CONFESSIONS OF AN OUTSIDER ~ by Varda Hardy (director of the documentary BIG VOICE…dare to dream) A year ago I launched into production on BIG VOICE, a documentary about the challenging musical journey of a high school choir director and his most advanced co-ed ensemble. We have completed principal photography and begun the extensive post-production […]
Scholarly Abstractions: Estonian Composer Ester Mägi
Garbes, Heather MacLaughlin. To The Bards: The Choral Music of Estonian Composer Ester Mägi. Doctor of Musical Arts dissertation. University of Washington, 2008. Although the popularity of Arvo Pârt and Veljo Tormis have brought the awareness of Baltic music to a new level in the past few years, there is an immense amount […]
GUEST BLOG: “Stop Teaching Karoke,” by Carl J Ferrara
STOP TEACHING KARAOKE ~ by Carl J Ferrara I’ve had many arguments with administrators and fellow teachers about the use of pre-recorded accompaniment. Many believe it’s a cheap, easy, and convenient alternative to hiring an accompanist. Purchase of a recording saves you money over the hourly fee charged by most pianists. It is also a […]
Stick Time: Masterpiece, Warhorse, Chestnut
Whether they are known by the term “Warhorses,” “Chestnuts,” or the somewhat more pedantic “Standard Repertoire,” there is a body of major choral works that seem to have been generally accepted as falling under the heading of “masterpieces.” The titles should be familiar to everyone in the profession and include such works as Ein Deutsches […]
Choral Caffeine: Why Did You Program That?
Recently, a friend whose choir had been invited to perform in a prestigious venue asked me to make some literature recommendations. Though a humbling request, it was, of course, impossible. Programming is already a massive challenge for us in working with our own choirs, let alone trying to select literature for a choir we know […]
Stick Time: Melding Past and Present
Inspiration comes in many forms, from many places. Here a thoroughly modern composition takes as its inspiration a chant from the sixteenth century. Of course, there is nothing particularly earth-shattering about a composer taking inspiration from the past, but it does tend to reinforce the timelessness of the choral art form.