Latest Blog Posts

The topic of music education was mentioned in the opinion section of the New York Times a couple of weeks ago.   The author poses this question: The question is: Why do schools teach music in a way that turns off so many young people rather than igniting their imagination? Adolescents and teenagers are crazy […]

We’ve just moved ChoralNet to a newer and faster server environment. As with any move, things get broken…and at the moment, ChoralNet mail is one of those things. A few things to be aware of: If you subscribe to Daily Digest or Daily Index for any of your subscriptions, you didn’t receive your digest last […]

Today, let’s focus our ears on the movement of phrase. Listen to the forward momentum as the chorus moves through each portion of the line in this Vaughan Wiliams work.  There is a subtle ebb & flow to the tempo, giving an organic sense to the line. Also note the even movement of each voice […]

Listen to the wonderful homogeny of sound here. Healthy vocal production with pleasing and appropriate vertical tone.  Note the care taken by the singers in the unform articulation of text. (With additional kudos to our colleague for conducting from memory.)    

Banjo-pickin’ may not be a familiar sound in church, but audiences will hear one — and a fiddle and mandolin — during a “High Lonesome Mass” to be performed in Longview. Chor Anno, a 25-voice choir of experienced singers directed by retired local teacher Howard Meharg, will sing the work during the St. Stephen’s Celebration Concert at […]

“Nothing can stop the person with the right mental attitude from achieving their goal; nothing on earth can help the person with the wrong mental attitude.”  ~Thomas Jefferson   Try not to see today as the end of a weekend but as the beginning of an opportuntiy to make a difference in the life of […]

A little something for your Sunday . . .   Enjoy a moment of rest today.  Monday will be here before you know it.  

“Just having a title does not make you a leader, leaderships is about influence. Title only buys you time to exercise true leadership, and in this time your leadership either increases or diminishes and eventually fails. There is a huge difference between being a boss and being a leader… The Transformational Leader leads from a personal influence […]

We're definitely in crazyville now. A Pennsylvania school district has decided not to stage a Tony Award-winning musical about a Muslim street poet after community members complained about the timing so soon after the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The Richland School District in Johnstown had planned to stage "Kismet" in February, but […]

Choral music comes in many forms. From monks intoning a Gregorian “Ave Maria,” to a chorus roaring through a Verdi opera, to angelic children singing on Christmas eve.    Afro-Blue may not be standing in rows wearing robes, but at its heart, this is most definitely choral music. I bet they would rock Brahms.   […]