By Rebecca Lord & Nate Wise Does your choir have a minimal budget or none at all? If so, you know how challenging it can be even to provide sheet music, let alone to pay for copyright licensing for the songs you want to perform! The good news is there are some free or low-cost […]
Leadership
The Conductor as Yogi: Three Things
It’s been almost a year that I have been blogging from the perspective of wellness, inspirational writings, and yoga practice and principles, connecting to our lives as conductors and humans living in a wider world. As I prepare to take a bit of a break this summer for recalibration and to focus on some other writing, […]
The Conductor as Yogi: How Human of You
Even in a “normal year” (have we ever actually had one of those?), it’s natural to take time as the season ends to think about how the year has gone—what we did and didn’t do, what we might have done “if we had only known,” what worked and maybe didn’t, and though it usually falls […]
The Conductor as Yogi: A Rumi Moment
“Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.” Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī, 1207-1273 Several years ago, I stumbled across this quote by 13th century Sufi mystic, Rumi, and thus began my fascination with his clear, yet profound and remarkably current, wisdom on the human experience. I remember sharing this particular quote with one of my […]
Dr. Anton Armstrong’s Keynote Address at the 2021 ACDA National Conference
I am truly humbled to offer these thoughts today in the context of our national ACDA conference focused on music and diversity. The name of Helen Kemp is known to many of us who have devoted our lives to nurturing and developing the love of singing in children. Helen Kemp was a highly respected vocal […]
The Conductor as Yogi: Effort and Ease
Sthira Sukham Asanam “Postures should be stable and comfortable” Yoga Sutra 2.46, Sage Patanjali One of the great things about a yoga practice is bringing what we learn on the mat to the rest of our life. But even if you don’t practice (physical) yoga, you can still benefit from its wisdom. From Patanjali’s ancient […]