Latest Blog Posts

Yes, it satirizes conductors and pokes fun at the choral art, but it's still funny.

One has come to despise B-flat.   An explanation is in order.  Adjacent to one’s office at ACDA is a room containing all of the electrical switching equipment for the entire complex.  One of the devices generates a continual B-flat drone.  One. Long. Unending. Hellish. B. Flat. Drone.  It’s like living inside a bagpipe.   […]

“Works and plays well with others . . . .”   Thus goes the traditional first item on a kindergarten report card (one suspects that should be on EVERY report card, frankly).  It’s really nothing new.  We humans figured out that collaboration was a valuable still when we were still living in caves.   As […]

Roste, Vaughn. The Seven Last Words of Christ: A Comparison of Three French Romantic Musical Settings by Gounod, Franck, and Dubois. Doctor of Musical Arts.  Louisiana State University, 2013.   The Seven Last Words of Christ—those sayings uttered by Jesus between his crucifixion and death as recorded in the Gospels—have long been of interest to […]

Donald, Paul. The Professional Vocalist: How can the understanding of voice technique help in the preparation for the professional career in voice?  University of Aberdeen, forthcoming.   Professionalism has long been a highly debated topic in the Music Industry for centuries amongst academics in music, members of the public, vocalists, instrumentalists and vocal and instrumental […]

Stern, David. The Use of Accidental Inflections and the Musical System in Josquin’s Period, ca. 1480-1520. Doctor of Philosophy dissertation.  City University of New York.   I explore the scope and nature of accidentals used in Josquin’s period and give good guidelines for musica ficta. I was motivated by modern scholarly theories which would use […]

WHY CHORAL MUSIC IS VITAL TO TODAY’S YOUTH by Reilly Dougherty The world today is changing at a swift pace. Every day we are advancing as a whole technologically, but as we progress in these areas, it seems that we are regressing in others to a point where personal human understanding is no longer prevalent. […]

When I attend a concert, I expect to hear music. And when I attend a concert at an ACDA conference, I expect to hear excellent music.   I did not expect Tim Lautzenheiser.   I did not expect to be accosted with positivity.  To be delighted to laughter and touched to tears.  To be vehemently […]

You may have noticed that ChoralBlog has been expanding recently– adding guest bloggers and trying to spread our scope to present as comprehensive a discussion of choral topics as possible. For many people, ChoralBlog is the most obvious (or even the only?) part of ChoralNet, but our increased focus on ChoralBlog shouldn’t distract from the […]

COMPOSITION SPOTLIGHT ~ by Jack Senzig   I have recently had some unusual experiences that I think other choral professionals could learn from.   My choir and I had the opportunity to record with the rock band Cloud Cult on their just released album LOVE.  I encourage my colleagues to read this article and push themselves […]