Over the next few weeks, many of us will feel it. We’ll be sitting at the ACDA Conference listening to a brilliant performance that includes avant garde repertoire, and we’ll think to ourselves, “Wow, that piece is cool. Strange but cool. Shoot . . . there is no way my choir could possibly sing […]
Others
Composers getting proactive
We designed ChoralNet Communities flexibly in order to permit ChoralNet users to create their own ways of communicating. The community Composers of Choral Music has been very active, perhaps because there isn’t any other established forum for such composers to get together. Their latest project is a Composition Showcase. When you go into a […]
The Traits of a True Mentor
In her February 7 The New York Times article, "What Doctors Can Learn From Musicians", medical doctor Danielle Ofri offers the term "coach" for what I believe are the traits of a true mentor–one who gives "…unflinchingly honest criticism, laced with an unfailing optimism." Dr. Offri writes, "In music, plateaus are flatly unaccepted. When […]
Coaching via Skype
Liz Garnett tries it: The delay between sound and picture was less of an issue while they were singing (strangely) than when we were talking. This was one of the pleasant surprises. But it made me realise how closely I usually watch people’s eyes while I coach, to track how they’re responding to what I […]
Pop-up choir
A Toronto TV program (not embeddable) describes this as a “flash choir”, but it’s really just a casual singing group which meets weekly for fun. Choir! Choir! Choir! is the name of the group, and they have the most interesting website design: it all scrolls horizontally rather than vertically.
How’s your low range?
A record company has begun a worldwide search for the singer who can sing a note so low that it is thought never to have been sung before. Written by Military Wives composer Paul Mealor, the choral work De Profundis includes a low E, which lies more than two octaves below middle C. C’mon, you […]