My specialty is sight singing. …Teaching literacy to middle school beginners. I teach it to my students from day 1 of sixth grade. By eighth grade, they are fluent and competent at a level higher than my own when I was a freshman in college. Scheduling limitations cause it to be impossible for me to […]
Others
Breaking into the professional choral scene, with James Bass
James Bass of UCLA and Seraphic Fire joins Ryan today to speak about balancing out your education and conducting career with opportunities as a seasonal professional choral singer. We will dive into schedule, pay, sight-reading requirements, and so much more. JOIN CHOIR NATION ON FACEBOOK LISTEN HERE
First 10 minutes of the first day of Middle School Choir!
It’s the final day of preparations before the children arrive! It sort of reminds me of Christmas Eve. It’s all finished. On the first day, I want my middle school singers to know that I will wrap the arms of structure around them immediately, and that we are going to have fun too! They […]
Creativity is Found at the Crossroads
One of the great myths in the history of music is the story of bluesman Robert Johnson and his encounter with the Devil. According to the Faustian myth, Johnson traded his soul to the Devil at a Mississippi crossroads in exchange for exceptional musical abilities, allowing Johnson to achieve success. This story was comically portrayed […]
ACDA Abroad & AVoice4Peace: Join us ~ Support Worldwide Peace
Think for a moment about a time when you felt at peace during a performance. Do you remember the piece? Were you in the audience or were you a part of the performance? Could you begin to feel a weightless energy in the room as you listened? Perhaps you can’t articulate exactly what caused this welling up of […]
The Brain on Music
I’ve taught choral music to public school middle school children since 1989. In the early years, I couldn’t figure out how to teach my young beginners how to take the notes and symbols off of the page and sing with accurate pitch and rhythm. One day at a time… One failure at a time… Deliberately… I […]