Isn’t it funny how sometimes the very person you thought was standing in your way ends up showing you the path you were meant to walk all along? For me, that lesson came wrapped in a choral score and a bit of teenage indignation. 'You Raise Me Up' by Josh Groban became the bridge between the singer I thought I was and the musician I was becoming — a lesson I didn’t want, but one that shaped me as a performer, songwriter, and educator. In high school, I sang soprano in both Sh

Standing under stage lights designed to set a mood of wonder and madness. Silent and still, haunting music fills the air. The group surrounds the girl with flowing hair. Her arms move through the air like weaving a ribbon of magic. One by one, she taps a shoulder, and we gracefully fall to the floor like petals falling from a flower. She continues her dance until every petal falls. Lying on the cool floor, I find myself wrapped within the enthralling song emerging from the sp

Driving in the car the other day, the DJ introduced a song and mentioned it was the first rock song to open a James Bond film, reaching #2 on the Billboard charts in 1973. I instantly recognized the song.  Live and Let Die by Paul McCartney and Wings. Whenever I hear this song, I am transported back to the show choir in my freshman year of high school. Show choir involves whole-stage singing and dancing, much like musical theater.  Our spring concert show was a James Bond med