Latest Blog Posts

For Memorial Day, an excerpt of Vaughan Williams' setting of Wildred Owen Walt Whitman's poetry, sung by the Atlanta Symphony chorus, conducted by Robert Shaw:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zfHiloldtg

Periodically we get requests on ChoralNet’s forums by well-meaning directors who want to be inclusive of a variety of traditions and include some Arabic music in their programs. The usual answer is that there really isn’t any choral music in Arabic. There has never been any significant tradition of choral music in Arabic-speaking countries, and […]

It isn't often that the president's actions intersect with music, but we have one today – this from ABC News:   The president and the orchestra at Buckingham Palace this evening were a bit out of synch. When the president toasted the Queen the orchestra misunderstood a pause and what seemed to be a cue […]

Last Tuesday I posted an open letter to Education Secretary Arne Duncan from a number of arts organization. The following is the reply on behalf of Secretary Duncan received this week:   I’ve been asked to reply to your letter of May 10 to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.  As you may know, in my […]

Building on Monday's blog post about dying industries and choral music, here is the Wall Street Journal chart that highlights the Top Ten Thriving industries.   It looks to me like the move to e-publishing and e-commerce is taking over – when will the music publishing industry move from the paper-postage model and into a […]

I saw this on the Wall Street Journal business page last Saturday – the Top Ten dying industries.   It looks to me like this might have some impact on choral music – but what do I know?  I have three degrees in music, not business.  Still, it seems to me that we will be […]

Dan Kreider argues against part-singing of hymns during church: The beauty of harmony isn’t wrong, and it doesn’t necessarily draw the mind away from the text… but it certainly can. If we are to be singing truth to God, to one another, and to ourselves, we have to consider anything that might distract us. Unison singing […]

Liz Garrett proposes an experiment: practice your music for 5 minutes every day for the month of June. That still leaves open the question about how much difference 5 minutes will make, of course. From one perspective, you’d expect it to be largely ineffective, as it is an absurdly short time. You’re hardly even starting […]

Journalist Kristine Aghalaryan discovers a choir in Turkey: The next stop on my journey through Turkey took me to the ancient city of Antioch (Turkish Antakya), founded near the end of the 4 century BC by a general of Alexander the Great. Antakya was annexed by Turkey in 1939. There’s a multi-national choir in this […]

ECS is announcing plans to add digital publishing to their lineup.   Here is the advertisement – I hope to post an interview with their president soon: