Tim Sharp

Next week, American Choral Directors will hold our 2011 Biennial National Conference in Chicago. If you are attending, I look forward to seeing you there. If you are not attending, this posting is for you. First of all, there is still time to plan on attending, but that is not my main point. ACDA Conferences […]

I love Chicago.  And I am happy to say that it is a relationship of mutual admiration—Chicago loves art. You cannot move through Chicago and be unaware of Chicago’s dedication to art, whether through the city’s stunning architecture, Millennium Park’s public space sculpture and landscape design, the world class Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago […]

The nonprofit arts industry generates $166.2 billion annually in economic activity, supports 5.7 million full-time equivalent jobs in the arts and related industries, and returns $12.6 billion in federal income taxes. Measured against direct federal cultural spending of about $1.4 billion, that’s a return of nearly nine to one.   Federal funding for the arts […]

 In Pam Schiller's article on Early Brain Development Research Review and Update, appearing in Exchange, the author documents new research and thinking on the link between music and language. Once again, the case is clear for mainstreaming music into early childhood education: Linguists, psychologists, and neuro-scientists have recently changed their long held opinion about the […]

It is always a sunken-treasure-surprise to come across a jewell of the past, known only to a few, that now is available to everyone. I have experienced several such epiphanies, as new works by Bach, Handel, and recently, Vaughan Williams, are "discovered" and brought to light by the musical world. This has been my recent […]

Not long ago and in a country far away, I attempted to explain to a taxi driver taking me from the airport to a conference location why I was there and what I did for a living. After explaining I was a choral conductor and I was visiting to hear choral performances at a choral […]