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(An excerpt from the interest session “The Quest for Quality Choral Literature,” presented by Christopher Kiver during the 2014 ACDA Eastern Division Conference)          What was the first piece of music you encountered that made you want to pursue music? For me, it was as a fourteen year-old violist playing Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony. I […]

(An excerpt from the interest session “Beyond Burnout Prevention: Embodied Wellness for Conductors,” presented by Amelia Nagoski during the 2014 ACDA Eastern Division Conference)          Embodied is the term that psychologists are using to replace the misleading term "mind-body."  They hope to eliminate the misconception of the "mind-body connection," since to speak of the "connectedness […]

(An excerpt from the interest session “What, Why, How: Working with the Male Voices in Your Choir,” presented by Jefferson Johnson during the 2014 ACDA Southern Division Conference)          To avoid undesirable tone quality and flatting, male singers need to be taught ways to negotiate the chest and head registers.  (For some the term […]

(An excerpt from the interest session “Choral Singing for Baby Boomers and Beyond: Celebrating the Aging Voice,” presented by Jeanne Kelly during the 2014 ACDA Eastern Division Conference)         My best advice to anyone working with older adult choirs is Don’t Dumb it Down!   Our older adult singers want to be challenged and respected. They […]

FREEING THE NATURAL VOICE AND AVOIDING THE ‘I’m Sick’  SYNDROME by Mary Lynn Doherty          “Fear of losing the voice is one of the main causes of losing the voice” (Linklater, 1976, p. 196).        Writing to you from the Chicago area, I am starting to hear birds chirping and it is no longer […]