Latest Blog Posts

Suite 101 interviews Eric Whitacre . . . and I discover the interesting story behind “Lux Aurumque” and the heartwrenching facts surrounding “When David Heard.”   A preview:   . . . . he said he wanted to commission a piece from me in memory of his father, who had just passed away. He wrote […]

Slaves, prisoners, and those buried alive – they sing.   My good friend Terre was moved to blog about the impact singing has on the lives of the troubled: These anecdotes demonstrate the deepest purpose of singing. Words are not enough, once the circumstances of life become overwhelming. Whether a heartbroken teenager listening to the […]

Helping you Harmonise gives us a nice discussion on the use of conducting patterns in conducting. See what you think: The Case for Patterns They provide a lingua franca common to musicians across the western art tradition They reflect and articulate the underlying rhythmic structure of the music They provide a clear framework to help […]

Tim Sharp gives us a realistic look at the universality of music when it comes to literacy:   Like it or not, as we work in the 21st century, in every other way, music is NOT a universal language. Accepting that it simply “is” does not cut it any longer. On the subject of style […]

ChoralNet user Tom Lloyd sent me this great news about music returning to earthquake stricken Haiti:   “Amid the desperation and despair in earthquake-ravaged Port-au-prince, musicians from Haiti’s national chorus, jazz band and philharmonic gave their first post-quake concert. The musicians were able to rescue some instruments from the rubble, and they held the concert […]

The Choir Girl is accepted into a graduate program and realizes she won’t be able to make the summer choir tour.  Here is her reaction: I have to admit that when I received my acceptance call from the University, after the initial shock from that message died down, the FIRST thing that popped into my […]

ACDA has a new name for one of the R&S areas and they are talking about it.   Here is Robyn Lana, the National Chair for the newly named “Children’s and Youth Community Choirs” Repertoire and Standards Committee: The committee proposed the title change in an attempt to be inclusive and clearly indicate who is […]

If voice teachers are giving voice lessons via Skype and Eric Whitacre is awarding scholarships from auditions on YouTube, can online choir auditions be very far away?  I can think of “sightreading” as a possible downside, but that’s all.   What do you think?   Skype Voice Lessons:       Eric Whitacre Scholarship Winner: […]

Do you ever have the sense that your choir thinks you are talking about someone else when you make a correction during a rehearsal?  I do, and one of my students helped me come up with this pyramid yesterday.

My colleague told me this story about a recent happening in the “band” world that you may not have heard about:   Here is the outline of the story:   1.  On January 30, 2005, a parent wrote an article in the Washington Post that bemoaned instrumental music education in general and substandard literature in […]