Our first brisk fall morning. Do I really want to go for a walk when it’s 43 degrees? (Pause) Well, want isn’t the right word, but I know I’ll benefit so I dig out the thermal running gear and as Grandma Nike says, “just do it.” Cold air hits my face, my breath feels thankfully […]
Leadership
From “Raising the Voices of a Generation: The Role of Choral Directors in Increasingly Complex Times”
By Jeff M. Poulin In February 2019, I published a new framework for the field, through Americans for the Arts, which articulated the aptitudes, practices, skills and commitments, making up the “12 Core Competencies of an Arts Education Leader.” This framework is intended to guide all of us working in the field of arts education […]
Choirs with Limited Budgets: Top Ten Solutions for Copyright Compliance on a Dime
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 […]
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 […]