Latest Blog Posts

Liz Garnett has a great article on lessons we can learn from Steve Jobs.  Here is a part of it: Fourth, as Weber points out in the study that still acts as the starting-point for all sociological studies of charisma, the charismatic leader has to continue to demonstrate their powers. Because their authority is founded on a quasi-magical […]

Musical expressions of faith come in limitless variety. Here, the text of the Credo from the Ordinary of the Mass is set to bluegrass music.  (ACDA members might recognize the banjo player.)  

Take a moment to reflect and refresh.  

“Real” instruments are too dangerous: Andrew DiMarzio loves to play his tenor sax at home and at school, but the bus company said the case for his saxophone is a safety hazard aboard a crowded school bus. Hope they never learn that singers carry their instruments with them, or whole choirs might be banned. But […]

A friend pointed me to these thoughts about how the physical body can service – or sabotage – genius: When I'm in writing mode for a novel, I get up at 4:00 a.m. and work for five to six hours. In the afternoon, I run for ten kilometers or swim for fifteen hundred meters (or […]

This looks like something I might have choreographed:    

Ever listen to a choir and wonder what language they were singing only to be shocked to realize they were singing in English?  (Having taught in seven states across all four time zones in the continetal U.S. I’ve faced that more often that I would want.)  Here’s a choir from Norway singing English and frankly […]

In my October 18 ChoralBlog "Innovation is 'In'", one of the points I stressed was   *Innovators are connected–they know where to find and get help, and they flourish in cultures that encourage collaboration. In a recent Harvard Business Review "Management Tip of the Day", the editors do a little unpacking of the old adage, […]

We celebrate creativity here and this Alec Baldwin anti-fundraising effort for NPR is quite funny.   There is even a hint of choral music in the background, although it is probably a synthesizer.  See what you think:    

“The most effective choral conductors are music educators in the broadest and best sense. They are constantly bringing people and music together in such a way that the members of the choral ensemble experience aesthetic ‘highs’ as well as an enjoyment from participation as group members, and that they learn more and more about music […]