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 […]
Leadership
The Conductor as Yogi: Know Thyself
“Know Thyself” Ancient Greek maxim The new year traditionally brings resolutions—you know, the same ones we make most years and which, in about two weeks, sort of disappear . . . ? It’s hard to avoid the idea that we “should” be doing something new when the calendar rolls over. And yet, January 1st can […]
The Conductor as Yogi: Dare to Pause
“Few things are so pressing that they cannot wait for a moment of breath.” T.K.V. Desikachar Maybe you have had this conversation, usually with family or friends who are not in music or in teaching: Them: “Are you on break now? How nice that you have all that time off!” Us: “Oh, I am never […]
The Conductor as Yogi: It Does Not Go Unnoticed
We made it through the semester. Our return to in-person music making. I have been reading our singers’ reflection papers, their one-page response to three prompts: What did you learn musically? What did you learn beyond the music? What suggestions do you have for the future? On music, they wrote about re-learning how to sing […]
The Conductor as Yogi: Living Seasonally
I am intrigued by the wisdom of living seasonally. Taking cues from the shifts in nature, in daylight and temperature and foods that are fresh and available. Living in harmony with the rhythms of nature goes a long way towards making us feel well. Instead of fighting the cold or the heat, the dampness or […]
The Conductor as Yogi: Why I Yoga
We are busy people. We have full lives; we live at the center of a wheel that turns constantly, with professional, family, health, spiritual, and personal spokes of responsibilities, challenges, and joys. We bounce between feeling full and satisfied and just plain busy with lots of activities that don’t seem to be organized into anything […]