Choral Culture

“Gardens are not made by singing ‘Oh, how beautiful,’ and sitting in the shade.” Rudyard Kipling In last week’s Blog, I mentioned for the rest of the month of August I would be blogging about things to get you thinking. Last week, I asked what you need to do a good job right before a […]

“A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou.” Omar Khayyam For the rest of the month of August, my Choral Potpourri and Choral Ethics Blog will focus on things to get you thinking so you are able to hit the ground running in the fall. Every Thursday, while you are sipping a nice, […]

“If you haven’t got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me.” Alice Roosevelt Longworth It does no good to gossip about our colleagues and their ensembles.  It doesn’t help the arts community in general or the choral community specifically to “bad mouth” others. We are all in this together and the […]

“If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it. The more things you do, the more you can do.” Lucille Ball I really like helping people with my Choral Ethics project; it brings another layer to what I perceive as my work. In many ways I’ve been preparing to be the Choral […]

“Life is denied by lack of attention, whether it be to cleaning windows or trying to write a masterpiece.” Nadia Boulanger How detail oriented are you? There are plenty of details, having nothing to do with the actual music which must be handled by SOMEONE for any music organization to run smoothly. And if you […]

“We don’t want nobody that nobody sent.” Timothy O’Sullivan, Chicago Ward Committeeman, 1948 It’s that time of year; we are finishing the academic year or our concert cycles and by rights, we should be able to relax.  You and I know that isn’t the case at all.  If we are in an academic setting, we […]

“Be nice to people on your way up because you meet them on your way down.” Jimmy Durante We’ve been busy, email-wise, here at Choral Potpourri/Choral Ethics during the last few weeks as the choir year ends. Academic programs are finished when school ends. And community programs, with all sorts of different types of choral […]

“What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade.” Gertrude Jekyll It is SUMMER! Or will be tomorrow. It is the time of year I […]

“Nobody would comment on what clothes male conductors wear. Or if they kind of put on some weight or something like that, and maybe their jacket is a little bit too tight. But if that happens to me as a female, then that’s immediately pointed out.” Ruth Reinhardt Several years ago, I was at a […]

“When you’re artistic director of a program, you present the music you want to present.” Stanley Crouch As the academic and concert year winds down, many of you are thinking about next year, if you haven’t already finished your repertoire selections. There are usually some restrictions or deadlines or something you need to consider, but […]