Latest Blog Posts
One from the Folder: Weekly Repertoire Thoughts for Women’s/Treble Choirs
Week 1: Friday, March 23, 2018 Hello and welcome to the first installment of my weekly Women’s/Treble Chorus blog, here on Choralnet.org! Starting in April, I plan to introduce a new repertoire selection with each post – focusing on subject matter, composer background, text source/author background, range, voicing, harmonic structure, form, rhythmic components, line independence, […]
Choral Potpourri: Choral Ethics; Some Advice Bears Repeating, Part Two
“There is no harm in repeating a good thing.” Plato Last week, I wrote about recently getting emails concerning three problems I know I have addressed before in this Blog. I wrote about one of those re-occurring problems—tardiness. This week, we will tackle the other two. Absences Like the tardiness issues from last week, if […]
Father Forgive Them and Allan Bevan Passion
The week on the ACDA Network Radio and ChoralNet, Stan Schmidt, Host of Going Beyond Words offers you eight choral selections that carry Lenten and Passion implications. You can engage in listening to seasonal music by Mendelssohn, Arvo Pärt, King John the IV of Portugal, Movement I from James MacMillian’s “Seven Last Words”, Bach’s “Crucifixus” from the […]
14 Tips to Enrich the Multi-Year (Repeating) Choir Members
Do you want to be the choir director that has taught for 20+ years, or the choir director that has taught 1 year 20+ times? Is every year the same for your repeating choir members or do they experience greater opportunity, higher levels of learning, and deeper meaning with each successive year? Here Are 14 […]
ChorTeach Spring 2018 Preview
Below is a preview of the articles you will find in the latest issue of ChorTeach, available to ACDA members online at acda.org/chorteach. “The Role Music Plays in Racial Identity—One Conductor’s View” by Adan Alejandro Fernandez The author of this article candidly shares his experience as a Latin music student and offers thoughts on racial […]
Choral Potpourri: Choral Ethics; Some Advice Bears Repeating, Part One
“There is no harm in repeating a good thing.” Plato I have been regularly writing the Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics ChoralNet Blog since the fall of 2015. During the last two and a half years, I have received one or two emails every week. There are times which are busier than others, but the emails are […]
Have Mercy Upon Me O Lord
This week Going Beyond Words on ACDA Radio and ChoralNet approaches Lenten show #3. On this sacred billboard chart are eight appropriate selections by such composers as Brahms, Schütz, William Boyce, William Byrd and Chandos #3 by George Frideric Handel. Many of the scores you will find very familiar which can be a rich experience. […]
12 Tips to Keep Them from Dropping Choir!
Dear fellow choral directors, We’ve just spent an entire year building our choir only to find out a large number of key members will not be continuing….. It’s probably NOT our fault, But it IS our problem to solve! Here are 12 Tips to Keep Them from Dropping Choir! 12 Tips to Keep Them from Dropping […]
Support in Trying Times
The April 2018 issue of Choral Journal features an article from Margaret Boudreaux on the relationship between German composer Michael Praetorius (1571- 1621) and Duchess Elisabeth of Braunschweig- Wolfenbüttel (1573-1626). “Elisabeth’s support became essential in Praetorius’s final years after the patron who brought him to Wolfenbüttel, Elisabeth’s husband, Duke Heinrich Julius (1564-1613), died. The immediately […]
Choral Potpourri: This Is What A Conductor Looks Like
“There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.” Madeleine K. Albright March is Women’s History Month, so forgive me if I rant a bit this week. This is a month when we in the arts feature women composers on concerts, ballet companies feature women choreographers (there is a ballet […]