Latest Blog Posts
Intonation IV – Barbershop and tuning
Here’s a guest blog post on barbershop tuning from Mike O’Neil, who taught high school for five years before becoming a music educator for the Barbershop Harmony Society (formerly known as SPEBSQA). He wrote to me offering a guest post and I happily accepted. Incredibly helpful and useful information. He included a couple examples of exercises […]
Intonation III – what system do you use?
Many of us have gravitated towards a system of "just" intonation, rather than the tempered scale that's used for tuning pianos. You may not have even thought about this and simply accepted that the piano is the arbiter of what's in tune and what's not. However, equal temperament is really a compromise tuning system (and […]
Composition Spotlight: Fear Not, Dear Friend
COMPOSITION SPOTLIGHT ~ by Jack Senzig (Each week we look at a piece of useful repertoire from the ChoralNet Community Composition Showcase. A variety of voicings and levels of difficulty will be presented. Enjoy!) Fear Not, Dear Friend by Jake Runestad TTTBB a cappella (click for PDF and AUDIO-SATB version) Level: College or higher Uses: General Concert Use […]
Intonation II – overview and “what is good intonation?”
As I started to outline potential posts in this series I came up with a ridiculous number–only some of which may actually happen before the summer hiatus! One of the problems is that so many areas overlap–you can't talk about vowel without talking about vocal technique or your idea of an ideal sound. So some posts […]
Mysterious Poster Sightings!
There have been several sightings of ACDA’s award-winning poster “Vibrant Harmony” (by S Design Inc.) around the national office in Oklahoma City. Have you seen it in your office, rehearsal room, or lobby? Snap a photo and post it to the American Choral Directors Association Facebook group – and you will be entered in a […]