Austen Wilson

In addition to serving as Director of Music and Worship Arts at Mandarin United Methodist Church in Jacksonville, FL, I also sing in the Festival Singers of Florida, a 100-voice auditioned choir comprised of music educators and conductors from all over Florida and beyond. Thankfully, my church had the privilege of hosting this inspiring choir […]

As a church musician and choir director, I believe that much of one’s success is based on the repertoire and hymnody we select, along with adapting to the needs of the ensemble and the congregation. While I strongly believe in expanding a congregation’s body of hymns they know, if I choose too many unfamiliar hymns, […]

As a church musician, I believe that the confidence ensembles have makes a profound difference in their ability to lead worship. Part of that means knowing what choir needs. Sometimes that’s the appropriate technical information with ringing or singing; for example, a reminder about breathing for a vocal choir or flow in how a bell […]

The last week of December and the first week in January are some of my favorite times of the year. The week between Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve helps rejuvenate me and the first week of January brings a lot of new possibilities. If you weren’t thrilled with the first part of the program/academic […]

This point of the year is always tiring, especially with extra performances, events at church, or end of semester grades due. Unfortunately, we can add the Omicron variant, quarantines, and contentious times this year. On social media, I’ve seen posts about wonderful performances, as well as stressful scenarios such as a large portion of a […]

From my experience, Thanksgiving falls at just the right time of year. There is something magical about eating good food with friends and family, followed by a day of total rest and relaxation right before December. At least that’s been my tradition. This year, that rhythm has been restored for me. I grew up in […]