In part two of my conversation with ACDA Executive Director Robyn Hilger, we pick up right where we left off last week in Episode 130. I begin by asking Robyn about the ACDA national conventions session line up. We discuss what is there, and what is missing. We move from there into a deep discussion of ACDA’s […]
The Value of an Outsider with Robyn Hilger
The American Choral Directors Association is the largest organization of choral musicians in the world. ACDA sets the tone and direction of choral music in the US and has a major impact on the global choral music community as well. The newly appointed Executive Director of the organization, Robyn Hilger seeks to usher in a […]
Channeling Emotional Contagion with Dr. Gary Seighman
There is an often felt, but rarely quantified sense within ensemble music experiences that something truly MAGICAL is happening that changes us profoundly. However, recentscientific discoveries (link to sources below) are adding a more concrete validity to that which experienced musicians already intuitively know. Studies that reveal the physiological and psychological processes of cooperative effort, […]
The Strange Relationship between Choral Music Ed and Vocal Ped with Dr. Sharon Hansen
One of the oddest things about Vocal Music Education as a profession, is how little we are required to learn in our schooling about the voice. Vocal Pedagogy courses are often the purview of voice performance majors, which is very odd considering how many more students will be impacted with vocal instruction by a person […]
AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE WITH VAUGHAN FLEISCHFRESSER
The Music Department is an alternate universe where pupils are often unrecognizable from who they are outside of it. The shy become confident. The agitated become calm. The lonely become included. The quiet become heard. And the lost become found. Music reveals the real child. Vaughan Fleischfresser You probably recognize this colleague just by looking at him […]
Choral Music Advocacy is Changing! with Myles Finn and Tom Metzger
As we put the pandemic further and further in our rearview, many of us are confronted with new realities related to how, when and WHY we need to advocate for our programs, our profession and our art form. For example, I have found myself needing to have more conversations with school board members, administrators, parents and even colleagues about the value of a robust and rigorous music education. In this posting, I am going to direct you to TWO recent Choralosophy conversations which approach the topic of Advocacy.