or shame into the relationship. For example: “WHAT? You didn’t do your homework?” or “WHY didn’t you practice?!?” or “Where WERE you when we met for class on Friday?!?” Instead, I am trying to steadily remind students exactly why what we do is so important. I hope to clarify for students why they need to do homework, why practicing helps, and the significance of attending class in order for the semester to be a successful one.  I also hope to pass on to my students just how special the educational process can be, not just the end goal of knowledge and a degree.

Meeting and hanging out with Abby’s parents a couple weeks ago at Jekyll Island.