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, […]
Choralosophy
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 […]
Avoiding Burnout and Other Life Hacks. Elisa Janson Jones
“If you are there for the music, you’re in the wrong profession. It has to be student centered, or you will burn out.” In this episode Elise and I explore various ways for teachers, in music and otherwise, to avoid feeling like the job takes more than it gives. If you need a pick me […]
What I Suck At
In this episode I share a small part of my “suck list” as well as my “not suck” list to demonstrate the healthy balance we all must have between acknowledging our struggles and giving ourselves credit where credit is due. I will also offer a short reflection on the National ACDA Convention including WHY I […]