About a month ago, JW Pepper reached out to me about doing a piece on yoga for their CUEDIN blog, supporting their outreach on topics related to musicians’ wellness. They had followed my work through this Conductor as Yogi blog and my 2021 Choral Journal article on the topic and had some specific and practical questions for me. The result was “Incorporating Yoga into Choral Classrooms and Rehearsals,” which I share below.
With the following questions as a framework, I was able to bring a lot of information together in a practical and readable way, to help provide context and application but also suggest some directions for the future. Perhaps some of these resonate with your curiosity:
- You have emerged as an advocate for incorporating yoga into choral rehearsals. What inspired you to integrate these practices?
- How would you define yoga, especially for those reluctant to explore it?
- How can teachers and choir directors incorporate yoga into their classrooms and rehearsals?
- What have you learned from bringing the process of yoga to rehearsals?
- What recommendations do you have for tailoring a yoga practice to different ages—elementary school kids/children’s choir, middle school and high school, college level, through community choirs with a whole spectrum of ages?
- How can teachers/directors use yoga practices to enhance their own self-care?
- Where do you go from here in your research and practice on yoga for choral musicians?
- Any last thoughts?
Whether or not you have followed The Conductor as Yogi since I started blogging in June of 2020, I invite you to read this CUEDIN piece to help frame what we do here and to answer questions you may have had. I am encouraged by the attention our profession and the wider world are paying to being whole and well and am always inspired by the ways the choral experience can contribute to, and even lead the way on that path toward wholeness. So much possibility! Where can we go from here?
Read the CUEDIN blog, “Incorporating Yoga into Choral Classrooms and Rehearsals.”
https://blogs.jwpepper.com/incorporating-yoga-into-choral-classrooms-and-rehearsals/
Dr. Ramona Wis is the Mimi Rolland Endowed Professor in the Fine Arts, Professor of Music, and Director of Choral Activities at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois and the author of The Conductor as Leader: Principles of Leadership Applied to Life on the Podium. Dr. Wis is a 500-hour CYT (Certified Yoga Teacher) and a certified Brain Longevity® Specialist, a research-based certification on yoga and integrative medicine for brain health and healthy aging. Reach her at: or ramonawis.com.
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