Latest Blog Posts

A woman here in Birmingham is blogging about the new organ in her church.  It comes from an important perspective – she is in charge of the outreach responsibilities at her church and she has been dealing with the cost of a new organ and upgrades to the sanctuary.   Here is how what she […]

I have been a subscriber of Saint James Music Press (SJMP) for the past year. For those of you that don't know about it, SJMP is an online publishing house that offers yearly subscriptions to it's website. Once you have a subscription, you have access to the entire catalog and you can make as many […]

The chance to hear great choral performance – both brilliantly-performed gems of the standard repertoire and new cutting-edge compositions – is one of the main reasons people attend ACDA Conferences. Now you can put the music from ACDA's most recent National Conference in your favorite digital listening device.  A thumbdrive containing 300 selections (MP3 Format) […]

Julie Parsons, a leader in technology for choral musicians, directed me to SingersBabel the other day.   It looks like a superb resource for choral musicians – if you know something about the International Phonetic Alphabet!   Here is a little of what they say about themselves:   You’ll find learning tools and information for […]

In this space last week I introduced some of the educational opportunities that will come along with the World Choir Games this July in Cincinnati. This week I want to direct attention specifically to the ACDA International Choral Academy, July 8-9. Among the thrilling performance and workshop offerings at the World Choir Games this summer […]

I’ve always been a little mystified by the “flash mob” concept. They always pretend they were huge surprises in whatever venues they perform in (in fact there’s a pretense of spontaneity), but at least for the best-known ones, there must have been pretty substantial video setups in advance, which you’d think would tip everybody off […]

Everybody needs an a-cappella warning sign, right?     Could be a great eye-catcher for drive-by traffic at a concert. Available for $20 here. h/t a cappella news

I presume this was from an email he received in response to an earlier blog post: 8.       My disappointment on your opinion on Rutter I have a bone to pick with you. After practicing the glockenspiel part for the Rutter Requiem so much and then committing the part to memory so I could play, phrase and […]

(From the interest session, “Process to Product: Demystifying Score Study,” by David Rayl.  Presented during the 2012 North Central Division Conference)          Score study need not be daunting or excessively time consuming or drudgework. Each of us has the skills and the imagination to do it. We have the time to do this. And […]

As is so often the case, we tend to look at a long holiday weekend in the summer months and think, "Barbeque" without a thought for the reason we have a day off.  Pause to remember the sacrifice of the fallen.