Are We There Yet??? Back in the day, we lived in North Carolina and most of our family lived in Oklahoma and Texas. For a period of years, we made many an epic, two-day holiday journey overland with first one, then two young kiddos. The destination? My in-law’s house. They lived about the same distance…

In celebration of the Thanksgiving Holiday, the MaJoVTA will be on hiatus next week. Please know how grateful Molly and I are for each of you and what you represent to us: an opportunity for us to “pay it forward” with the skills, talents and gifts that we have been given, so that you might…

Einstein’s theory simplifies best for me like this. Think of a small amount of “mass” that can “convert” to an enormous amount of “energy.” In his case the “c” is the speed of light and the “2” or “square” exponentially outputs the small amount of mass into an incredible amount of “energy” (think atomic fission).…

“There was no epiphany when the instrument panel suddenly and mystically revealed to me my location in the airspace. Those few days were just slogging, brute-force repetitions. But the actions of rote procedure slowly became a little less scripted and a little more natural. Gradually I fused together the information from each instrument to know…

Last night our phones went off several times with alerts for “severe” weather. The tornado warnings were off to the East, so we were fine. Fortunately, there’s a lot of open space here in Oklahoma, so there was no loss of life and little property damage. But this got me thinking about the meaning and…

You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it. Maya Angelou To take any kind of rigorous Vocal Training is to encounter defeat.…

As a Vocal Trainer, I’m always in “how can I learn more” mode. The idea of reading up on current fitness trends –trying to find things to help my clients and improve their effectiveness as Vocal Athletes – always seems like a good one to me. So, there I was … prowling the magazine stand…

Nehemiah 2:20 “The God of heaven will give us success; therefore we His servants will arise and build…” Micah 7:11 It will be a day for building your walls and raising up stones. On that day will your boundary be extended. As some of you have heard and seen recently,  we’ve had a home reno…

Are You A Bad Person? This week, I’m stealing a riff from Nike (hey, steal from the best, right?). It’s Week 7 of the Fall Term at the Mark Johnson Vocal Training Academy, and I’m here to ask: Are You A Bad Person? The ad campaign I refer to was launched during the Olympics, and…

Perhaps you’ve heard of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World? If not, you can read the Wiki article here. But from a Vocal Training point of view, I’d like to nominate an 8th Wonder of the Ancient World – the human respiratory system. Yes – that’s right. Not only is it truly a wonder,…