Latest Blog Posts

Giving a student the stick is one of those “Pay it Forward” things we are supposed to do as choral educators.  When we identify a student with both musical aptitude and the interest in becoming a conductor, it is incumbent upon us to then provide that fledgling conductor an opportunity to lead the ensemble in […]

Cal Newport, who writes one of my favorite blogs, posted this summary of a talk given in 1986 by Nobel Prize winner Richard Hamming. The talk he gave, and Cal’s post, speak to the value of hard work, time use, and creating conditions to foster creativity. I found it a fascinating read, and super valuable to […]

More from Daniel Coyle:  Tip #8 – To Build Hard Skills, Work Like a Careful Carpenter   To develop reliable hard skills, you need to connect the right wires in your brain. In this, it helps to be careful, slow, and keenly attuned to errors. To work like a careful carpenter. . . . Precision […]

From Daniel Coyle’s The Little Book of Talent: Tip #7 “Before you start, figure out if it’s a hard skill or soft skill.”   Coyle divides up the skills we learn into two basic types: “Hard skills are about repeatable precision, and tend to be found in specialized pursuits, particularly physical ones.” He then gives […]

The digital demands of life in the 21st century make it difficult (if not impossible) to be a serious artist.  iGadgets and other such intrusive devices demand undivided attention from their captive users, with far too many weak-minded lemmings utterly unable to disconnect themselves from their electronic leash.   The serious artist (or serious thinker […]

Previously we’ve talked about Scorch as a way to embed notation into webpages and publish music to your ensemble. A new release from Trinket has brought a new level of interactivity to web-based music notation, and while it will likely not replace Scorch from a publishing perspective, it’s incredibly exciting from a teaching perspective. The […]

COMPOSITION SPOTLIGHT ~ by Jack Senzig   (Each week we look at one or two of the best choral works posted in the Composition Showcase here on ChoralNet.  This is where we store a treasure trove of works that your choirs will love to sing and your audiences will love to hear.)   We Three Kings by Rick Bartlett […]