Latest Blog Posts

“There are basically two types of people. People who accomplish things, and people who claim to have accomplished things. The first group is less crowded.” Mark Twain Our profession has two schools of thought about self-promotion. The first school we all claim to belong to believes we shouldn’t self-promote. The other school of thought is […]

How do we actively engage students in lifelong music learning and participation? 1985, The early years For my first three years of teaching, I taught kindergarten through fifth grade general music for two elementary schools in Texas (one had no air conditioning!).  I traveled from room to room teaching the Texas Essential Elements with my […]

This past weekend I attended the annual Sphinx conference in Detroit, Michigan: SphinxConnect 2020. This was my fifth year in a row attending “the epicenter for artists and leaders in diversity” and in the years since I first attended in 2016 I have seen it grow from a single continuous series of presentations for about […]

The newest issue of Choral Journal is available online. Following is a list of the articles 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 electronic version. Below is a preview of the articles you will find in this […]

By Brenda Winkle Do you sometimes feel that no matter your experience, your educational achievements, and your work ethic, you continue to hope no one finds out that you are, in fact, an imposter? That’s imposter syndrome. Before we go any further, let’s clear up one thing: if you are taking your career seriously enough […]

#58: Friday, February 7, 2020
“Fierce, Feisty, and Fast: Engaging and Energetic Repertoire for Women’s Treble Choirs”
(OMEA Conference Materials)

At the end of January, I was a guest presenter at the Ohio Music Educators Association conference, in Cincinnati. In this blog post, you’ll find the links to my presentation handouts and notes. Enjoy!

“Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do. Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.” Mark Twain In contrast to January’s Alfred Lord Tennyson quotes I thought I would take my cue from that most American of authors, Mark Twain, to unify my Blogs for February. Mr. Twain says […]

1985, K-5 General Music As a first-year teacher in 1985, my emotions ran high as I meet with the principal of an elementary school in San Antonio, Texas. She welcomed me to the school and began to inform me of my teaching responsibilities: kindergarten through fifth-grade general music. There was not a music room available, […]

This lovely eighteenth century canon was a staple of my school choirs’ repertoires throughout my entire teaching career. I came across it in a songbook when I first started teaching at Blue Rock School in the early 1990s, and I believe I taught this to every choir I directed until I left teaching in 2014. […]

_____________________________ Choral Journal’s ongoing column called Choral Conversations” features interviews with noted choral conductors and composers. The fourth interview in this series took place with Robert Page in the November 2016 issue. You can read the interview in its entirety online at acda.org/choraljournal. Click “Search Archives” and choose November 2016 from the dropdown menu._____________________________ Do you […]