Latest Blog Posts

Liz’s blog provides a list of tips to minimize choir’s performance anxiety. My favorite is this: If your normal rehearsal warm-ups are about getting people up and going after work, you’ll find that using them just before a performance produces a completely over-hyped choir poised to sing sharp and rush tempi. Meditative warm-ups that slow […]

One of the many things I like about Tim Sharp as Executive Director of ACDA is his continued presence in choral music as a conductor.   Read about his new choir, the Tulsa Oratorio Chorus and their most recent performance:   Both these pieces demonstrated how well Sharp has taken over the chorus, and how […]

This sent to me by Frank Albinder from the Wall Street Journal: For the many stroke victims devastated by the loss of their ability to speak, music may hold the key to unlocking language, according to a new study. In the study, patients who were taught to essentially sing their words improved their verbal abilities […]

Jeffrey Tucker describes his first experience hearing Palestrina, and describes its top five features:  There is no master/slave relationship [i.e. melody/accompaniment] There is a beat but you don’t hear it Each part moves independently You can’t really conduct it, so it is music without a dictator. It can be sung by a choir of any […]

You will love this:       And how they made it:       Thanks to Eric Whitacre for bringing this to my attention.

    Angie Johnson guest blogs on composer Paul Carey’s website about the recent ACDA Children’s Choir Conductors Retreat in Cincinnati.  You don’t want to miss the next one! Usually, I am happy to walk away from a conference with a few new techniques, pieces or ideas and this conference did not disappoint us. In […]

David Griggs-Janower pointed me to this powerful article by conducting star JoAnn Falletta:   We feel betrayed perhaps by Wall Street greed, by ineffectual governance, by political leadership.  But music has never betrayed us, never let us down.  It constantly gives back to us, as a boundlessly beautiful repository of the past or a vibrant […]

It is a great time to get involved with ACDA if you think you are up to the job!   I’ve found my involvement with the national office a true highlight in my career.  It is very rewarding and you have a tremendous opportunity to make a difference through your work.  I encourage you to […]

Following yesterday’s post about the Tricky Ave Maria, Martin Banner sent me this incredible video:    

David Griggs-Janower tells of a special experience at the Philadelphia ACDA: Lisa, who is tall and thin and beautiful,  has long and incredibly graceful arms that she uses to wonderful musical effect.  While she doesn’t eschew the conducting patterns that we use as shorthand to communicate beats, she is not hampered by them, and when […]