“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” Desmond Tutu Genie* tells me she suffers from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). She’s an elementary school music specialist as well as a professional church musician and every year, it hits her full force right after Christmas. It lessens in intensity […]
Self Care
The Conductor as Yogi: Our Olympic Journey
I love watching the Olympics. Summer or winter, sports I like or those I have little knowledge about—it doesn’t matter, because it is always the human-interest element behind the athlete’s journey that draws me in. The summer Olympics occur when I am not teaching or conducting full time. I am in big picture mode then, […]
Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: She Was…..
To all my sister-conductors and my fellow Maestras She was tired. Tired of being belittled and tired of being dismissed because she was a woman. Her abilities were taken for granted because she made it look easy. She worked hard, harder than her male colleagues but it was never acknowledged. She was tired of petty […]
Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Be Nice
“It is nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.” John Templeton Joselin* has been a friend of mine for many years. We first got to know each other at a choral conference and have corresponded (first by snail mail, then email) ever since. Occasionally, we’ll see each other in person at […]
Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Favorite Teacher
“I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.” John Steinbeck I have been thinking a LOT about my elementary […]
Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Letters (emails), We Get Letters (emails)
“Letters are among the most significant memorial a person can leave behind them.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe It’s been a while since I shared correspondence from Ye Olde Choral Ethics Mailbag (Inbox) with you. Today I’d like to share letters from two ChoralNetters with similar problems. And as you can guess, these two folks are […]