• Sign In
  • ACDA.org
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
ChoralNet

ChoralNet

The professional networking site for the global online choral community.

  • Home
  • Blog
  • ACDA News
  • Events
  • Community
    • Announcements
    • Classifieds

Off The Podium: Summer 2020

June 23, 2020 by Walter Bitner Leave a Comment


Saturday was the first day of summer, and Sunday was Father’s Day. There is no doubt about it: summer is here and it promises to be a long, hot one.

The spring of 2020 brought calamitous societal changes: the first global pandemic in a century; the greatest economic crash since the depression nearly a century ago; the most widespread and sustained demonstrations for racial equity and justice since 1968: more than fifty years ago.

The changes to our lives and the implications for the future have been profound. So many aspects of our daily lives have been affected – and many have lost livelihood, and loved ones. Uncertainty about many aspects of society – about our daily lives and the weeks and months ahead – is the prevailing mood of our times right now.

This is challenging for all – and for musicians losing the opportunity to practice our social art, difficult indeed. I have followed the work of our colleagues at ACDA and been repeatedly impressed with the flow of deeply considered responses to the developing crisis, some of which has informed my own work as symphony administrator.

It has been my practice for several years now to take a respite from publishing my writing during the summer, as an annual period of rest and renewal. As I prepare to leave ChoralNet for the summer, I’d like to leave you with a thought.

Human experience can be roughly described as both social and existential. On one hand we are the most social of animals, with thousands of years of societies and civilizations to our name replete with all manner of interactions – and on the other hand each one of us has the opportunity to experience an individual depth and singular perspective, unique in the universe .

The social turmoil and demand for conscientious action incumbent upon each of us in response to the context of the three crises I detailed above will vary with each of us, and can easily overwhelm the second, existential aspect of our lives. Yet, if one is practicing social distancing, it seems clear that in this time it is important to tend to this side of our nature also.

Music can continue to nourish us through this time when we cannot practice it socially. Find a way or ways to continue to engage with music this summer! If singing with others is not possible, it may be time to feed your head and your heart through a new engagement with music in some unexpected way.

I wish you peace this summer – stay cool. I’ll be back on September 8.

~ WB

Wait for it – the classic four-part lute song about saying goodbye is performed beautifully by Les Canards Chantants in this charming video. Have you programmed John Dowland’s music with your choir? Dowland was the first great songwriter in English, and he wrote dozens of miniature masterpieces for four voices. Is this a preview of things to come?…


Filed Under: Off The Podium Tagged With: Off The Podium, Walter Bitner

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • ACDA.org
  • The ChoralNet Daily Newsletter
Advertise on ChoralNet

On This Day
June 30

Giovanni Maria Sabino, Italian organist, composer, and educator, was born on this day in 1588.

Would you like to submit a blog post for consideration?

Are you interested in becoming a regular ChoralNet blogger? Please contact ACDA Director of Membership & Communications Sundra Flansburg at .

RSS JW Pepper

  • 5 Things to Consider When Buying Color Guard Equipment
  • PYO Music Institute Presents the 9th Annual Ovation Award in Partnership with J.W. Pepper, Jacobs Music, and WRTI 90.1 FM
  • 10 Easy-To-Learn Funky Tunes for the Stands
  • Zoom F3 Field Recorder Review: The Easiest Way to Get Pro Audio for Your Music Ensembles
  • J.W. Pepper Names Eric King as New Chief Financial Officer
  • The Music Teachers’ Guide to Recording an Ensemble: The Samson C02 Mics Review
  • The Zoom Q8n-4K Handy Video Recorder Review
  • Directors & Parents: Download Our New Contest & Festival Checklist
  • If You Love West Side Story, Listen to These!
  • The Music of Rita Moreno, a West Side Story Icon

RSS NAfME

  • Assessing the Standards: An Exploration of the Respond Model Cornerstone Assessment
  • Nearly Half of the 2023 GRAMMY Music Educator AwardTM Quarterfinalists Are NAfME Members
  • Reevaluating Professional Practice
  • The Importance of Knowledge Transfer in Music Education
  • Star-Songs and Constellations: Lessons from the Global Jukebox
  • NAfME Endorses the Reopen and Rebuild America’s Schools Act of 2021
  • 5 Things Teachers Can Do to Recharge over the Summer
  • 2022 Call for Applications: SRME Executive Committee
  • Yay Storytime! Musical Adventures with Children’s Picture Books, Part Sixteen
  • Yay Storytime! Musical Adventures with Children’s Picture Books, Part Fifteen

Footer

Connect with us!

  • Home
  • About
  • Help
  • Contact Us
  • ACDA.org

Recent Blogs

  • Gratitude for Those Who Serve in State Leadership
  • Midweek Meditation: The Inner Critic
  • K-12 Teaching: Repertoire Selections for School Choirs
  • Dropping the Covid Ball with Dr. Nikki Johnson
  • Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Pretension

American Choral Directors Association

PO Box 1705
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
73101-1705

© 2022 American Choral Directors Association. All rights reserved.
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy