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This is a fabulous article written by an amateur singing in his church choir for the first time. As choir directors, we are all familiar with the tropes he puts forward, but he does so in such an original and provacative way that I found it enthralling. I hope you enjoy it.   GQ.com – The Vulgarian in the […]

For a church musician, the Lenten/Easter season is incredibly demanding.  In some churches, Holy Week can demand two dozen hours of musical service.  Now with the season behind us, church choral directors are probably eager for a little perspective and perhaps a bit of a re-charge.   In his article, “A Time for Sowing: Planting […]

It seems that as the world becomes more fragmented and in some ways quite hostile, there are increasingly those who are making tiny strides in their own way to improve civility and common decency.   In her article, “Cultural Awakening: An Opportunity for Healing and Harmonizing” (Minnesota Star of the North, Vol. 36, No. 2), […]

(An excerpt from the Choral Journal book review, John Stainer: A Life in Music [Jeremy Dibble, author], by Stephen Town.)          “Any study of the Victorian musical world and the later nineteenth century sooner or later brings one into contact with John Stainer. A towering figure in the field of Anglican church music and […]

One is well aware of the Reason for this Season.  The candy is just a plus (at least now that Lend is over . . . Yum!)  

I have enough problems with my fumbly fingers on the 88-toothed monster.  Now THIS guy . . .  

(An excerpt from the Choral Journal article, “The Shorter Works of Gustav Holst,” by Elmer Schock.)        Holst’s choral music comprises both large and small works. The Hymn of Jesus is probably his best known larger work; it was written in 1917 with’ a text from his own translation of the Apocrypha and was […]

(An excerpt from a Choral Journal “Letter to the Editor” by Cliff Ganus.)          One who listens to recorded examples of liturgical music can often determine the nationality of the choir by noting the hard or fricative consonants or modified vowels which are more related to French or German than to Italian. The absence […]