Latest Blog Posts
Choral Caffeine: Make a Plan
Looking for a way to maximize your rehearsal time and improve the responsibility of individual singers? Maybe Deborah Fristad can help. In her article, “How about a 5-5-5 Plan? Sive Songs, Five Weeks, Five Concerts!” (Resound, Spring 2012) she lays out a method that just might work for you. Each day was […]
Choral Caffeine: Aging Singers
As the baby-boom generation enters retirement, the U.S. will struggle with new medical, societal, and economic realities. As choral conductors, we, too, will see changes in our adult choirs, from the smallest church choir to large symphonic choruses. In his article, “The Aging Voice” (MCDA Reporter Spring 2007), Mark Lawley queries six conductors on […]
Stick Time: What Do You Hear?
Here is a selection from a performance at a recent ACDA Divisional Conference. A couple things to listen for today: (A) What did our colleague do with the phrase structure? (B) What decisions were made about the choir's tone, both for individual singers and the entire ensemble? (C) What sort of surprises did the composer […]
Stick Time: Jester Hairston “Amen”
Jester Hairston chats with an audience before leading a performance of Amen in Europe. Note the passion he has for the art form, the music itself and the text of the work. And how many conductors have that much energy, enthusiasm, and resolve at 80?
Stick Time: Memorize the Score
Did you know that it takes exactly thirteen hours to memorize a piece of music? Yup! Twelve hours to complain about it and one hour to get the job done. Of course, I’m being glib. Depending upon the complexity of the work at hand, memorization can be almost instantaneous, or it can present significant […]
A Fresh Look
The ACDA website is sporting a new look! After months of development, the Association’s website has been completely rebuilt from the ground up. This improved site will allow ACDA to better serve its members. “We are happy to present this completely redesigned site to our members and hope it will be a useful tool,” said […]
Charisma and Tyranny
Helping you Harmonise has a great blog post about how charisma can transform into tyranny, especially for choir directors: There’s a scene in the film The Iron Lady in which Margaret Thatcher is chairing a cabinet meeting just ferociously. Hardly anyone dares speak, and when they do she slaps them down. There is an edge […]
Stick Time: Conducting Study 10
Today for our conducting study, let’s focus on the face. Generally, how do people react when you scowl at them? Now take the opposite view: when you smile as someone, isn’t that smile returned? (try it sometime) The giggles of children usually make those hearing their little peals of joy laugh too. So […]