Latest Blog Posts

“There are certain shades of limelight that can wreck a girl’s complexion.” Audrey Hepburn In case you are wondering, today’s blog has nothing to do with the Rolling Stone’s “Paint It Black;” nothing whatsoever. It wasn’t until I was typing the title out that the Rolling Stones connection came to me. And speaking of the […]

This was such a fun conversation with me. Stephanie is a fantastic musician and passionate music educator. She’s also my sister-in-law, and I love learning from her. I wasn’t able to include everything from our conversation. Stephanie is an incredibly engaging and thoughtful programmer, and I highly recommend just reaching out to her and asking […]

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.  For over 50 years, the Worship and Music Conference at Montreat has inspired attendees. Sponsored by the Presbyterian Association of Musicians (PAM), […]

The August issue of Choral Journal is online and features an article titled “Inside the Choral Classroom: Advice for the First-Year Teacher.” You can read it in its entirety at acda.org/choraljournal. This is part 2 of a 3-part series and addresses the following questions: Repertoire and Resources: Where can I find quality repertoire for the skill/size/balance of my choir? […]

Over the past year, I began to notice a breath of fresh air in the online choral discourse in the form of Reginal Wright. Like many of you, I have used Facebook to network with other choral directors that I don’t know in real life. This has benefits for me as a Podcast host, but […]

“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.” Robert Frost I follow the blogs of several authors. A while back, one of them wrote about trying to accomplish three things every day. They could be big things or small things, but if she completed three, she considered her […]

“Hey Susan, your work in choir this year was outstanding – thank you for a great year” In disbelief of what I just wrote in Susan’s yearbook, I looked up and said, “You did such a great job this year in and really grew as a musician, congratulations!  You know, considering everything we went through, […]

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.  From June 20 – 25, I attended the Choral Conducting Symposium at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, led by Dr. Andrew […]

The newest issue of Choral Journal is available online. 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 of the articles you will find in this […]

Executive producer and host of the television program African Ascent, W.E.B Du Bois fellow at Harvard, Professor of Philosophy at Berklee College of Music, Author “I try to argue that they can become better musicians if they become philosophically trained. They will become sensitive to aesthetics in their lives, to the role that art plays […]