Latest Blog Posts

One of the biggest challenges I face is finding attainable music for my high school men’s choirs.  I imagine I am not alone in this struggle.  There is quite a bit of TTBB music out there, but I suspect many of us do not have men’s choirs large enough or advanced enough to sing much […]

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” Mahatma Gandhi  A few weeks ago, I wrote about Donald* who felt uncomfortable when a colleague, who usually snubbed and ignored him, began treating him normally. Of course, there was a reason for Donald’s sudden promotion to Lyndon’s* “Best […]

This week on Going Beyond Words and ACDA Radio, Host Stan Schmidt Presents music for Passion Sunday and Holy Week.   During the visit you will enjoy music from JS Bach, Howard Hanson, Charles Gounod, John Goss, David Naylor, John McCabe, Maximilian Steinberg and two wonderful Hymns.   Choral groups include The Rias Kammerchor, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, […]

Choral Clarity Blog Presents: As we move closer to our Spring concerts, many of us believe a memorized concert will make for a better performance. How we teach and run daily rehearsals greatly impacts our students’ ability to be responsive to our conducting, sing freely, and be communicative. How Students Can Memorize Music Without Really […]

Chief among the things that differentiate choral music from instrumental music is the use of text.  I spend a lot of time reminding my choirs of this, as I am sure many of you do.  Because it is our job to convey textual meaning to an audience, I think it is important that we look […]

“The key to the mystery of a great artist is that for reasons unknown, he will give away his energies and his life just to make sure that one note follows another… and leaves us with the feeling that something is right in the world.” Leonard Bernstein We all know Holy Week is the busiest […]

This week on Going Beyond Words and ACDA Radio, Host Stan Schmidt continues the serious listening for the Lenten Season and takes you on a soul searching journey through choral music.   Using Da Pacem Domine by Gesualdo and Pärt to surround the hour of music, you will hear The beatitudes by Bastiks, Motherless Child and […]

Choral Clarity Blog Presents: Rubrics have a place in the performing music classroom, but they should not be used to recognize achievement. They must be used properly and give every student the opportunity to be successful. Don’t Use Rubrics Unless Everyone Can Succeed  

The latest issue of Choral Journal features an ongoing column written by retired choral conductors, for retired choral conductors. This month’s contribution was written by Linda Lovaas, a retired middle school choral music educator from California. Following is a section of the article, which you can read in full in the May 2017 issue. ACDA […]

Ouch! Teaching middle school chorus can hurt your ears. Between the changing voices of the boys and those sharp singing girls, our ears take a beating. Solving the issue of the sharp singer and any singer who sings out of tune takes time. In this blog post, I am going to share some of the […]