Elizabeth Leon is an author and musician from Ashburn, Virginia. For more information, please visit www.msva.org or www.elizabethleon.org _ _ _ In August of 1999, I was the mother of an almost two-year-old daughter and was expecting a baby in December. After two years staying home with a toddler, I was desperate to regain some sense of who I […]
From Our Readers
COVID Choral Contingencies: Dulcis ex asperis [Sweetness follows hardship]
Just in case we have to take another lap…are you prepared? In the first year of the pandemic, the General Accounting Office posted results of their research in 2020-21, the first year of the pandemic (GAO, May 2022). They depicted the obstacles to learning – what we all experienced to some degree – like this: […]
Why Rhythm Is Foundational in Sight-Reading
by Stuart Hunt The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines music as “the art of combining vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion.“1 To that is often added, something like the following: Sounds and silences organized in time. A pattern of regular or irregular pulses, some stronger some […]
Freedom Is the Oxygen of the Arts
By Dr. William O. Baker In preparation for recent performances of Beethoven works, I read Jan Swafford’s magnificent biography of the composer: Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph. If you enjoy reading about our musical heroes, I commend this book to you. I also highly recommend Swafford’s earlier biography of Brahms. In Beethoven’s “middle period,” the composer […]
The Kids Need Sand
Following is a post written by Mark McCormick, a music educator teaching vocal music, music theory and composition at Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach, CA. In the age of COVID-19, educators should remain focused on authentic learning with student self-discovery at its core.______ The Kids Need Sand As a kid growing up in […]
The Choir I Hear
The following is a poem submitted by Terry York. Terry is Professor of Christian Ministry and Church Music and George W. Truett Theological Seminary, Baylor University. The Choir I Hear The choir I hearIs composed of all the singersI have conducted,All the singers with whom I have sung,All the singers I have ever heard. The […]