Latest Blog Posts

#62: “On Children” by Ysaye M. Barnwell
Text by Kahlil Gibran
SSAA a cappella

I’m always looking for a great opening piece for my small ensemble – especially at the start of the year. Not too difficult, but not too easy. Energetic, but not necessarily fast. Something they can lean into as group – to build community and practice that small-ensemble harmony. One of those songs that you hear them singing in the hallways all year long. “On Children” by Ysaye Barnwell is one of those perfect pieces.

“It is normal to give away a little of one’s life in order not to lose it all.” Albert Camus I don’t feel like myself and am sure you don’t either. Nothing is like it’s supposed to be. The rhythm of our days is different, what we wear is different and what we DO is […]

I used the phrase above to introduce my students to their last in-class activity before we left for online learning this Spring.  It was titled “What Would it Look Like”?  I was interested in getting their input and ideas on what online choir assignments might look like.  The objective of this activity was to have […]

With this post, Dr. Ramona Wis begins a weekly blog series entitled The Conductor as Yogi. In the same way The Conductor as Leader applied foundational leadership principles to our conductor-teacher-leader roles, The Conductor as Yogi blog will explore mindfulness, wellness, inspirational writings, and classic yoga philosophy and practice to encourage readers towards greater wholeness […]

_____________________________ Choral Journal’s ongoing column called “Choral Conversations” features interviews with noted choral conductors and composers. An interview with Roland Carter is featured in the August 2020 issue. You can read the interview in its entirety online at acda.org/publications/choral-journal. Click “Search Archives” and choose August 2020 from the dropdown menu._____________________________ As a performer, do you have […]

This special episode is a Podcast exchange with the brand new “Music (ed) Matters” podcast hosted by Dr. Emmy Burch. I invite you to check out her show! I am excited to welcome Emmy Burch to the Choral Podcast “scene” with this episode. She already has several excellent conversations available on her channel. In this […]

“Doubt is the brother of shame.” Erik Erikson Like many of you, I am in the midst of trying to choose repertoire for a concert that may—or may not—happen. Usually by now, I have chosen most of my fall music and am gathering scores and octavos together and any language resources or other material to […]

Saturday was the first day of summer, and Sunday was Father’s Day. There is no doubt about it: summer is here and it promises to be a long, hot one. The spring of 2020 brought calamitous societal changes: the first global pandemic in a century; the greatest economic crash since the depression nearly a century […]

National Chair of the American Choral Directors Association’s Diversity Initiatives Committee This episode flipped the normal script a little bit, where I got to be on the hot seat! I was honored to be invited to be the guest on “And the Beat Goes On” presented by Arreon Harley-Emerson of the Choir School of Delaware. We agreed […]

“You don’t have to deserve your mother’s love. You have to deserve your father’s.” Robert Frost As I write today’s blog, I am sipping a glass of iced tea, brewed with mint from my own garden. The mint was the first thing we planted when we bought our house 26 years ago, but we should […]