Latest Blog Posts
Coming Soon: SKYPE Choir?
Skype is becoming popular in music lessons around the world. Will a SKYPE choir be next? See this from the New York Times: Skype and other videochat programs have transformed the simple phone call, but the technology is venturing into a new frontier: it is upending and democratizing the world of music lessons. Students […]
Henryville Needs a Hand
It’s that crazy-busy time of year in our profession. Think about the biggest stumbling block you’ve faced during this season. Was it an irascible and inflexible colleague in the athletic department? Maybe you’re struggling with a couple of diva students. Perhaps you have some high-maintenance parents rattling your cage. Now put yourself in […]
Sixty-Minute Miracles
In university ensembles, we often work 5 hours per week for 8 weeks or more to prepare 1 concert. Yet, Sunday morning comes for church choirs relentlessly every Sunday, needing a song of quality to support worship. I follow a few simple steps to help make each week’s selection productive and helpful for services. […]
Exploring a U.S. Choral Voice
In 1780, future U.S. President John Adams famously wrote to his wife, Abigail, “I must study politics and war, that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, […]
We Are the World
The World Choir Games arrive this summer, and for the very first time, to a U.S. city, bringing over 350 choirs from around the world to Cincinnati, Ohio. International adjudicators and workshop presenters include Rollo Dilworth (USA), Oscar Escalada (Argentina), Morten Lauridsen (USA), John August Pamintuan (Philippines), and a long list of stellar choral leaders […]
Searching for an American Choral Style
On June 29-31, ACDA celebrates the conclusion of the initial phase of our multi-year partnership with the Library of Congress in the National Symposium on American Choral Music, “The Search for an American Style.” The Symposium features keynote speaker/composer Conrad Susa, along with Pulitzer Prize winning composer and 2013 Brock Memorial Commission composer, Steven Stuckey, […]
USA/Cuba Choral Summit
The Pope may be one of the most celebrated visitors Cuba has welcomed this spring, but next month, the American Choral Directors Association will be there, joining with choral conductors and composers of Cuba for the ACDA initiated US/Cuba Choral Summit in Havanna. This event grew out of ACDA’s International Conductor Exchange Program (ICEP) […]
Saturday Respite: 13 X 7 = 28
Tomorrow is tax day. For a this week’s Saturday Respite let’s let Abbot and Costello do some math for us. (I got hammered by Uncle Sam this year – maybe I should hire these guys as my accountant!)