I’m lying in my hotel with the AC blasting. It has been quite a whirlwind past few days. I have seen and heard a lot. Too much to cover in one short blog post. For now, I think I will just give you some of my basic impressions, in no particular order. I love seeing old friends […]
Grammys To Honor Music Teachers
From the New York Times: The Grammy Awards are adding a new honor for music teachers. Neil Portnow, the president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, announced the new award for music educators, which will be presented for the first time next year. He made the announcement on Thursday evening at an […]
Handling Questions During Rehearsal
I love this flow chart for taking questions in rehearsal…some real issues, some more tongue-in-cheek, but a fun poster for your rehearsal room wall. […]
Accountability: Check Days
So I posted last week about my perspective on the use (or disuse) of sectionals in my auditioned ensembles. The next level of accountability for me is check days, also known as quartet (or octet) testing, where singers get up in class and have to sing the selected piece, one on a part. It can be […]
Sectionals
I don't care much for sectionals. I do them, but in limited circumstances. My issue with sectionals is primarily that they breed dependence, rather than independence (see Richard Sparks' posts here and here). For a lot of choirs (non-auditioned, school age choirs, etc.), they make a lot of sense, as not everyone can be expected […]
How Old Were You?
When was the first time you conducted a real ensemble? I bet for a lot of us, it wasn't until college. Well, this kid is here to make us all feel bad about ourselves… via Slipped Disk