Latest Blog Posts

“My sorrow, when she’s here with me, thinks these dark days of autumn rain are beautiful as days can be; she loves the bare, the withered tree; she walks the sodden pasture lane.” Robert Frost Those of you teaching in-person with COVID-19 restrictions are encountering dilemmas you never expected to have. And solutions are not […]

  Sing the song Happy Birthday in La based minor using solfège and hand signs.Count sing America (My county ‘Tis of Thee) retrograde.Create a piggyback rap to help the choir memorize key signatures.Perform a four-part round using Kodaly hand signs for the ascending and descending chromatic scale.   Recently, a member of ACDA posted the following […]

It’s that time of year. We are all starting (or are a few weeks into) a new school year, a new church season, community choir rehearsals, or new composition projects. Yet this isn’t where I thought we would be when I started this blog series in June. I fully expected to be looking at COVID […]

by Stuart Hunt Choral conductors are agents of change and adaptation. It IS our DNA. Our students and their families depend on the joy, satisfaction, connection, and growth we offer to those who share our passion. MOVING AHEAD WITH PURPOSE My personal definition of intelligence is not what or how much you know how to […]

The newest issue of Choral Journal is available online. This is A Focus on Mental Health. Following is a list of the articles you will find in this issue. ACDA members can log in with their username and password to view and download the newest edition. You can also read our electronic version. Below is a preview […]

We had one year end abruptly followed by another year of complete turmoil. What will this school year bring us?   While we don’t know what to expect, we’ve had the experience of the past two years to become mentally prepared and physically equipped for just about any circumstance that comes our way. This blog […]

Removing Barriers To Honest and Emotional Singing J.D. Frizzell is a standout educator and clinician. In this episode, we discuss Dr. Frizzell’s successful approach to getting his singers to come out of their shells! We all want our ensembles to sing with passion, honesty, and expression, but how do we achieve this in an objective, measurable […]

“There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen, as if it could not be, as if it had not been!” Percy Bysshe Shelley Hello everyone! After four weeks of reruns of Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics Blogs from summers past, I’m back with new […]

Welcome to this summer series on questions and possibilities for a new era in our personal lives, professional lives, the choral landscape, and in society! I’m so glad you’re here for the journey. By now, many of us have started rehearsals again for the year, whether in a school, worship, collegiate, or community setting. In […]

The September issue of Choral Journal is online and features an article titled “Utilizing the Principles of Storytelling to Design Engaging Concert Programs” by Emilie Bertram. You can read it in its entirety at acda.org/choraljournal. Following is a portion from the introduction. ____________________ The creation of an engaging concert program has been a topic of interest among choral music […]