Latest Blog Posts
5 ACDA Members Are Semifinalists for Music Educator Award™ Grammy!
The GRAMMY Foundation® and The Recording Academy® have just announced 25 semi-finalists for the 2017 Music Educator Award™, and we are delighted to note that 5 ACDA members are among them! The Music Educator Award was established to recognize current educators (kindergarten through college, public, and private schools) who have made a significant and lasting […]
ChoralNet Survey: We Hear You!
Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to our ChoralNet survey this fall. Our team has been pouring over the responses, figuring out how to incorporate as many suggestions as possible and trying to streamline the ChoralNet experience. From increasing page load times to highlighting more community and church choir resources, you […]
Choral Potpourri: Going Back
“In the olden days, everybody sang. You were expected to sing as well as talk. It was a mark of the cultured man to sing.” Leonard Bernstein Is what we do “relevant?” Are the Old Masters we sing, or even the New Masters, relevant to the world as it is now? I have been doing […]
An Old Colony Thanksgiving
Show 2306 Listen – Hear… Going Beyond Words On ACDA Radio Theme: An Old Colony Thanksgiving Join host Stan Schmidt as he invites you to stop and count your blessings as he explores music of gratefulness and praise, with pieces from the time of the Pilgrims to more modern composers like Britten and Copland, to contemporaries […]
12 Ways to Memorize DURING Rehearsal
Choral Clarity Presents: Our ultimate goal should be teaching our students to embody the music they sing. The deeper their understand, the more they become the art. These 12 rehearsal techniques provide the framework for teaching students how to embody and memorize music while using sheet music: Click here to find out 12 Ways to Memorize DURING Rehearsal This is […]
Is it Time to Rethink the “Conventional” Model of Youth Choir?
The June/July 2016 issue of Choral Journal was a focus issue with articles and columns pertaining to sacred music. One article titled “Soul Searching: Is it Time to Rethink the ‘Conventional’ Model of Youth Choir?” by Eric L. Mathis. The author posits in the introduction that in the twenty-first century, a “conventional” model of youth […]
The Four Functions of a Church Choir
Since starting at my current church, the choir has rallied behind four “functions” of a church choir and has been central in helping the church become what song-enliveners affectionately call a “singing congregation.” As the director of a church choir I use four functions to explain why the church choir exists. Those priorities help determine […]
For Singers: The Concert is WHEN?
“Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation.” – Robert H. Schuller There are two answers to the question, “What’s happening tomorrow?” if it’s posed to a member of a chorus the night before a concert: “We have a concert tomorrow night, I can’t wait.” “We have a concert tomorrow night…what do I do? AUGH!!!” […]
Choral Potpourri: Choral Ethics; Songs My Mother Taught Me
“My mother was a lady like yours, you will allow……” Jimmie Rodgers My Mother would have been 89 years old today. Born on Thanksgiving Day, she loved the holiday, the food and having her family around her. Today my family is gathering to celebrate Thanksgiving of course, but also to reminisce about Mom on her […]
Think On Something New
Air date 11.23.16 Show 2305 Listen – Hear… Going Beyond Words On ACDA Radio Theme: Think On Something New This week on Going Beyond Words host Stan Schmidt takes you on an excursion and asks that you think on something new by listening to some just-released tracks of music from Russia, Latvia, Denmark, Sweden, and the […]