Latest Blog Posts
Standardized testing in the arts
Standardized testing in the arts? I haven't heard anything about it, but this Nancy Flanagan has. Here is a little bit of her blog post – read the whole thing here. Why would we deliberately advance a worthless (and expensive-to-develop) mode of assessment for something as crucial to kids' well-being and our own […]
Social Media in the classroom – and choir room?
This is a compelling presentation about integrating social media. It looks like everything is linked so that the teacher has to do only minimal work – worth a look! Gluing together Blackboard, Facebook, and Twitter View more presentations from Matthew Leingang
Chorus America reflections
I didn’t get to go to Chorus America last week, but Frank Oteri did, and he blogged about it: Directors of choruses are frequently composers themselves, and composers and new music—even when not front and center—has played a role in about every session of this conference I had ever attended. But ACF’s construction of […]
Americans can’t sing because . . .
We don’t know how to control our “vocal muscles.” That is from Scientific American and the Journal of Experimental Psychology: In a series of pitch-matching experiments, nonmusicians were pretty good at adjusting an instrument to match a specific note, suggesting that they could hear it just fine. They had much more trouble, however, imitating […]
Are there any Asians in ACDA?
We talked about the high percentage of caucasians at the recent ACDA leadership conference in Dallas and I blogged about it here the other day. The general feeling was that we better start paying attention to the cultural diversity of the United States and especially the Latino population. But what about the Asian […]
Audio of Chorus America concert
Minnesota Public Radio has posted a streaming version of the opening concert of the Chorus America conference from last week. The program includes Cantus Choral Arts Ensemble Magnum Chorum Minnesota Chorale National Lutheran Choir One Voice Mixed Chorus The Singers VocalEssence Minnesota Youth Choir Consortium Click on the links in the middle of the […]
Don’t Do it For the Kids
As part of the preparation for this summer’s General Convention, the Standing Committee on Liturgy and Music of the Episcopal Church commissioned a report on a possible revision of the Hymnal 1982. According to Robert Hendrickson, program director of the St. Hilda’s House and Ascension House residential internship programs for young adults and new clergy curate and […]
London Dispatch: A Student’s Perspective, Part 2
(Today’s London Dispatch is by Stephen Sawyer, a recent high school graduate from Rosemount, Minnesota. Two days after returning from his experience with the ACDA National Youth Honor Choir in England, Stephen will report for his challenging first year as a midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy.) My name is Stephen Sawyer. I have […]
London Dispatch: A Student’s Perspective, Part 1
(Today's London Dispatch is by Chad Berg, a a member of the ACDA National Youth Honor Choir and a student at the University of St. Thomas) My name is Chad Berg. I am currently on the ACDA National Youth Honor Choir Tour in London, England. Along with touring the historic and beautiful city of […]
London Distaptch: Sights, Singing, & Stonehenge
The ACDA National Youth Honor Choir contunes its adventure around London. The 73-member choir has spent several hours in rehearsal with Simon Carrington; with members growning as choral singers while becoming evermore an ensemble. When not in rehearsals, they have enjoyed seeing the sights around London, including St. Paul’s Cathedral, Buckingham Palace, The Tower of […]