Latest Blog Posts

ADVICE ON CHOOSING REPERTOIRE TO SUPPORT EFFICIENT — USE OF THE VOICE by Mary Lynn Doherty          Over the past few years, I have had the opportunity to collaborate on several different projects with Miriam Van Mersbergen [1] a Speech Language Pathologist who specializes in the singing voice.  Miriam is not only a clinician, […]

FIVE FROM THE FOLDER: ASIA, AUSTRALIA and the PACIFIC ISLANDS by Sara Ross   1. "Hush on the Death of a Bush Church." Iain Grandage.  Morton Music MM2062. Absolutely stunning work that combines Aboriginal chant, imperial Christian hymn structure, and Outback mining work song for a commentary on the history of the Australian Bush. SATB […]

There aren’t many examples of Eric conducting on the net, but here’s one with him recording with the Real Group (all the original singers sang as students with him–when he came to Pacific Lutheran University in the mid-80s with his Conservatory Chamber Choir they’d been working together for a while and all were members of […]

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.)   Where Go the Boats  by Dale Trumbore […]

ADVISE ON REHEARSAL STRATEGIES FOR OPTIMAL VOICE — USE by Mary Lynn Doherty          Over the past few years, I have had the opportunity to collaborate on several different projects with Miriam Van Mersbergen [1], a Speech Language Pathologist who specializes in the singing voice.  Miriam is not only a clinician, she is also […]

EVERY CHILD AN OPPORTUNITY TO SING? by Sundra Flansburg          I’m not sure when it was that my perspective shifted from concern mainly about my own career to realizing the hopes I have for, and the responsibilities I hold toward, the next generation. But it happened, and I know that shift happens within most […]

This continues my notes from several sessions on conducting by Eric Ericson done for the Haystack Workshop in Oregon.   Ericson – Day 2 1) “caress” the air as if through water, then make attacks (not in a pattern) gradually more marked , then back to caressing motion – check to see that your shoulder […]

(An excerpt from the interest session “ Teaching Your Singers to Fish: How Diction Frees Us to Sing around the World,” presented by Stephen Sieck during the 2014 ACDA North Central Division Conference)   When we try to teach our singers how to pronounce songs in a foreign language, we often make several assumptions: We […]

  via Neatorama  

Many of us in the field have a huge responsibility to the musicians in our ensembles: we are the channels of everything wonderful about our choral tradition, through which our singers learn about the history and future of composition, performance traditions and culture of music. If you went through a college music program, or an […]