“Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” Mark Twain I believe in Karma. Oh, I don’t know if I would really call it that, exactly. I feel if you do something good, it usually comes back to you. If you do something bad, it can come back to you as […]
Choral Ethics: Kindness is NOT for Wimps
“What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?” Jean-Jacques Rousseau It is easy to forget we need to work regularly with others. Unless you are a soloist all the time, you must work with other musicians. Unless you conduct exactly the sort of ensemble you wish, with the musicians you wish, you must […]
Choral Ethics: Amateur Versus Professional
“Every artist was first an amateur.” Ralph Waldo Emerson The word amateur is taken from Old French and means ‘lover’. Many definitions of the word speak of doing something for pleasure and most of us, I am sure, became choral conductors because we found pleasure in singing or leading singing. Is it the other definition […]
Choral Ethics: Ethics Should Matter
“We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don’t know.” W. H. Auden What does it mean to be an ethical choral conductor/director? Our own Choral Ethics code should be a model of behaviors for how we treat our singers, but shouldn’t it be a […]
Choral Ethics: Shut up and Sing;Things I’d Like to Say to My Choirs, But Don’t
“Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.” Emily Post Today, I am revisiting a Choral Ethics matter I’ve been thinking about lately. I wonder how other Choral Professionals handle their Snarky Inner Voice in real life. In […]
Choral Ethics: Neighbors
“The more we can be in a relationship with those who might seem strange to us, the more we can feel like we’re neighbors and all members of the human family.” Fred Rogers It has been a difficult few weeks in some parts of our country. But there is one thing I know; we all […]