Latest Blog Posts

I know that summer time for many of us is a time to relax, rest up, and spend time with family, but….. There are tasks that we must complete prior to starting our school year.  Even if we have completed these tasks in the past, it is important to reassess all 12 Summer “Do Nows” each […]

“If you haven’t got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me.” Alice Roosevelt Longworth It does no good to gossip about our colleagues and their ensembles.  It doesn’t help the arts community in general or the choral community specifically to “bad mouth” others. We are all in this together and the […]

This week on Going Beyond Words and ACDA Radio, host Stan Schmidt will read you a “letter,” postmarked France. You will discover several choral gems from such composers as Guillaume Bouzignac and Guillaume de Machaut, as well as Franco composer Thomas Crecquillon. There will be music by Henri Dumont and a biblical history by Marc-Antoine […]

ChorTeach is ACDA’s quarterly online publication, designed for those who work with singers of all levels. A full annotated ChorTeach index is available online at acda.org/chorteach. Over 160 articles are organized into seventeen categories. For submission information, to view the index, or to read the latest issue, visit acda.org/chorteach. Volume 11, Issue 4, is now available online and contains the […]

Do you have a Choir Handbook? Is it useful? Who reads it?  If you want to know WHY you should have a handbook, and exactly  WHAT should be in it, this blog post is for you! Choral Clarity Blog Presents: How to Write An Effective Choir Handbook –Everything you need to know!

In this episode I share a small part of my “suck list” as well as my “not suck” list to demonstrate the healthy balance we all must have between acknowledging our struggles and giving ourselves credit where credit is due. I will also offer a short reflection on the National ACDA Convention including WHY I […]

“We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don’t know.” W. H. Auden What does it mean to be an ethical choral conductor/director? Our own Choral Ethics code should be a model of behaviors for how we treat our singers, but shouldn’t it be a […]

This week on Going Beyond Words and ACDA Radio/ChoralNet, host Stan Schmidt invites you his Christmas in July. You will be introduced to a new masterful choral ensemble from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, called Transept.  You will hear six tracks from a live concert that took place just last December. Transept is a vocal ensemble […]

By Anne M. Saxon I recently took a class at my church titled, “From Aging to Sage-ing.” I was very intrigued by the title, so I signed up. It was actually taken from our class textbook, by Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Ronald S. Miller. In it, “Zalman…provides new inspiring ideas about the importance of an elder’s […]

The September 2019 issue of Choral Journal will be available online in just a few weeks. It is a special focus issue from ACDA’s Standing Committee for Advocacy and Collaboration. Our August 2018 issue one year ago featured a column from Lynn Brinckmeyer, committee member, titled “Music Advocacy Challenges and Opportunities.” Below is an excerpt of the […]