“This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.” Leonard Bernstein Have you ever noticed the best holiday stories portray some sort of dream? From the ballet, “The Nutcracker” to all of the many incarnations of Dickens, “A Christmas Carol” someone is always sleeping and […]
The Choral Life
Choral Potpourri: “……..and the tongue of the dumb shall sing.”
I love “Messiah”. Truth be told, it is probably my favorite large choral work. There’s a little something for everyone–from show piece arias to choruses that are both difficult and poignant to recitatives that move the story along while being musically interesting. The story that is told, using scriptures from both the Old and New […]
Choral Potpourri: Choral Ethics; Nice Things
“This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things!” “The Simpsons” As I began to write this blog to describe Monique’s * story, I had no clue how to finish it. It’s a bit of an unusual situation but I bet many of you have dealt with something similar. You may not have known you had […]
Choral Potpourri: Choral Ethics; Yet Another Choral Ethics “Thank you” Blog
“‘Thank you’ is the best prayer that anyone could say. I say that one a lot. Thank you expresses extreme gratitude, humility, understanding.” Alice Walker If you regularly read the newspaper or online versions of “Dear Abby” or “Miss Manners” or “Ask Amy”, you are certain to read a letter or two (or three or […]
Choral Potpourri: Choral Ethics; He’s Nice…..but He DOES Mind!
“Action indeed is the sole medium of expression for ethics.” Jane Addams Many of the problems people contact me about have also occurred to me. I may share with my correspondents how I handled a similar situation; I may not. With 20/20 hindsight, I often feel I handled it poorly with a Choral Ethics perspective. […]
Choral Potpourri: Choral Ethics; Honest to a Fault
“The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” Groucho Marx We all have people in our lives who claim to be honest. They crow about it, especially if they have said something unkind in the name of honesty. They tell us, if being honest […]