Melanie GuerinJan 92 minNew Band Commission, part 7Friday, January 7, 2022 (morning) Snow day! I decided to spend the extra time off working on the second movement. I got a cute little...
Melanie GuerinJan 32 minNew Band Commission, part 6: Bleep, blip, ding (Second Movement)Tuesday, December 28, 2021 I spent the afternoon listening to a bunch of video game music so I could get some ideas for the second...
Melanie GuerinDec 27, 20214 minNew Band Commission, part 5: First MovementWednesday, December 22, 2021 I woke up this morning with a secondary motive in my head, to pair with the “Are you trying” motive. And as...
Melanie GuerinDec 11, 20215 minNew Band Commission, part 4: Cooking up ideasalso Friday, December 10 (but later) When I write music, I usually use one of three methods. Sometimes (rarely), a song feels like it...
Melanie GuerinDec 10, 20213 minNew Band Commission, part 3: Meeting the bandFriday, December 10 I visited Bristow today and met with the 7th and 8th grade bands. They played parts of two winter concert pieces for...
Melanie GuerinNov 30, 20213 minNew Band Commission, part 2: It's a go!Tuesday, November 9, 2021 Got a text from Cliff this afternoon that just said: “WE GOT IT!!!!” We spoke on the phone later that evening,...
Melanie GuerinSep 30, 20212 minNew Band Commission, part 1: An ideaI got a commission to write a piece for the Bristow Middle School Band in West Hartford, and since part of the grant that supports the...
Melanie GuerinJul 30, 20197 minLeaving ScottsboroLike many (most?) white people, I haven’t spent much of my life thinking about being white. I grew up in a small, almost entirely white...
Melanie GuerinJun 17, 20193 minThe Scottsboro Boys (3/3)Jim Crow came from Africa. He was a mythical creature, a shape-shifting trickster in the form of a bird, who lived in the stories and...
Melanie GuerinJun 13, 20192 minThe Scottsboro Boys (2/3)The entertainment of a minstrel show really began hours before the curtain went up, as the troupe paraded from the train station to their...
Melanie GuerinJun 5, 20192 minThe Scottsboro Boys (1/3)This is the first of three posts providing some background about my current show, "The Scottsboro Boys," which runs June 28-Aug 4 at...
Melanie GuerinJan 13, 20198 minYeah, it's importantIn 2004, I was a first-year music teacher in a magnet middle school in East Hartford. Any public school educator will tell you that the...
Melanie GuerinDec 17, 201810 minWhy Everyone Should Study ConductingI’ve recently been reflecting on how so much of my work as a teacher and an artist is focused toward the simple goal of being more human....
Melanie GuerinNov 19, 20188 minThoughts on Music DirectingWHAT IS IT? I don’t think anybody knows what music directing is. I often hear/read music director colleagues lamenting that we seem to be...
Melanie GuerinOct 28, 20186 minHip-hop conductorThis past Wednesday night I made my debut on the stage of Mortenson Hall, the largest of the spaces at the Bushnell Performing Arts...
Melanie GuerinSep 24, 20181 minHartford Magazine featureI was recently included in a Hartford Magazine feature on the thriving arts scene in Hartford. It was fun to arrive at the group photo...
Melanie GuerinSep 13, 20185 minThings I've Learned from RunningThis past Sunday I completed my 10th half marathon. I expected it to be an unpleasant slogfest due to the fact that my training runs had...
Melanie GuerinAug 5, 20181 minWhen things go wrongMore and more, we rely on technology to make our art. Sometimes I marvel at the sheer number of bells and whistles that go into putting...
Melanie GuerinAug 2, 20181 minIn the Heights at Playhouse on Park7/30-18 I was so pleased to have finally gotten the call to music direct a show at my neighborhood theater, where I have worked as a sub...