News and Notices

New research shows that musicians’ brains are highly developed in a way that makes the musicians alert, interested in learning, disposed to see the whole picture, calm, and playful. The same traits have previously been found among world-class athletes, top-level managers, and individuals who practice transcendental meditation.

  The American Choral Directors Association Research and Publications Committee is inviting research papers to be presented at the National Symposium on American Choral Music, June 29-30, 2012, to be held in Washington, DC. This event will showcase the American Choral Music website hosted by the Library of Congress, built as a result of a five-year  collaboration […]

By Lisa Reicosky CANTON, OH — Standing on the stage at Umstattd Hall on Friday night, McKinley choir director Kirk Hofmeister expected to see a handful of his former students join him and his seniors for a traditional final song in which they are asked to participate. Following his bows after the first of two […]

Written by Lindsey Larson FT COLLINS, CO — Students in Rocky Mountain High School’s Prima Voce choir have a lot to sing about these days. The school’s music department was recently recognized by the Grammy Foundation with a 2011 Signature Schools Enterprise Award. “(The award) is really an honor,” said Heidi Roeber, a junior and […]

By Ashley Gebb YUBA CITY, CA — Amanda Ortega ran her fingers over the raised bronze letters of her son's name and held back tears. She still remembers how he ran back in the house that fateful May morning and surprised her with a kiss, instead of his usual hair-tousle goodbye, she said. Now, 35 […]

by Christine Brewer (Ed note: this is THE Christine Brewer, opera luminary) I work with a group of sixth graders in the little school where I used to teach in Marissa, Ill., about 60 miles southeast of St. Louis: a coal-mining town where the mines are now shuttered. The project, called “Opera-tunities,” started out as […]