By Debbie Aurelius-Muir This particular day began as every day had. It was Thursday. Not that that made a difference. Every day started the same. The bell rang at 8:22 a.m. and by 8:25 a.m. my special education class arrived. There were 14 students and one aide. I often struggled with it. I never intended […]
Angels Among Us: Our Choral Sages and Their Contributions
By Anne M. Saxon I recently took a class at my church titled, “From Aging to Sage-ing.” I was very intrigued by the title, so I signed up. It was actually taken from our class textbook, by Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Ronald S. Miller. In it, “Zalman…provides new inspiring ideas about the importance of an elder’s […]
Reflections from a First-Year Educator, by Christina Nelson
At the time of writing this, I have not yet completed my first full year of teaching. However, I have already learned a lot in the first semester. I arrived at my school mid-year and was both nervous and excited. My day consisted of five classes; 7th and 8th grade beginning tenor/bass choir; two 7th […]
How to Help Your Choir Overcome Stage Fright
By Molly McLinden For many choral singers, performing can be very intimidating! Although they may have no problem lifting their voices up in song during rehearsals, the thought of spotlights and a live audience terrifies some singers. Stage fright is extremely common among both solo and ensemble performers. The good news is there are several […]
Unearthing a Lost Masterpiece: A Conversation with Michael Driscoll
Question: You had not heard of the late African-American composer Florence Price until you read a New Yorker article about her in February 2018. As Alex Ross, the author, wrote: “She is widely cited as one of the first African-American classical composers to win national attention, and she was unquestionably the first black woman to […]
The BEST place to buy sheet music is . . . well, it’s complicated
By Elizabeth Alexander, guest blogger When I was growing up, my house was filled with sheet music, with everything from Mozart piano sonatas to Broadway songbooks. My family bought most of it from Childers Music Center, a small storefront run by Dan Childers, also known as “Dandy Dan the Music Man.” In addition to running […]