Where is the ‘Self’ in ‘Self-Expression’? (Strings of Passion)
I love to work with impassioned people. I love to learn from impassioned people, I love to talk to impassioned people, I love to play with impassioned people. And as a coach and as a mentor, I love to help impassioned people – maybe that’s you – to... read more
Can you DISTILL experience to its ESSENCE?
Do you ever wish you could DISTILL a huge amount of knowledge and simplify it down to just what’s essential? Do you wish you could reduce everything in your house, your backpack, your closets, your drawers, your bathroom, your kitchen — maybe even your body,... read more
Do you read me?? What is readability?
After spending the last 3 years editing and updating my musical “The Golden Cage,” music director Tim Maurice and I are diving into the process of editing another musical of mine, “The Zero Club.” It’s a musical about a troupe of anti-nuclear guerrilla-theater... read more
Ute’s “In the Wings”
I originally wrote my one-woman show “In the Wings (or “What the Hell are you Doing in the Waiting Room for Heaven??”)” in 2008 for a premier at the the Central Square Theater in Cambridge. A year later I performed it in a full-cast version in Seattle. After that... read more
The Birth of Baroque Flamenco
(We first shared this post on April 21, 2016) Baroque Flamenco is one of my most famous and fiery pieces. But it wasn’t always. The first time I heard the melody, it was in a Minuet by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (pictured below, quite fetchingly, I think). I found... read moreExploration #4 ~ Playing with Structure (Strings of Passion)
“You must always look for those strings in life because they are all around. The strings in the sugar water that will bring ideas to them, that will bring people to them, that will be the foundation for the chrystalization of things that are already there. And so to... read moreExploration #3 ~ Connecting to our Impulse (Strings of Passion)
“The strings of passion – these seven principles – they’re not steps, they’re strings like the strings of our instrument. And there are seven, just like there are seven strings of each octave of our instrument. And the point of these... read more
PlayActing
PlayActing. It’s how I’ve been writing music since I was a kid. I act it out. I play all the parts, and completely indulge myself in the emotions and physicalization. And now that I’m working on (hopefully final) revisions of “The Golden Cage,” pianist &... read more
Back to Straight Up! (Recording Day #1)
It feels like it’s taken forever, but today I headed back to Straight Up recording studio in Arlington, MA to record what may become my next album. Yes, yes, I know, I’ve been recording this album for – what – three years now? Well, I’m at it again. The day started... read more
