Latest Blog Posts

The International Journal of Research in Choral Singing (IJRCS)  is ACDA’s scholarly publication that welcomes studies that apply rigorous, systematically-grounded methodologies, either quantitative or qualitative, to investigate phenomena of potential interest to all who sing in, work with, or are otherwise interested in choral ensembles. Below is the abstract from this article written by Craig […]

It can be so frustrating when one or two singers negatively impact our rehearsal with their lack of pitch matching. That droning sound can be frustrating to everyone in the room! Sometimes these struggling singers show improvement when isolated, yet their vocal progress doesn’t translate back into the rehearsal setting. How do you help those struggling singer during the rehearsal? How […]

Teaching students to be literate requires teachers who are trained for it. The episode you have been asking for for over a year is finally here! It is jam packed full of ideas and solutions. The music literacy guru herself, Carol Krueger and I discuss the crisis facing music education that few are talking about. […]

“It is nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.” John Templeton Joselin* has been a friend of mine for many years. We first got to know each other at a choral conference and have corresponded (first by snail mail, then email) ever since. Occasionally, we’ll see each other in person at […]

Dr. Ahmed Anzaldúa founded Border CrosSing in 2017, a Minnesota-based organization that “envisions fundamental change in classical music culture, so that every concert, every audience, and the artists on stage truly reflect the cultural reality in which we live.” For more about Dr. Anzaldúa and the beginnings of Border CrosSing, read this 2019 interview with […]

I’ve been teaching a new course, an honors seminar combining a yoga mat practice with the study and application of core yoga principles and readings to develop a “toolbox” for students to navigate their college life and beyond, as they build careers and develop as leaders and humans. Though we are just beginning this journey […]

The February 2022 issue of Choral Journal is online and features an article titled “The Choral Music of Florence Beatrice Smith Price” by Stephen Caldwell. You can read it in its entirety at acda.org/choraljournal. Following is a portion from the introduction. _________________ The Florence Beatrice Smith Price Collection in the Special Collections Department at the University of Arkansas began in […]

We all want our choirs to sound great. So what do we do when a “tone-deaf” singer wants to join our choir? Some singers that walk in our door will bring down the flow of our rehearsal and negatively impact our sound. What do we do? Do we send them away?   This blog post […]

For this Oxford Press conversation, I was able to speak to composer Alan Bullard about his life, career and approach to choral music. We talked about what it was like to study with Herbert Howells, the need for music for flexible voicings, the contrasting economy of sheet music sales in the US and UK, as […]

“I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.” John Steinbeck I have been thinking a LOT about my elementary […]