As school districts slash away at budgets like crazed pirate boarding parties, those in the arts are frequently left fighting for their professional survival in an acrid, toxic workplace. Many who have successfully navigated these difficult waters have done so through creative inter-disciplinary efforts. In her article, “New Bridges to Cross: Ideas to Stimulate […]
Scholarly Abstractions: Male Singing Societies
Palant, Jonathan. Unifying a Nation: Male Singing Societies and Part Songs in Nineteenth-Century Germany. Doctor of Musical Arts dissertation. Michigan State Univversity, 2007. The start of the nineteenth century marked the beginning of an emerging consciousness of German identity among certain speakers of the German language. Culture and politics merged and began to […]
Choral Caffeine: You are 130% Smarter
Depending on your field of endeavor, certain things are just accepted as fact based almost solely on anecdotal observation. I suspect the general reaction by most of us in the choral profession to the publication of the study linking music to brain activity (now commonly called The Mozart Effect) was a resounding, “Well, Duh!” […]
Choral Caffeine: Free Music
In the November issue of the Choral Journal (in your mailbox right now) ACDA’s Executive Director, Tim Sharp, says, “Choral composition is the oxygen, water, and nutrient of our life and work as a choral organism.” It’s absolutely true. We’re all on a continual quest – a hunt, really – for new music. Our […]
Choral Caffeine: Help Singers Count
One of the beauties of choral music is the incredible rhythmic flexibility allowed by the text in combination with the natural dexterity of the articulators. But what makes the art so special is also the cause of more than a few problems. Put simply, we singers just don’t count all that well. Thomas Wine […]
Scholarly Abstractions: The Function of Poetry in Choral Music
Collins, Drew S. Poetic Structural Devices as a Consideration When Analyzing and Interpreting Choral Scores. Doctor of Musical Arts dissertation. University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, 2011. This study focuses on the connection between poetry, choral composition, and choral performance, specifically how an understanding of the constructive elements of poetry can influence the interpretation […]