Latest Blog Posts

My latest blog post offers a simple approach for ensuring your struggling singers are not tone-deaf. This 2 minute “tone-deaf” quiz will not only help you to quickly assess if your struggling singers could actually be tone-deaf, it will help you to figure out if their ear is even the problem at all. You can give this quiz […]

Dr. Braeden Ayres is a teacher, conductor and composer with a passion point related to concepts of masculinity in choral music. What stereotypes are we stuck too, what challenges to we face when discussing it, and what are the best ways to engage young adolescent boys in our school choral programs? We discussed some of the findings from […]

“Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.” Theophrastus A few weeks ago, I wrote about a problem ChoralNetter Trudy* was having at her church job. Everyone in this congregation was tardy, from the clergy to the choir to some members of the congregation for services. She was thinking about resigning but had […]

I’ve been writing since June 2021. This is the first blog post in which I’ve interviewed or highlighted a cishet white male. “But Shannon, if this is a blog centering equity, why are you sharing the voice of a cishet white male?” Good question. Equity work needs to involve everyone. In particular, cishet white men […]

 Little darling, it’s been a long, cold lonely winter Little darling, it feels like years since it’s been here Here comes the sun, here comes the sun And I say, it’s all right George Harrison There’s something about the sun—its warmth, its golden hue, its energy.  Even the coldest winter days can feel warmer when […]

The March/April 2022 issue of Choral Journal is online and features an article titled “Attention or Autopilot? Motor Learning and the Choral Warm-up” by Christopher Loftin and Matthew Hoch. You can read it in its entirety at acda.org/choraljournal. Following is a portion from the introduction. _________________ Most choir directors consider the warm-up portion of rehearsal to be of considerable […]

Teachers, this is the episode you want to send to your admin! “Hi, Dr. Principal. I listened do an expert on a podcast that says our new district educational model is not backed by evidence.” I’m sure they will be very excited… Dr. Kristina Mitchell is an education researcher who specializes in instructional methodology. She also enjoys challenging […]

“While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart.” Francis of Assisi   If you’ve been reading my Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics blogs for any length of time, you know I HATE GOSSIP! Hate it. Detest it and LOATH it, especially in a choral setting.   It […]

I wish I could take credit for labeling and using the term AutoSave in class, but that honor goes to one of my students. It all happened one day during voice lessons as I was asking my students to write in performing and learning strategies into their music. I was trying to impress upon them […]

One of my favorite things to do is search for repertoire for my ensembles. There is nothing like introducing a piece, rehearsing it, and have it transform listeners and singers. As a church musician, I also spend quite a bit of time connecting hymns, anthems, and liturgy to the theme, Scripture passage(s), and liturgical season […]