Friday miscellany: A lot of singing

This week has definitely had a choral music soundtrack. My “other” choir (Choral Arts Philadelphia) is performing a concert this weekend featuring Howells’ Requiem (which I have sung before) and Victoria’s Requiem (the “Officium Defunctorum”), which I have not sung before. I began this week feeling not quite as familiar with the Victoria as I’d like to be before a concert. So I’ve been listening to the Tallis Scholars version of it on repeat, plus picking out the soprano 1 part on the piano (normally I sing sop 2, but I got assigned to a different section for balance reasons on this one…it’s not higher than sop 2 in this case, it’s really just two matched high voices). There are some trickier parts than usual for Renaissance polyphony. But I think with one more sing-through before the 2-hour dress rehearsal tonight, I should be good.

My first choir, my church choir, also has some difficult music we’re working through. At last night’s 2-hour rehearsal (yes, I’m spending 2-plus hours per day on choral music…) I got assigned to sing in a trio that’s doing a solo section in one piece…and my two fellow singers were absent. So I was sightreading a solo — that’s something that hasn’t happened in a while. Who says middle-age isn’t exciting?

(You know what else is exciting? Driving with your 16-year-old who just got their permit, but that’s a topic for another time.)

It’s a lot of time, and a lot of work, but it’s also really fun to have a hobby that demands a lot of work. I love having something in my life that is not work and is not caring for family members. I highly recommend looking for such a thing! Two hours a day isn’t necessary but…maybe two hours a week?

In the work category, I’m going through the copy-edits on Big Time, my next book. We now have a publication date — May 5, 2026 — and there are pages up on the major bookseller sites though no cover yet. I’m looking forward to sharing it with the world.

But in the meantime, here is some other content from the week. Over at Before Breakfast, I interviewed Mita Mallick, author of The Devil Emails at Midnight, about how to survive a bad boss and how not to be one. I suggested a question you might ask “Instead of what’s new.” I also suggested one “Find your family visiting groove.”

At Vanderhacks, my Substack newsletter, I suggested that before purchasing something one try to “Shop your house.” I wrote that one can reduce the pain of uncertainty if you “Decide when to decide.” Behind the paywall I wrote about “How to take a micro-vacation” and “How to follow through.” Lots of people get ideas. Actually following through and bringing some half-baked ones through to execution is the real superpower. There are practical strategies to not forget these ideas, and to be more persistent about follow-up.

Thanks for supporting me and my work!