Latest Blog Posts
Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Last Man Standing
Dad (Charles Grass) and Bob Fosse, they were probably 12 years old “If you think you can do better, then do better. Don’t compete with anyone; just yourself.” Bob Fosse For the month of December, I’m rerunning some Choral Ethics blogs from years past with a few modifications where needed. Two of my MOST REQUESTED December Blogs will […]
ChoralEd: Vocal Exercises, Episode 14-15
In episode 14 and 15 of ChoralEd we continue our series on vocal exercises with a discussion of vocal warm-ups for tone development and mental activation. In Episode 14, Heather Orr discusses her incorporation of vocal exercises for tone development. In conjunction with each vocal exercise, Mrs. Orr frequently incorporates kinesthetic movement. In general, the […]
Planting Seeds for the Future
At St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, the church where I serve, one of our themes is “Rooted in Faith”. Even before I started in August, I started thinking about what that meant. In preparation for Advent, I was thinking about Biblical readings that mention the root of Jesse or similar imagery. If you attend or serve […]
Singing and Adolescent Males: An Updated Look at “What Do We Know Now?”
The November/December 2022 issue of Choral Journal is online and features an article titled “Singing and Adolescent Males: An Updated Look at “What Do We Know Now?” by Patrick K. Freer. Following is a portion from the article. _________________ Singers’ voices have always changed during adolescence. A growing research focus on male vocal development has, in turn, changed how […]
The 11 Winter Concert Songs I Repeat Every Year
I repeat the same 11 pieces at my winter concert every year! These 11 pieces are special to my students and our audiences. These 11 pieces are easy to learn and passed on from choir member to choir member. These 11 pieces bring our alumni back year after year. In this blog post I share these 11 pieces, video recordings of each piece from […]
The Strange Relationship between Choral Music Ed and Vocal Ped with Dr. Sharon Hansen
One of the oddest things about Vocal Music Education as a profession, is how little we are required to learn in our schooling about the voice. Vocal Pedagogy courses are often the purview of voice performance majors, which is very odd considering how many more students will be impacted with vocal instruction by a person […]
Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics: Singing Her Praises
Margaret Hillis in 1978, Terry’s Photography “There’s only one woman I know who could never be a symphony conductor, and that’s Venus de Milo.” Margaret Hillis I first learned about the new biography of Margaret Hillis (Margaret Hillis: Unsung Pioneer, Cheryl Frazes Hill, GIA Publications, Inc., Chicago, 2022) last spring. I quickly pre-ordered it from […]
ChoralEd: Vocal Exercises – Posture, Breath, and Relaxation
In ChoralEd Episode 12 and 13, Dr. Roger Hale and Angelica Brooks discuss vocal exercises for posture, breathing, and relaxation. In Episode 12, Dr. Hale describes the anatomical features of our posture and breath. This technical discussion is accompanied by exercises that improve student awareness of the head, neck, spine, body, and breath. In Episode […]
The Conductor as Yogi: Brain Aerobics in Rehearsal
Our recent posts have focused on the impact of stress on the brain (not just on our “feeling” state) and how we can mitigate it by taking time in our day and in our rehearsals to pause and move and breathe. Today we look at another way to enhance brain health for us and our […]
Vocal Pedagogy in the Overlapping Rehearsal Contexts of Musical Theatre and Choral Music
The November/December 2022 issue of Choral Journal is online and features an article titled “Vocal Pedagogy in the Overlapping Rehearsal Contexts of Musical Theatre and Choral Music” by Robert C. Jordan with Catherine A. Walker. Following is a portion from the article. _________________ Many secondary choral music educators have been asked to collaborate with their theatre colleagues to […]