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In this episode I dig deeper with Chris Maunu on his “choiral” blog called “Choral Elitism” which has been a frequent conversation starter on choral conversation pages. I identified with his article very deeply, and felt the need to talk to Chris more about this topic. My hope is to use this show to help […]
Choralosophy
Breaking Down Barriers with Jason Max Ferdinand
In this episode I sit down with the biggest star in the Choral World right now. Dr. Jason Max Ferdinand of the famed Aeolians, fresh off their WORLD changing performance at the ACDA National performance in Kansas City this past spring. Our topics are wide ranging including his upbringing in the Caribbean and early life, […]
Ripping off the bandaid- Why you CAN and SHOULD stop playing notes and making tracks for kids tomorrow
In this episode I will take you through a topic that I believe should be CENTRAL to all of our philosophies as choral educators. Should I be the high priest in my classroom or the shepherd? The high priest is the conduit that the masses must pass through in order obtain musical knowledge. Put plainly, […]
Does the Performance Goal of Most Choirs Lead to Exclusion? With John Perkins
In this episode we parse our way through a Choral Journal Article from December of 2018 called “What is Written on our Choral Welcome Mats” with the author, Dr. John Perkins of Butler University. In the article, Dr. Perkins seeks to tie the tendency toward valuing a performance standard and competition in choral culture to […]
Beyond Elijah Rock: The music of non-idiomatically black composers with Dr. Marques Garrett
In this episode Marques and I discuss importance of the music of black composers that do NOT fit into categories of idiomatically black music like Gospel, Jazz and Spirituals. The conversation ranges from the social aspects at play in spreading the word about this music, all the way to what it’s like to be minority […]
Back to School: Growing the Choral Pie with Beth Philemon
Greetings colleagues and welcome back to school! My hope is to create a conversation culture that is focused on openness, good faith, benefit of the doubt, and a desire to “grow the pie” for our profession and for our singers. More choirs and #morepeoplesinging In this episode, I had a blast chatting with Beth Philemon […]