Latest Blog Posts

When I was in France some time back the person I was traveling with insisted on eating American food.  WHAT!?  Who looks for BBQ in Paris?  Isn’t the purpose of travel to experience as much as one can about a culture?  Today, let’s step out of the Western canon and get a little sonic taste […]

Recently, we received a call asking if ACDA provided mechanical licensing.  The answer is, of course, no.  Here is a brief review of of mechanical license procedure from SoundWaves.   “If you are making recordings be aware that you are legally allowed to make only one copy for use in the classroom without being required […]

Paul Salamunovich on selecting repertoire . . .   “I choose music very carefully, trying to match the right piece with the right choir-like the Durufle Requiem with the Texas All-State and the Rutter Requiem with the Eastern ACDAHonor Choir. The reverse wouldn’t have worked nearly as well. A lot of repertoire can be deceiving. […]

How many of us have programmed a work with instrumental forces only to discover that the choir was being buried alive by the wall of sound produced by the orchestra?  In today’s Stick Time we have a chance to listen to a work with good balance between the instruments and the choir.  Further, it appears […]

Because most of us conduct in educational institutions, we tend to work with choirs whose members fall within a fairly tightly defined age range.  Some, though, have multi-generational choirs, such as today’s example.  Listen to the rich sound they are able to produce with such a broad spectrum of ages in this choir.  It seems […]

It seems it is once again cool to innovate, and I am pleased to see the trend. Perhaps it is because of the great hope that our current innovators are bringing to us that makes it such a hot topic, but whatever the reason, "thank you" to Steve Jobs and to all the other dreamers […]

I created this little presentation for my choir after one of my college students took a spill at the end of the service.  I hope you enjoy:     How to faint at next choir concert<div style="padding:5px 0 12px"> View more <a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.slideshare.net/" href="http://www.slideshare.net/">presentations</a> from <a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.slideshare.net/philipco" href="http://www.slideshare.net/philipco">philipco</a> </div> </div>

One of the non-musical tasks every choral conductors has to perform is recruiting singers. Okay, I know there are a couple schools in the country where a staggeringly high percentage of student sing in choir, the rest of us poor mortals have to sell, sell, sell!  It’s even harder in a church.  In an educational […]

This is from a singer’s blog, describing her impressions from the audition of a potential Artistic Director (the applicant rehearsed and conducted a concert).    Of course, everyone has different criteria. This is just one opinion, but this singer had a very positive impression because: She radiates electric energy … on stage and rehearsal. She […]

Part of the normal musical week for some choral conductors is service to a local church or synagogue.  I suppose it stands to reason, given that a large portion of the history of choral music is tied in one form or another to the church.  Of course, trying to understand the term “church music” is […]