Latest Blog Posts

Anybody can be taught to match pitch, almost instantly, in 5 simple steps. This entire process takes a maximum of 5 minutes.  If you have a student, friend, or family member who struggles to match pitch, give these 5 steps a try! Here is: Get Anyone to Match Pitch:5 Minutes & 5 Easy Steps

This special episode comes at Podcasting from a bit of a different angle. Enjoy a spot as a fly on the wall while two couples, both comprised of two choral musicians, sit down to discuss the benefits and possible pitfalls of being married to someone who shares your professional sphere. My wife Beth and I […]

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” Theodore Roosevelt It’s been almost a year since the world changed because of COVID-19. A year in which most of us have not been directing or singing or doing anything remotely resembling our normal lives. Many of us have used Zoom and other platforms […]

They can be used once a week, when a choir starts learning a new song, or just before an adjudicated choral music festival.  They are a quick and effective instructional and assessment tool appropriate for the upper Elementary Choir through the Collegiate Honor Ensemble.  They can be designed using Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, aligned […]

In my last post, we talked about the importance of Buffer Time—those moments of space in our day that help us transition from one event to the next so we can have a clear mind and energized presence. Today’s post is related to Buffer Time:  what we can think of as Bank Accounts. We are all […]

The February issue of Choral Journal is online and features an article titled “Critical Pedagogy and the Choir” by Simon Hill. You can read it in its entirety online at acda.org/choraljournal. Following is a portion from the introduction. ___________________ What is critical pedagogy? Since the release of Paulo Freire’s seminal work Pedagogy of the Oppressed, a singular definition […]

After writing my blog post last week which acknowledged my desire to “do better” as an educator, and as a person, I have decided to make permanent strides in my classroom. I would like to share my plan for incorporating Black History Month into my choral program moving forward.  I would also like to thank the many black choral directors […]

With Dr. Jerry Blackstone, Matthew Workman and Brian Gaukel Have you heard about this yet?! What an exciting project this is. My three guests for this episode have teamed up to create a monumental expression of what choral singing means to us here in the United States. “CHORAL SINGING IN AMERICA: NURTURING THE AMERICAN SOUL.” […]

“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” Voltaire For the month of February, I decided to share portions of a file of letters from a former singer of mine, Edie,* and others. Today, I’d like to share portions of several letters as well as my perspective about the whole situation. […]

Part 3 of a 3-Part Series First, some basics. This quotation by Leslie Leedberg from “Adolescent Singing Voices” provides a good starting point on this topic: “The female voice can take up to four years to fully change and generally begins between the ages of 10 and 14. Females go through their growth spurts approximately […]