Latest Blog Posts
Stick Time: Six Chansons
Listening to masterpieces of the standard choral repertoire is like visiting with a well-loved friend. There is a sense of instant familiarity, comfort, and kinship. It is, however, critically important to remember (or perhaps to realize for the first time) that while a work may be well known to many in a room full […]
Stick Time: Stolen Moments
Get your week off to a finger poppin’ start with this performance of the Darmom Meader chart “Stolen Moments” by the vocal jazz ensemble from American River College. This recording, from the 2011 National Conference of the American Choral Directors Association, gives just a small sample of one of the many vocal forms on display […]
Choral Caffeine: How is YOUR Voice?
So, the school year is several weeks old. How is your voice holding up? Yes, YOUR voice. You spend hour after hour caring for the vocal well-being of those around you, but who is looking after your pipes? The is the question at the heart of Mary Lynn Morrissey Doherty’s article, "You Might Not […]
IJRCS Now Available
The newest edition of the International Journal of Research in Choral Singing is now available. Founded in 2003, this exclusively on-line publication is now the scientific journal of the American Choral Directors Association. “We are delighted that IJRCS has become a part of ACDA’s publishing outreach,” said the Association’s Executive Director Tim Sharp. “Join […]
Three Generations in ACDA
Most of us think of the American Choral Directors Association primarily in terms of professional affiliation. For a few people, though, ACDA is a family affair. Take the family of Bill Grace; they represent three generations of ACDA members. Bill has been a member since ACDA’s earliest days in 1959, his daughters Gretchen […]
Choral Caffeine: Another Reason to Vote
In case anyone hasn’t noticed from all of the posturing politicians endlessly bloviating in front of anything with a lens, it’s election time. Yes, we’re going to determine which of a field of veracity-challenged, folliclly-blessed attorney’s we send to the beltway to pork-out on our money. For many of us, though, the larger concern […]
Saturday Respite: A Different “Weather Report”
On Monday in the "Stick Time" column we refered to the 70s jazz-fusion band "Weather Report." Here's a little taste for your Saturday (and if you recognize the chart as having been covered by The Manhattan Transfer, you win a cookie!).
Stick Time: Weather Report
When people hear the term 'weather report' they probably think of the local news, The Weather Channel, or perhaps even the 70s jazz-fusion band (I'll share that just for fun in the next "Saturday Respite"). Maybe now we'll think of this performance of "Weather Report" (Chilcott) by The Choir of the West from Pacific Lutheran […]
Stick Time: Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day
Our summer ends with the autumnal equinox taking place on Saturday (at 10:49 EDT to be exact). It seems an appropriate time to listen to this performance of “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day” (Lindberg) by the Commonwealth Singers from Virginia Commonwealth University (John Guthmiller, conductor) recorded during the 2012 ACDA Southern Division […]
CJ Replay: The Two-Pattern
(From the Choral Journal article “Is Your Baton Suffering from the ‘Terrible Two's’?” by Michael Yachanin, p.37) Which is the only conducting pattern with a downbeat that does not move straight down? In what pattern is it most difficult to achieve variety? Which pattern is most prevalent in Renaissance music? It is the […]