Latest Blog Posts
What can we learn from John Wooden VII
This will be a final two-part post based on Gallimore and Tharp's 2004 article, but not the last on what we can learn from John Wooden–he still has much more to teach us! One of the sections in the article is titled, "Some Wooden Views on Pedagogy" (as always, read the article for yourself […]
New Instruments and Soundmakers
(image: commons.wikimedia.org) The only instrument that can match the sheer range of sounds available to the human voice is the synthesizer. While not capable of the incredible variation of tone, timbre and resonance of the voice, the synthesizer has a similar capability to create a diverse palette of tones and mix them in myriad […]
Composition Spotlight: The Holy Night
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.) The Holy Night by […]
GUEST BLOG: “Milestones to Celebrate” by Tim Sharp
MILESTONES TO CELEBRATE by Tim Sharp As we end another year and look forward to entering our 55th year as a professional association, the American Choral Directors Association has several milestones to celebrate, and much to look forward to in the coming year. Beginning in January, and then continuing throughout the year, […]
What we can learn from John Wooden VI
This continues last week's post about Wooden's preparation and what we can learn from it. Remember, we're referencing Gallimore and Tharp's 2004 article, which looked back at their earlier 1976 study. Last week we heard how Wooden spent 2 hours each morning planning the afternoon's practice. All the drills were written out on 3×5 […]
Stick Time: What Part of “NO CELLPHONES” Don’t You Understand?
Though the choral season is a couple months along now, we are closing in on that time of year when it seems we are all rushing from concert to concert. Thus it seems a good idea to be reminded of the need to insist that those in our audience turn off their cellphones. At […]
Audition Tour
I've been doing Honor Choir auditions for the past week. I've seen over 400 kids from around the state. 2.5 minutes of solo, 2.5 minutes of sight reading. I've heard Sento nel Core more times than I care to remember. On Thursday alone, I sat through 10 hours of auditions, 120 kids, with one hour […]