Latest Blog Posts

“The study of asana is not about mastering posture.  It’s about using posture to understand and transform yourself.” B.K.S Iyengar A few weeks ago, I received an exciting message in my inbox from Yoga Alliance, the primary professional organization for yoga advocacy, standards, and research.  YA regularly tracks legislation or regulations that can have an […]

One commonality between my experiences singing in the middle school and high school choirs was the largely disproportionate ratio of male to female singers—a ratio that did not exist in the more advanced choirs offered by the two programs. Conversations since with other middle school and high school colleagues around the Southeastern United States echoed […]

If you are interviewing for a new choral job, there’s a good chance you will be asked to give a choir demo lesson.   A demo lesson is a make or break for landing your next (or very first) job. Unfortunately, most choral directors do not know how to plan a successful demo lesson.   […]

This episode is a pastiche of sorts from several sources. We will start with the introduction from my “Togetherness Activism” live presentation from Colorado in January. In that segment I tell the story of what I have learned about discourse and discussion from starting a show in which I put forward opinions in public for […]

“If you make listening and observation your occupation you will gain much more than you can by talk.” Robert Baden-Powell Last week, Choral Ethics began a new series on listening, a very important skill for a choral musician, or ANY musician, to have. I listed a few types of listening skills and blogged about another […]

If you’re a church musician, I’m guessing you’re feeling the pressure of this time of year with Holy Week and Easter just around the corner. This time of year, I would love more rest and pause, a very challenging task in such a hectic time. Sometimes I’ll remember the saying that “Comparison is the thief […]

The March/April 2023 issue of Choral Journal is online and features an article titled “The Business of Composing Part 2: Licensing” by Dan Forrest with Jake Runestad. Following is a portion from the article. _________________ If you publish music with a traditional publisher, and don’t care about all the inner workings, you don’t have to understand all the details […]

In this episode, I have renowned composer and publisher Dan Forrest on the show to talk about the current state of the publishing industry. In addition to his own story about how he got involved in the publishing and composition world, as well as his thoughts about the history of music publishing, the changes due […]

“I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.” Ernest Hemingway Listening is a very important component of our Choral profession. We listen to our choruses in rehearsal for mistakes. We listen to the concerts we attend and the concerts we conduct. We listen to music for […]

From gray to green.  That’s how it is this time of year.  The gray that characterizes the early months of the calendar slowly, surely, gives way to green, the color of spring.  Writing this on St. Patrick’s Day, I see green everywhere and it instantly brightens my mood, enlivens my thinking, and lifts my energy. […]