The Return of Covid Conversations! Sadly, many of us in education have lived at the epicenter of the Covid Wars. Possibly the biggest political football during the pandemic has been what to do with the kids, and what to do with schools. For those of us in choral music, we lived at that intersection along with […]
Choral Music
Songs of reImagining: Your Turn
At my previous institution, I taught a senior capstone class. The class could be about any topic in performance, theory, or history, which left it pretty wide open. I felt strongly that the students should have a class on what I called “silenced voices,” a class that went back and covered the same survey timeline […]
Songs of (re)Imagining: Reena Esmail
In late Summer 2021, I was perusing music. Looking for music for my tenor/bass choir, I came across composer Reena Esmail. I put a couple of her works on my “maybe program” list, coming back to them later and ultimately deciding to program one (which I’ll dive into in a moment!). While attending the Midwestern […]
Songs of (re)Imagining: Margaret Bonds
Margaret Bonds (1913–1972) was an American composer and arranger, notably setting many texts by Langston Hughes (a close friend) and arranging African-American spirituals. When she was growing up, she lived in a home that had visits from Florence Price and Will Marion Cook. She studied piano and composition with Florence Price and William Dawson during […]
Gratitude, Optimism and Motivation
Happy Thanksgiving, ACDA! I am thankful to be in conversation with you and for you through this platform. I continue to learn so much every week. What a blessing to be able to bounce ideas off of so many brilliant colleagues, philosophers, writers, Doctors, Tango dancers, researchers and more. The podcast began in 2019, but […]
Examining Choral Music with a Rhetorical Perspective: A Practical Guide
The November/December issue of Choral Journal is online and features an article titled “Examining Choral Music with a Rhetorical Perspective: A Practical Guide” by Gary Seighman. You can read it in its entirety at acda.org/choraljournal. Following is the article’s introduction: _________________ The pandemic has challenged all of us in our pursuit of personal connection. Rehearsing via Zoom or in large […]