Latest Blog Posts
Stick Time: Choral Confrontation
Art has been a vehicle for social commentary for millennia; from the bitingly provocative images on ancient Grecian pottery to hip-hop diatribes on the desperate realities of the 21st century urban landscape. While a plethora of songs with stinging social commentary have been written over the ages, the chorus is not usually the musical […]
Stick Time: Defining Artistry
What is it we seek to develop with our choirs? Any basic list would probably include such items as beautiful tone, a well-honed phrase, ever-growing musicianship, poised stage presence, the development of an appreciation for good literature, and healthy vibrant singing. One certainly need not conduct a choir full of college music majors […]
CJ Replay: Japanese Choral Music
(Yesterday’s “Stick Time” column on ChoralBuzz featured a choral work accompanied by Koto. Today we continue examining Japanese choral music with an excerpt from the Choral Journal article “Choral Music in Japan: A Hybrid Art” by Anthony J. Palmer) Japanese choral music has adapted a Western form and transformed it by fusing it […]
CJ Replay: Quaker Choral Music
(An excerpt from the Choral Journal article “Singing out of the Silence: A Survey of Quaker Choral Music” by Dan Graves) The practice of singing among members of the Society of Friends is inextricably tied to the history of Quakerism itself. In the mid-seventeenth century, the first generation of Quakers rejected music, although […]
Composition Spotlight: All God’s Children
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!) All God's Children by Wallace De Pue SAB or SAT and piano (click for PDF and audio) Level: Middle School or higher Uses: General Concert Use Program Themes: […]
ChoralTech: The Fog of War
Bear with me while I try to apply military strategy to our choral art. Military strategy has a term called “the Fog of War” which refers to uncertainty, specifically areas of engagement that can’t be known from one’s position. Wikipedia: “The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding one’s own capability, adversary capability, and adversary […]
Saturday Respite: More Attention Please
You're a talented, attractive, well-dressed, blonde soprano singing solo with an orchestra. Just how much more attention could you possibly crave? Wait 50 seconds. (Actually . . . it's a really clever idea)
Stick Time: Choir and Koto
When thinking of the instruments that usually accompany a choral work, one might immediately list piano, organ, a wind instrument or two, or perhaps strings. How about the Koto? Wait . . . Koto!? That’s not an instrument that comes to mind. Though it’s a beautiful and haunting instrument, there aren’t a lot of Koto […]