Your students can grade their own concert performance! When I want to keep things simple (and teacher-led), I grade my concerts on a 4 point system: – 1 point for being on time – 1 point for being dressed appropriately – 1 point for being focused and engaged while performing – 1 point for being […]
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Raise Your Voice: Joyful December
This is the sixth blog post in a series: https://choralnet.org/archives/663789 How is your December going, everyone? What a busy time for us. I had my first set of concerts and am now riding through gig season personally. Peace, joy (and wine if that’s your thing) to you all. I did not have a […]
The Conductor as Yogi: The Spirit, the Brain, and the Choir
Sounds like the title of a new novel, but today’s post wraps up our fall exploration of brain health and how it intersects with our life as conductors and teachers. We started by looking at how our brain reacts to stress, then unpacked how we can mitigate stress in rehearsals with our breathing and movement […]
Planting Seeds for the Future
At St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, the church where I serve, one of our themes is “Rooted in Faith”. Even before I started in August, I started thinking about what that meant. In preparation for Advent, I was thinking about Biblical readings that mention the root of Jesse or similar imagery. If you attend or serve […]
The Conductor as Yogi: Brain Aerobics in Rehearsal
Our recent posts have focused on the impact of stress on the brain (not just on our “feeling” state) and how we can mitigate it by taking time in our day and in our rehearsals to pause and move and breathe. Today we look at another way to enhance brain health for us and our […]
Rest, Relaxation, and Irish Reels
From my experience, Thanksgiving falls at just the right time of year. There is something magical about eating good food with friends and family, followed by a day of rest and relaxation. At least that’s been my tradition. I grew up in Princeton, NJ, where my parents live. Typically, I visit for at least a […]