Latest Blog Posts
May Choral Journal Preview
The newest issue of Choral Journal is available online. No foolin’! 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 […]
8 Steps to Retain Choir Students between Schools, Grades, and Teachers
How many students drop choir before they even get to us? They’re currently singing in middle school, yet they won’t appear in our class the very next year. or They’re currently singing with the other teacher, but they are choosing to drop instead of joining our choir. Fortunately, there are things we can do to get those lost students back […]
One from the Folder: Repertoire Thoughts for Women’s/Treble Choirs
#46: Friday, March 29, 2019
“8 Ways to Look at a Window” by Marjorie Halloran
Text by Francesca Myhrvold
SSAA, a cappella
“8 Ways to Look at a Window” is a collection of 8 miniatures – a set of character pieces by Marjorie Halloran, from poetry by Francesca Myhrvold. The story tells of a girl who gets to choose a new bedroom in their house, instead of sharing with her sister. She picks the smaller bedroom, with less closet space – but it has a window. Each movement tells a different bit of the view from the window.
Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Family Matters
“You can choose your friends but not your family.” Old Proverb There are times when I feel like Dear Abby or Ask Amy or even Miss Manners. Those ladies get all sorts of questions from folks wondering how they should react or handle a myriad of sticky situations. Many involve family and today’s Choral Ethics […]
Lo, The Righteous and Duruflé Requiem
This week on GBW and ACDA Radio/ChoralNet host Stan Schmidt brings you music by Robert White 1538-1574; Johann Christoph Bach; Franz Liszt; a classic by Sir Edward Elgar, and the great Robert Shaw recording of the Maurice Duruflé Requiem. The show begins with the well-known chant melody “Christ qui lux es it dies” (Christ Who […]
Choral Village: An Immersive Experience to Build Cultural Sensitivity and Empathy
The April issue of Choral Journal is now available online! The cover article for this issue was written by Joy Hirokawa and titled “Choral Village: An Immersive Experience to Build Cultural Sensitivity and Empathy.” Below is an excerpt of the article, and you can read it in its entirety in the April 2019 issue! Go to acda.org/choraljournal and […]
12 Tips to Keep Them from Dropping Choir!
Are you stressing about your choir enrollment numbers for next year? Are you constantly recruiting because so many students have chosen not to continue? A successful choral program is built upon the retention and continuation and of it’s members. In order for students to continue, we must figure out how to keep them from DROPPING OUT! Find out […]
Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Our Choral Culture
“Habits change into character.” Ovid Many of us, especially in community-based programs, complain we don’t have enough singers to do the repertoire we really want to do. If we are a mixed group, we long for more tenors or baritones or basses but don’t seem to retain them when we get them. After years of […]
Have Mercy on Me Oh God
This week on GBW and ACDA Radio/ChoralNet host Stan Schmidt will deal with the Psalms of David and you will hear Psalm 51 and several compositions created out of that Psalm; Plus Psalm 77, I Cry Aloud commissioned by your host for his high school school choir in 1974 from Knut Nystedt. You will hear […]
Why are you doing What you are doing?
It’s important to think of the voice as not residing just in the pharynx. Think of the voice as being part of the mind and the body. Vocal exercises should have a reason behind why each and every one is done.