“Sometimes when you’re overwhelmed by a situation – when you’re in the darkest of darkness – that’s when your priorities are reordered.” Phoebe Snow Sometimes I search for the epigraph for my ChoralEthics blogs before I write them and other times, after. I usually know exactly what, or whose, quote I want but many times […]
Choral Ethics
Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Stupid Questions
“The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.” Thomas Szasz Like many of you, I’ve had a few teachers in my time who would announce—often–that there is no such thing as a “stupid question.” No one was asking questions and the teacher must have felt […]
Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Adversity
“The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most. I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity.” Ulysses S. Grant As September winds down, we will deal with a few more Choral […]
Choral Potpourri/ Choral Ethics: Set in Our Ways
“The only means of strengthening one’s intellect is to make up one’s mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts.” John Keats To say the least, it’s been a challenging time for us all. As recently as three years ago, we could not have imagined wearing masks in rehearsals or […]
Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: The Gossip Train
“Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.” Will Rogers I’ve written about Mabel* before but can’t remember the pseudonym I gave her at that time. She directs a small choir with a very specific repertoire in a community with several other larger choruses. […]
Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: The End of Summer
“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” Seneca Welcome back! School and rehearsals have started for most of us but there are some leftover issues from spring and summer to take care of before we begin our new year. It’s been a wild time, with a few ChoralNetters contacting me during the summer […]