Latest Blog Posts

Choral Clarity Presents: Memorizing doesn’t need to be a goal in order for it to occur during our rehearsals.These 12 tips can improve rehearsal flow, the way singers “buy-in” to our music selections, and the way our singers can memorize their music without being required to give any additional time! Here are 12 Tips for Memorizing Music Within Rehearsal   12 Effective […]

Choral Clarity Blog Presents: How To “Teach” Memorizing Music Without Even Trying Are you tired of requiring your students to go home and memorize their music? Are you tired of threatening part tests? Have you just given up on the idea of memorization altogether? I would like to share with you an approach that doesn’t […]

I used to be snobby about arrangements of classic choral works.  I have always been taught to seek out the most authentic editions, voicings, and keys of pieces, and I still believe in that notion.  However, when I got out into the real world and began teaching middle school and beginning high school choir—usually with […]

“Action indeed is the sole medium of expression for ethics.” Jane Addams Many of the problems people contact me about have also occurred to me. I may share with my correspondents how I handled a similar situation; I may not. With 20/20 hindsight, I often feel I handled it poorly with a Choral Ethics perspective. […]

This week on ACDA Radio and ChoralNet, Stan Schmidt, Host of Going Beyond Words presents a history lesson looking back 150 years for a view of our Westward expansion and the music that went along with the growth of the United States. Do you know the state song of Kansas? Well you’ll hear that too […]

Choral Clarity Blog Presents: Ideally, our choir should have their music memorized for concerts; it will make for a better concert than having our members hidden behind crinkly paper and being blinded by little dots with words attached to them. With their music memorized at the concert, they will be able to be more responsive […]

Sometimes choral pieces look much more difficult at first glance than they really are.  The voicing might look daunting (SSAA, TTBB) or maybe the spread of parts across the page is intimidating.  But sometimes a piece can actually be much more accessible than you initially think.  This week’s post will look at two pieces for […]

  “The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” Groucho Marx We all have people in our lives who claim to be honest. They crow about it, especially if they have said something unkind in the name of honesty. They tell us, if being honest […]

This week on Going Beyond Words, Host Stan Schmidt invites you to the last of three programs concluding a comprehensive look at the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation and the musical accomplishments of Martin Luther. You will enjoy six of Luther’s melodies created by eight different composers culminating in Cantata 80 Ein Feste Burg by Johann […]

Much of this week’s post is excerpted from the first installment of Music Within Reach, but I feel compelled from time to time to remind myself of why I am on a crusade for accessibility in choral music.  The following, for me, sums it up. There is no shortage of stellar choral programs in this country. Like […]