Latest Blog Posts

FIVE FROM THE FOLDER: MS/JH TENOR-BASS CHOIRS by Nathan Dame   1.  “Courage Lives.”  Mark Patterson.  Heritage/Lorenz 15/2089H. TTB, with piano.  One of my guys’ all-time favorites.  High tessitura and moderately difficult, but the singers “man up” for this one.   2.  “Come Travel with Me.”  Scott Farthing.  Walton/Hal Leonard  HL08501432. TTB, with piano.  A […]

Much to our delight, the Choral Music Baseball Card series has been – pun intended – a big hit!   As a result, we plan to spend some time during the summer developing a couple dozen more cards, and we’d like a little input from the stands.   If there is a significant composer that […]

There are those who despise our military, but the fact remains that the sacrifices of those who have fallen in service to our country provided the freedoms we enjoy.    

Whether it’s a student, a parent, or an administrator, we all have that individual in our sphere who acts as though the world revolves around them; they have probably been making you crazy all year.  As you head out the door for a well-deserved summer break, watch this.  You’ll feel really small, but it will […]

Impersonations are just plain fun.  Kevin Specey and Jimmy Fallon are particularly adept at this form of comedy; with Mr. Spacey’s Johnny Carson being spot-on. (Given that the 2016 political season is upon us – gag! – we’ll probably be hearing a lot of impersonations of those in or seeking office.)    

       It’s that time of year, isn’t it?  Many of our students have morphed from being simply squirrely into vicious little monsters. Their helicopter parents have become fully-armed battle copters.  All the while, our greedy administrators have gone into hiding, cowering like despotic little tyrants at the beginning of a coup d’etat.        As a […]

More from Daniel Coyle:  Tip #42 “Six ways to be a better teacher or coach”   More than one tip, but six for improving our skills! “Use the first few seconds to communicate on an emotional level – Effective teaching is built on trust . . . . There are lots of tools for making […]

WHAT POWERS THE CHURCH CHOIR? by Thomas Vozzella          As we begin the 50 days of Easter, following intensive Holy Week worship experiences, I have been renewed with a deeper understanding of why some church choirs give, give and give more, whereas other choirs make the whole experience torture for themselves and their director(s). […]