Latest Community Posts

I’ve just launched a “new and improved” website (www.choralcharisma.com), which includes the following:   Safety First.   How to establish a safe and supportive environment, and why it’s in everybody’s best interest  – audience members included. Includes games and activities designed to build personal commitment, trust, and a strong sense of ensemble.   Movement & Warm-ups.   How to help singers […]

I need to practice choral singing parts on my own between choral rehersals.  I don’t play a keyboard, and just want to be able to scan sheet music into my computer and have it play so I can learn my part at home.  Is there any freeware program that I can download to do this?  I […]

I would like to do something a little different for Good Friday Services.  Does anyone know of a Taieze type chant service or something that I could put together for my choir rather quickly?   John Rondeau, Director of Music, The First Congregational Church of Dudley Dudley, Massachusetts

I am interested in any discussion about the relative merits and differences in the Beyer and Levin editions of the Mozart Requiem. I understand each corrects some longstanding errors in Sussmayr but how are they different from each other. Thanks, Bob Eaton  

Hello Everyone,   I am looking for some great song ideas. I am looking for SATB acapella music for our large group contest. I would prefer a spiritual/gospel idea, but I am open to some up beat Sacred and Secular as well. We are already going to perform Enatus Est Emmanuel and Hark I Hear […]

Dear all,   My Junior Choir is going to sing a song called “Lightning!” for their Music Festival competition next Monday and I was advised by my colleague who’s the head of the English Department to include pronouncing the “t” sound in the word “lightning”. Is it correct? As I’ve checked several online dicts with audio pronunciation and all of them […]

Good morning colleagues:   As part of my recruiting drive for my church choirs, I'm compiling a "Top 10" list of things people say to rationalize not participating in choir.  I made it as far as four and got stuck (you'd think coming up with 10 would be easy!).  I think I'd like to open the topic […]

Could anyone put me in touch with someone who would be able to provide me with a transliteration and tranlation of a brief passage in Zulu from a piece I am arranging for my group?

I expect to get a lot of people disagreeing with me, but I still would like to start this discussion.   Why do most choirs (at least where I live–maybe it’s different in other places?) not sing anything other than classical pieces? Why is it considered “bad” to learn popular music?    My personal teaching philosophy […]

 Dear Colleagues, In the Benedictus movement of Schubert’s Mass in E Flat, The Schuberts Werke edition has long slurs for the strings.  I’ve done this work before, but I keep going back and forth on how to bow these passages.  The long slurs only occur when the dynamic marking is piano or quieter, which means […]