My epic “Self-Care Summer”

My work as a composer, music director, teacher, wife, and mom is incredibly complex. Though it’s overwhelming at times, the exhilaration and affirmation I receive from my work makes it all worthwhile. But self-care is crucial! You can’t effectively take care of anyone or anything unless you take care of yourself!

Self-care is everything including (but not limited to) taking your medicine as directed, going to bed early/on time, consistently cooking and eating healthy meals, saying prayers and meditating, waking up early and reading a book or exercising instead of checking email and social media sites as soon as I open my eyes. Self-care is anything we do to bring balance and perspective to our bodies and minds.

After enduring the Armageddon-level struggle of bringing Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast to Carnegie Hall this past spring, I decided I needed some epic self-care. Here’s what I did:

I took a trip by myself to Costa Rica in May, and visited my friend, Dr. Jaclyn Normandie:

I went to Hawaii for the first time and took my daughters with me in June:

I went to the ECCO Choral Conference to recharge and serve with friends in July:

CCDA ECCO Retreat (aka summer camp for choral musicians)

I hosted a terrific Summer Intensive with the Zanaida Stewart Robles Singers at the beginning of August:

And I went to Disneyland for my oldest daughter’s birthday in August:

Not gonna lie, the financial strain has been difficult this summer. But it was oh, so worth it! I cherish these photos as evidence that my self-care work was warranted. And I’m inspired to ensure my future self-care regimen always includes something epic that I can look forward to and look back on with pride and joy.

Conducting

Calling musicians of all ages, new, and returning! A vital part of our worship is music. This is your opportunity to join in. Register now for our 2023-2024 church year in Neighborhood Chorus, Youth Choir, or Bells. Registration ensures we have enough materials for everyone. All participants register anew each year. For questions contact music Director, Dr. Zanaida Robles. The schedule is as follows:

Neighborhood Chorus
1st rehearsal: Thursday, 8/31 from 7pm-9pm (earlier start time for 1st rehearsal)
Rehearsals every subsequent Thursday from 7:15-9pm
First Performance: Ingathering on Sunday 9/10 at 10am

Youth Choir
1st rehearsal: Sunday, 9/17 at 1pm
Three Sunday rehearsals: 9/17, 9/24, 10/1
Performance: Sunday 10/8 during the 11:30 service

Neighborhood Bells
1st rehearsal: Tuesday, 9/5 6pm-7pm
Rehearsals every subsequent Tuesday from 6pm-7pm
First Performance: Sunday 10/15 at 9:30am & 11:30am

Upcoming events

Thursday 12/7 @ 7:30pm
Harvard-Westlake Upper School, Studio City, CA
A fall choral concert featuring multiple composers. My piece “Umoja” is being performed by treble choir Bel Canto.

Saturday, 12/2 @ 7pm
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, PA
The Chestnut Street Singers are performing my piece Ecstatic Expectancy as part of their concert entitled “Ask the Winter Moon.”

Ollie (and Archie’s) Corner

Ollie and Archie, our new kitty, are already close buds!

I’m looking forward to a new season with you all!

August 25, 2023 Zanaida 0

Summer in progress

We’re in full swing! The Zanaida Stewart Robles Singers are gearing up for our Summer Choral Intensive that starts in early August (there’s still time to sign up!), I have commissions in the works, and I’ve been traveling a bit. As a teacher, summer is always a time of renewal and contemplation, and this year is no different.

Below, you’ll see bits of the biggest projects coming up. It’s going to be a big new season, this 2023-24! More soon…

Conducting

I’ll be conducting a special service at Neighborhood Church on Sunday, August 13… but here’s the project that leads up to it. We’d love to have you join us!

Be sure to check out the new “ZSR Singers” page on my website. We’ll continue to post updates there, as well as on the Facebook group for this growing community. Hope to see you there!

Join us in August for our first Summer Choral Intensive with the newly-formed Zanaida Stewart Robles Singers! There will be beautiful music and a US premiere of my “Blühende Bäume”, and our venue at the Neighborhood Church in Pasadena is just gorgeous. It’s a chance to work on your choral chops, rediscover the joy of singing together, and perform with a live string ensemble.

We’re particularly in need of tenors and basses, but all are welcome. If the program fee is the only thing holding you back, please contact me, and let’s talk.

Details are in the flyer above, or click the button below to go straight to the registration page.

To keep an eye on what this amazing new ensemble is doing, you can also join our Facebook group for the ZSR Singers, and be sure to follow us on Instagram!

Register now

Composing

With a new commission for the Los Angeles Master Chorale this season, it’s going to be a busy year. Their concerts often sell out, so be sure to grab your seats early for April 6th or 7th, 2024. Here’s the basic info, and you can get tickets and details on their website.

Order here

Ollie’s Corner

Ollie got patriotic for July 4th this year!

Have a great summer, everyone!

July 25, 2023 Zanaida 0

Becoming curious

When I was a doctoral student at the USC Thornton School of Music, I was regularly faced with disappointments and challenges that felt too heavy to bear. I often felt like I had nothing intelligent to “say” with my weak gestural skills and my lack of practical knowledge. My classmates seemed so brilliant and knowledgeable already. I felt embarrassed and awkward. I wanted to scream, to give up, to run away.

One day, I felt so woefully ignorant in Choral Literature class that I thought to myself, “Since I don’t feel like I have anything intelligent to add, I wonder if I can come up with something intelligent to ASK. What’s missing from the conversation? Who’s missing from the table? What details might be missing from the story? What’s missing from what they’re trying to teach me?”

I realized that contributing good questions could be more valuable than knowing the answers. I didn’t want to ask questions just so I could get answers right on tests. I wanted to ask questions that made me care more about what I was studying. So, I got really good at asking questions, and this is probably the most important skill I learned from my time as a doctoral student.

From the lens of curiosity, things started to change. One of the simplest, most important questions I learned to ask in times of conflict is “What would it take?” This was a question I learned to get good at answering by myself – answering this question first prevented me from making mistakes and asking lame questions out loud. It prevented me from engaging in useless busy work and futile arguments. And it helped me realize that some tasks and assignments that SEEMED useless were actually the answer the question.

“What would it take for me to feel better?”
“What would it take to get there?”
“What would it take for them to give me what I want?”

Then, if necessary, I could ask these questions of friends, teachers, fellow stakeholders, and even opponents. Asking “what would it take” usually yielded immediate and astonishing results. This question leads to another great question:

“Do the benefits of pursuing and attaining this outweigh the drawbacks?”

The wonderful thing about the “benefits vs. drawbacks” questions is that there’s never a wrong answer – the answer must only be right for the person answering, and the response is almost always either “yes” or “no.” The truth is, that answer can also change depending on the circumstances. How freeing this feels to me! And answering this question can lead to making lists of benefits and drawbacks, which can provide enough clarity to get back on track after having drifted into a low-visibility or seemingly hopeless situation.

So what are we curious about? What’s missing from the story? Who’s missing from the table? What do we want/need most right now? What will it take? Do the benefits outweigh the drawbacks?

Are we curious?

Composing

You guys!! Having my carol “Now the Rejoicing” included in the historic Oxford “Carols for Choirs 6” collection is truly an honor and a dream come true for me! This anthology series is legendary in the choral world, and it’s such a thrill to have this piece selected by Bob Chilcott, David Hill and Oxford University Press. It’s available from J.W. Pepper if you’re looking to add some new rep to your Christmas programs…

Order here

Conducting

Join us in August for our first Summer Choral Intensive with the newly-formed Zanaida Stewart Robles Singers! There will be beautiful music and a US premiere of my “Blühende Bäume”, and our venue at the Neighborhood Church in Pasadena is just gorgeous. It’s a chance to work on your choral chops, rediscover the joy of singing together, and perform with a live string ensemble.

We’re particularly in need of tenors and basses, but all are welcome. If the program fee is the only thing holding you back, please contact me, and let’s talk.

Details are in the flyer above, or click the button below to go straight to the registration page.

To keep an eye on what this amazing new ensemble is doing, you can also join our Facebook group for the ZSR Singers, and be sure to follow us on Instagram!

Register now

For Fun

Here’s a little visual tour of what I’ve been up to this month — it’s been busy! Pictured:

High School Scholarship Competition of the Georgia Laster Association of Music, an affiliate of the National Association of Negro Musicians (NAMN). So proud of my daughter who won second place, singing “Del Cabello Mas Sutil” by Fernando Obradors.
Juneteenth dress I wore all weekend long!
Silly and sparkly before the choir concert at Neighborhood Church
Spending time talking shop with my composition buddy, the amazing Amy Gordon

Ollie’s Corner

Ollivander wears many hats: here he is as fashion model, guard kitty and office assistant!

Original email newsletter — June 25, 2023. Join Zanaida’s mailing list here

June 25, 2023 Zanaida 0

It’s my birthday!

Birthdays are funny things, and can even mean something new every year. But I offer the following in celebration this month:

Composing

My Kwanzaa Song “Ujima” is being included in a new social justice songbook created by Philadelphia-based choir, Singing City. It will be performed on Tuesday, May 30th at 7:30 pm.

Get tickets and info

I’m elated to share that on June 4 at Zipper Concert Hall, VOX Femina Los Angeles will present the world premiere performance of my arrangement of “LIft Every Voice and Sing” for treble voices.

RSVP here

Conducting

Join me on Zoom on Wednesday, June 7 at 7pm for a watch party, celebrating our trip to New York and viewing our entire performance at Carnegie Hall where I conduct “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast.” Contact Zanaida to be added to the guest list.

RSVP here

Singing

In honor of Juneteenth, I’m singing “A Real Slow Drag” from Scot Joplin’s opera Treemonisha during the 10am service on Sunday June 18, at Neighborhood UU Church, Pasadena. Please join us!

Church directions

Ollie’s Corner

Life is never boring when living with Ollie the acrobat!

Original email newsletter — May 25, 2023

May 25, 2023 Zanaida 0

**4 Things I Learned From Performing Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast at Carnegie Hall in NYC**

1. Making music with friends, students, and colleagues was, is, and will always be the thing that most deeply nourishes my soul.

2. There is still so much work to do to bring the music of underrepresented and marginalized composers into our collective consciousness. I’m not alone in this work, and I’m not the only one who can stand in front.

3. I discovered some new limits and boundaries for myself. Managing the tour logistics for multiple separate ensembles, while preparing and conducting a major work is not something I would do again or recommend. And while I ultimately enjoyed myself, it turns out I can only stand New York for a few days at a time.

4. Bottom line: it was totally worth it!! I couldn’t be more proud of our work. My life and the lives of our singers and instrumentalists are forever changed for the better thanks to this monumental experience. I’m certain that our friends Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Jane Schoolcraft, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow are having a beer together, smoking pipes, and smiling down on us from heaven.

Back Home

I’m creating spaces that inspire me and fill me with great memories and good vibes. My office where I teach is essentially the size of a closet. It can be a suffocating little space. But creating a little art wall inside has turned this tiny hole into a little sanctuary of delight. It’s a work in progress, but I love the direction in which it’s headed. I’d love to add a few more small artworks to the wall above my desk.

*Felted landscape by my dear friend Debra Penberthy*

*Three paintings by my conducting teacher, Paul A. Smith*

*Painting by Alberto Scarabattoli, purchased from his studio while on tour in Assisi, Italy*

Singing

I like listening to this little demo I made not too long ago:

Listen here

I’m looking forward to more session work this summer. And I’m learning some new solo repertoire to perform in church next season!

Conducting

In May at Neighborhood Church, I’m conducting my setting of “Sanctus,” Bobby McFerrin’s “23rd Psalm,” and John Kimball’s “A Quiet Stream.”

Conducting my own music has always been a challenge for me. I find that even though I know my stuff by heart, the conducting gesture doesn’t come automatically or easily. So I’m practicing conducting some of my larger works in anticipation of performing them with the California Coleridge-Taylor Singers this summer. Stay tuned!

Composing

My piece “Veni Sancte Spiritus” is being performed by more than 600 young singers from across Southern California at the LAMC High School Choral Festival on Friday, April 28 at Walt Disney Concert Hall.