Let's Get Together (Yeah, Yeah, Yeah): The Art of Collaboration

Let's Get Together (Yeah, Yeah, Yeah): The Art of Collaboration

Hi from NYC!

SD and I are here for the Chamber Music America conference and Eastman's pre-conference day workshop - "How to Succeed in a Changing Musical World," which SD helped organize.

There's been a lot of talk so far about collaboration, relationship-building, and community - I love that! Today, I wanted to share my notes from a talk Darrell Grant gave on collaboration. Whether you're a chamber musician, church music director, teacher, or arts administrator, we all collaborate in one way or another. I hope you find these notes as encouraging and empowering as I did!

Top 10 Posts of 2014

Top 10 Posts of 2014

Happy New Year, y'all! I love this time of the year - looking back, reflecting, dreaming about what the New Year will hold, and making plans to make it happen.

I always love looking back and seeing what your favorite posts were, so this year, I decided to put together a little recap post. Without further ado, here are the top 10 posts of 2014:

The Beauty of Christmas

The Beauty of Christmas

This year, December comes with a bit of nostalgia for me.

Last year, the weekend after Thanksgiving was the last time I saw my Grammy. In February, the day before she passed away, she told me she had reluctantly taken down the last of her feather trees. In her words, "Christmas was beautiful, and it will be beautiful again."

Last weekend, we picked out our little tree and strung it with white lights. As we stood back to admire its warm, cozy glow in our dimly-lit living room, I leaned my head against SD's chest and whispered, "Christmas is beautiful again."

Monster Dance

Monster Dance

Last week, I introduced Jennifer Fink's Monster Dance to an 11-year-old student. It was a sight-readable piece for him - something we could put together in one lesson. The piece is written for left hand solo, though it ventures up into the treble clef partway through. Once we had worked through the key patterns, tricky moves, and looked for repeated material, he wanted to play it all the way through from the beginning.

As he played, I thought about the beloved Disney/Pixar film, Monsters, Inc. (one of my personal favorites!).

"Have you seen Monsters, Inc.?" I asked when he finished playing. "Um, yeah, of course!" he said, with a sparkle in his eye. "Have you seen Monsters University?" he asked. "Um, yeah, of course!" I said, imitating his inflection. "I was thinking - which monster is the best match for the music in Monster Dance?" "Definitely Sullivan," he said without pause. "I was thinking Sully, too," I said. "What about Mike Wazowski? What kind of music would fit his character?"

He immediately went to the high side of the piano and started playing something.

How to Start a Church Choir

How to Start a Church Choir

This fall, SD and I are starting an intergenerational (youth and adult) choir at our church. The church has a strong children's choir program (through 6th grade) and a good size adult choir (30-40). Our program is a short, 8-week session designed for people who love to sing - no prior experience necessary. We meet once a week for an hour and at the end of the session, we'll combine with the adult and children's choirs to sing an anthem in worship.

We created this group for people that like to sing but feel uncomfortable jumping right into the adult choir, those who can't make Wednesday night rehearsals or don't feel they can make the year-long commitment, and those who've never formally sung in a choir but want the experience.

It sounded good on paper.

We gave the invitation by email, print mailings, and the weekly bulletin. We made an announcement in church one Sunday. We shook hands with people we didn't know at Coffee Hour.

One week before our first rehearsal, we had four people signed up.

Welcoming a New Season

Ecclesiastes 3 has been on my heart and mind lately. "To everything there is a season; a time for every purpose under heaven..." Maybe it's the hint of fall in the air (after all, the Pumpkin Spice Latte did come out this week) or the promise of structure that the school year provides. Whatever the reason, I've been thinking back on the "seasons" I've had so far this year:

In February, I entered into a season of grieving after losing my Grammy very suddenly. Everything changed, and yet, I stocked up on colorful Clare cardigans at J.Crew Factory because I craved more change - I didn't know how to keep living with the way things were.

Then, in May, I wrote this post about the season of waiting. I still craved change - We almost bought a house, y'all. And got a new job. But, those things I thought we were waiting for (in reality, hoping for) did not happen. In the restless moments of this busy summer, waiting for tangible, visible change, I thought about contentment. This moment, our lives as they are right now - am I content?

Introducing Doxology Press!

Introducing Doxology Press!

Dear friends,

Earlier this summer, I started working on a fun new business venture. I am so excited to finally introduce to you, Doxology Press! This shop is a little piece of my heart - it combines my love of hymns and hymn texts with my love of paper and calligraphy. I designed these prints so that the sweet words of these beautiful old hymns can live on in our hearts and homes.

Goals for 2014: July Update

Goals for 2014: July Update

Can you believe we're more than halfway through 2014?! It's been a crazy year so far but a lot of good has come from it! Here is an update on the goals I set at the beginning of this year:

SMARTER BUSINESS
Schedule more emails - Boomerang is the best. I schedule all my invoices at once each month - huge time-saver!

No checking email after dinner - I did pretty well with this during the semester, but I've slacked off this summer. Time to get back to better boundaries!

Streamline the workflow of my business - I did some research at the beginning of the year on invoice management programs, but I'm not sure it's the right time to introduce something like this into my studio. Working on a few new plans for billing and payments to implement in September.

Start a new mini blog series - Yes! I created a Taxes for Freelancers series this spring - see posts here, here, here, and here.

Read The $100 Startup - Started it this month!

2014 Reading Session Picks: Children's Choir

Ashley Danyew | 2014 Favorite Anthems for Children's Choir

Last week, I shared some of my favorite (new!) anthems for adult choir. Today, I'm sharing my reading session picks for children's choir!

2014 Reading Sessions: Children's Choir Anthems

*Disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Guide Us, Lord (Mark Patterson)
Unison/two-part Choir with Piano and optional Viola

The text for this anthem is the well-known Prayer of St. Richard of Chichester. Wonderful, reflective piece - would be great for Lent.

Sing for Joy, Sing Together (Mark Patterson)
Unison/two-part Choir with Piano and optional Flute and Finger Cymbals

Fun! Great song of praise for young singers any time of the year.

How Far Is It to Bethlehem? (arr. David Music)
Unison Choir with Piano

Beautiful setting of this lovely tune, interwoven with "Away in a Manger."

I See You, God (Mark Burrows)
Unison/two-part Choir with Piano

Great text and lovely melody - "Who says you're invisible? I see you all around..." Perfect for young, inquisitive choristers!

What Child Is This? (arr. Melissa Malvar-Keylock and Jill Friedersdorf)
Unison, two-part, or three-part Choir with Piano

Simple, but beautiful setting of this classic carol.

I’d love to hear from you:

What are your favorite children's choir anthems?

Follow along with my creative work and daily adventures: @ashleydanyew

And… action! 🎥🦁 Happy Halloween! #rorydoglife
Fall in the Finger Lakes. 🍁 It was a quick weekend trip, but full of so many special memories. A highlight was eating blueberry pancakes outside one morning - 47 degrees, but sunny and warm enough to not need a jacket! #danyewadventures #rorydogl
🎨 New on the Musician & Co. blog: An interview with cellist, teacher, and illustrator Megan Chartier (@inkermezzo). I first discovered Megan’s work here on Instagram a few years ago—I was captivated by her portraiture and musical il
Our October Musician & Co. book club pick is here! 📖 Practicing is an essential part of music learning, but many of us may still struggle with the best and most efficient way to approach it. Violist and scholar, Dr. @mollygebrian looks at the
It’s the end of September (look at that golden light ✨), which means it’s recording day! 🎙️🎹 This year, I’m revisiting Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 and learning/relearning one prelude and fugue each month. Today, I