Latest Blog Posts
Choral Concert Live with the Baylor University Men’s Choir and the Spire Chamber Ensemble and Baroque Orchestra
Host Stan Schmidt takes you back this week to the ACDA Jubilee National Convention in Kansas City in late February and helps you recall the performances of The Baylor University Men’s Choir led by C Randall Bradley and the Spire Chamber Ensemble and Baroque Orchestra and conductor Ben A Spalding. Each of these groups live […]
August Choral Journal Preview
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 […]
What’s in a Gesture?
A talk about the role of the choral conductor with Bradley Ellingboe. Is the physical gesture the most important thing we do? Most would be probably say no. For Brad and I, it barely sneaks into the top 5! Here is the list: Ear for pitch/rhythm Conducting gesture musical imagination Motivational skills Verbal fluency How […]
Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Let’s Be Nice
“Be nice to people on your way up because you meet them on your way down.” Jimmy Durante We’ve been busy, email-wise, here at Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics during the last few weeks as the choir year ends. Academic programs are finished when school ends. And community programs, with all sorts of different types of choral […]
From Brahms to Prauliņš
Host Stan Schmidt takes you back this week to May 12, 2013, and introduces a program on ACDA Radio and ChoralNet that could prove very interesting from the educational and listening corner. You will enjoy music by Uģis Prauliņš, Roxanna Panufnik; Patricia Van Ness, and selections from well-known friends like John Ireland, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and […]
Reflections on the Conductor’s Role
ChorTeach is ACDA’s quarterly publication for choral conductors and teachers at all levels. It is published online, and each issue contains four practical articles. If you are not already a member of ACDA, you can join and receive access to ChorTeach online. Below is an excerpt from an article written by Joseph Flummerfelt appearing in the Winter 2013 issue. _____________________________________ As […]
Advocating for Our Art Form
“The more visible you are in your community, the harder it is for your program to be taken away or damaged.” -Chris Munce Below you will find a deep two part conversation in which I approach two colleagues about their thoughts on how we “tell our story” as Choral Musicians. In the first part I […]
Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Sumer Is Icumen In
“What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade.” Gertrude Jekyll It is SUMMER! Or will be tomorrow. It is the time of year I […]
Beethoven Lives On
Did you know that Beethoven was the first composer to write a song cycle (although Beethoven called it a ring of songs) and that Mass in C is one of his most popular works? Join Stan Schmidt, host of Going Beyond Words, to hear both works. Dr. William George August McCullough, in his doctoral dissertation […]
The Church Choral Director: Leader of the Sacred, the Good, the Beautiful
The June/July 2016 issue of Choral Journal is now available online! This issue was a focus on sacred music and features an article written by Charlotte Kroeker titled “The Church Choral Director: Leader of the Sacred, the Good, the Beautiful.” Below is an excerpt of the article, and you can read it in its entirety in the June/July […]