Latest Blog Posts

“Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” Abraham Lincoln Are you happy? For the next two weeks, Choral Ethics will be exploring the idea of happiness and what it takes to BE happy in our profession. But today, let’s hear what a couple of ChoralNetters think about happiness […]

To promote classroom success, Jason Sickel lives by a simple oath: “Well-defined procedures and clear expectations trump everything else!” Establishing clear procedures in the classroom can save music teachers from a lot of headaches and strife. In ChoralEd Episode 58, Jason shares strategies for identifying and implementing practical classroom procedures. By focusing first on creating […]

“What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?” Jean-Jacques Rousseau It is easy to forget we need to work regularly with others.  Unless you are a soloist all the time, you must work with other musicians. Unless you conduct exactly the sort of ensemble you wish, with the musicians you wish, you must […]

” The buck stops here!” Harry S Truman The Choral Ethics Cyber-Mailbag is still filled to overflowing. Sit back for another  Choral Ethics blog about concerns familiar to everyone. When we first dream of becoming a choral director, we think of the music. We work hard to become good musicians; we practice, learn repertoire and […]

“As a child I loved ghost stories.” Rebecca Hall The Choral Ethics Cyber-Mailbag is filled to overflowing. Sit back for Choral Ethics blogs about all sorts of problems. We will deal with some newish Choral Ethics concerns as well as some familiar to everyone. Today’s Choral Ethics dilemma is perfect for a mid-October day. Jacob* […]

“You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say.” Martin Luther This October, we’re revisiting some of the staple issues of Choral Ethics. I’ve written a BUNCH about each of these subjects during the last few years. Today we speak of Following Through. One of my HUGE […]

Have you ever considered implementing an instrumental-style chair test system in your choral ensemble? In Episode 57 of ChoralEd, Travis Rogers shares a method for encouraging constructive competition through an approach he calls the challenge system. Similar to a chair test approach found in an orchestra or band, Rogers’ method invites students to challenge their […]

“If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time must be the greatest prodigality.” Benjamin Franklin ChoralNetter, Kristie*, wrote to me a few weeks ago about a problem she is seeing—AGAIN–as rehearsals begin this fall; the lack of punctuality of her fellow choral singers. I wrote about something similar a few years ago […]

“Whoever degrades another degrades me, and whatever is done or said returns at last to me.”Walt Whitman This will be my last blog on uncomfortable subjects for a while. Over the summer, I had many ChoralNetters contact me about “Choral-Conductors-Behaving-Badly” and thought to address those emails first thing this fall. I had plenty of the […]

“Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” Mark Twain Many of my ChoralNetter correspondents have Choral Ethics queries I know they KNOW the answer to. I wrote a blog a few years ago about knowing what the right thing to do is but being unsure–or uncomfortable–actually doing it. Folks […]