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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: […]

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 […]

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)  

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 […]

If you’ve been anywhere near a mall over the past couple weeks, you have undoubtedly heard what is arguably Vince Guaraldi’s best-known recording.  Believe it or not, he and his trio did play other things.  

Jump in your car.  Turn on the radio.  Tune to the local classical radio station (assuming you’re lucky enough to live in an area that has one).  What do you suppose the odds are that they will be playing a choral work?   If you answered “slim to none”, congratulations . . . you win […]

Your college choral director did it.  You’ve done it.  Yes, I’ve done it too.   We’ve ALL complained in one form or another about the need for more male singers in our choral programs.  The challenge is so daunting that in the spring of 2012, ACDA devoted both the April and May issues of the […]

(An excerpt from the Choral Journal article, World Music: A Breath of Inspiration, by Stephen Hatfield)   Every choir, regardless of age, gender, size, or strength, is a sacred institution. Choral music is one of the hallmarks of a civilization. Some cultures have no dance and no pictorial arts, but singing seems to be universally […]