Latest Blog Posts

The New Year allows both students and directors the opportunity for a fresh start. Is there anything you want to do differently? Do you want your rehearsal to be more effective? more focused? more engaging?  Now is a great time to make a few rehearsal tweaks! Here are: 8 Tips for Restarting Rehearsals after the […]

“Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, ‘It will be happier.’” Alfred Lord Tennyson Happy New Year from Choral Ethics! We hope you had a lovely, wonderful Holiday, no matter what you celebrate or didn’t celebrate. We also hope your concerts and services came off without a hitch. Perhaps it all […]

The March 2015 issue of Choral Journal features an article titled “Why Music Education Matters to Me” by Kelsey Wickerham. You can read it in its entirety online at acda.org/choraljournal. Click “Search Archives” and choose March 2015 from the dropdown menu._____________________________ A “3,” another “3,” and a “4.” It was in that succession that I read the scores […]

In this episode I asked the expert, Dr. Amanda Quist to chat with me about teaching the concept of vowels, resonance and intonation. Is it possible to measure a vowel scientifically? Or is the purity of a vowel subject to the opinion of the conductor? We discuss what I believe to be a new frontier […]

“This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.” Leonard Bernstein Have you ever noticed the best holiday stories portray some sort of dream? From the ballet, “The Nutcracker” to all of the many incarnations of Dickens, “A Christmas Carol” someone is always sleeping and […]

The December 2019 issue of Choral Journal is now available online. Below is an excerpt of the article “Great Choral Classics You’ve Never Heard Of” by Joshua R. Jacobson. You can read it in its entirety online at acda.org/choraljournal. Click “Search Archives” and choose December 2019 from the dropdown menu._____________________________ There are hundreds of attractive but largely unknown […]

“To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time.” Leonard Bernstein If you are anything like me, your December concert and worship music for this year was planned during the summer or before. Your plans are coming to fruition or close to it. You are calm, knowing things are […]

By Stuart Hunt “Rhythm is the art of beautiful movement” – Augustine of Hippo Putting the horse in front of the cart when discussing rhythm, let’s take a moment to examine the “why” of rhythm, followed by the “how to,” as both teach and learn. The “why” can guide our path to excellence and the […]

The newest issue of Choral Journal is available online. This is our special preview of the six regional ACDA conferences taking place in 2020! Following is a list of what you will find in this issue. ACDA members can log in with their username and password to view and download the newest edition. You can also read our […]

I hope you have an amazing concert! So, after the concert, what is your plan? What do you do in your rehearsal the VERY NEXT DAY after your concert? Here is: What NOT to do IN CLASS the day AFTER the concert…. If your concert hasn’t arrived yet (mine is on the 19th), I suggest you read this blog as well:  […]