“Great artists are people who find the way to be themselves in their art. Any sort of pretension induces mediocrity in art and life alike.” Margot Fonteyn Jamie*’s highly auditioned and highly respected community chorus sing at a (you can guess) high level. Though not a professional chorus, they are often used by a local […]
Self Care
Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Chorus Cults
“I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.” Alexander the Great Many of you read the title of today’s Blog and understood exactly what I was writing about. You might know someone who is a member of a […]
Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Gatekeeping
“If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow This is not the Blog I had planned to write this week. I had planned to write about our concert on Sunday, how this is the concert we originally planned for Spring 2020 […]
Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Old Lady Musicians
“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” George Bernard Shaw I’ve known Janice* for over twenty years. We met at a church music conference on the east coast and have been friends ever since. We are of a similar age; our children are of a similar age […]
The Conductor as Yogi: Lighten-ing Ways
As I write this, it is 5:47 AM on a Saturday morning. It is light outside and has been for a while. While I prefer sleeping in a little later, there is something about these longer spring days of earlier sunrises and later sunsets that creates an expanded sense of space and time. We can […]
Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: The Hills Are Alive With the Sounds of……..Mahler
“The real art of conducting consists in transitions.” Gustav Mahler I have mentioned my late mother, a coloratura soprano, more than once here in my Blogs on ChoralNet. Her insight, through many years of being “in the business,” has held me in good stead and I’ve shared many of her wisdoms with you. Today I […]