By Robyn Hilger All the best pieces of my life have been connected to music. Music class is where I discovered where I excelled, learned important skills like work ethic and collaboration, and where I first practiced being a leader. And, as a music teacher, I found that I had the opportunity to impact the […]
choral education
“Real Men” Sing? With Dr. Braeden Ayres
Dr. Braeden Ayres is a teacher, conductor and composer with a passion point related to concepts of masculinity in choral music. What stereotypes are we stuck too, what challenges to we face when discussing it, and what are the best ways to engage young adolescent boys in our school choral programs? We discussed some of the findings from […]
Advocacy, Collaboration, and . . . moving from survival to vision
It’s been an interesting start to the semester, yet again, but we are resilient and we keep showing up for choir and our singers. Go us! However, there is always that chance for budget cuts, restrictions, or worse, canceled programs. With decreasing numbers, uncertainty, and pandemic fatigue, how do we move from survival mode to […]
An Unconventional Approach to the Urban Chorus Classroom for the New Choral Director
By Odell Zeigler New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common. – John Locke Have you ever gone along with the majority or followed a script and felt it was not something you should continue to do? Well, let me begin by saying that […]
Separating Achievement from Self-Worth
By John C. Hughes A few years ago, a colleague told me about the Enneagram, a personality classification system that groups people into nine broad types.1 I took an online quiz and discovered that I am a Type Three: The Achiever. My friend told me that a lot of conductors are Threes. This makes sense; […]
Everyday Advocacy for Your Choral Program
By Karen Bruno What is advocacy? Advocacy is an opportunity to share with other people, many of whom are decisionmakers in some way, why choral music matters—to us, to our singers, and to the world. Advocacy should not be a term that frightens us. It should be a term that inspires us to explain to […]