ChoralNet

The professional networking site for the global online choral community.

“Christmas is a season not only of rejoicing but of reflection.” Winston Churchill

I’m rerunning some Choral Ethics blogs from years past with a few modifications where needed. Two of my MOST REQUESTED December Blogs will also be making their yearly appearances.

In a few days, it will be Christmas Eve. Your plans have been made for months if you’re anything like me. But this is the Christmas of 2025, so you probably have a “Plan B” if you’re smart and I know you are. Here in the Midwest, there could be a blizzard predicted, so that always adds another layer of planning. Just when we think things are back to “normal,” something happens to mess it all up!

Advent and Christmas, more than Lent and Easter, are much more stressful for our profession. I’m not sure why, but perhaps it’s the gift giving and baking and traveling to see family and friends and all the concerts and services we must prepare or attend. Or maybe it’s just the time of year, who knows? We have many things to accomplish, usually in the dark, and we rarely get all accomplished. I do know for a fact we’re all stressed.

I am here today to remind you to try to be as relaxed as you are able to be, in this super busy season for Choral Folk. Take a breath and when you are thrown for a loop, take another breath. And be kind. Be kind to those around you, whether they be your family, your choir or those you work with. Make kindness “your thing” this Christmas, no matter what happens. Be kind, my dear friends, and reap the benefits later.

Stress cancels out the beauty of the season and there is plenty of beauty so take a breath, do your Alexander Technique breathing or yoga breathing, and take a moment to relax and enjoy. You deserve the beauty; you deserve the goodness you’ve been creating for everyone else this holiday season. You deserve to have some cookies and eggnog and punch, so have some. And you deserve to have some Fa-La-Las directed by someone else for a change!

Know you’ve made a difference in someone’s life this holiday season and you may never know it. Be okay with not knowing because that will be your gift to the world. Your choir singing “Es ist ein Ros entsprungen” may have comforted a child who lost a parent this year or someone newly widowed. Singing “Silent Night” may be the only time a rough and tough teenager uses their voice and finds they like singing. Something you do, something you have planned, something you are not aware of will make a difference. You may find out, you may not, but know you have made a difference.

Much love to you all, ChoralNet, as we ’round the corner to Christmas.

Search Results for: choir

New Video of Kirke Michem’s Island in Space from Leg Lamp Producions

by Leave a Comment

Many former astronauts and cosmonauts have written about their viscerally emotional reactions to flying, and in many cases, floating in space. Each one of them has been overwhelmingly touched by the entire experience.   Astronaut Rusty Schweickart eventually penned his own thoughts after undergoing a spacewalk during the flight of Apollo 9 in March of 1969.  […]

Choral Potpourri: Not Going Down With the Ship

by Leave a Comment

                                          “Don’t be the dance band on the Titanic.” Harry Chapin   At the beginning of the summer, I attended the national conference of Americans for the Arts, an arts advocacy organization based in Washington D.C. I was sent by a new local arts organization I work with, a consortium of arts organizations and businesses […]

What’s on Great Sacred Music, Sunday, August 23, 2015

by Leave a Comment

Great Sacred Music airs every Sunday morning from 8 until 11 a.m. eastern on The Classical Station. Much of the music on this week’s playlist can also be found on Spotify at this link: Great Sacred Music – August 23, 2015 Also on Sunday evenings you can hear more choral music both sacred and secular on Wavelengths […]

Composition Spotlight – Power of nature

by Leave a Comment

   COMPOSITION SPOTLIGHT ~ by Jack Senzig   (Each week we look at one or two of the best choral works posted in the Composition Showcase here on   ChoralNet.  This is where we store a treasure trove of works that your choirs will love to sing and your audiences   will love to hear.)     Power of […]

They That wait upon the Lord – SSATB and piano – FREE pdf download

by Leave a Comment

This is a FREE offer!         This piece was commissioned by the choir of Wesley United Methodist Church, Vienna, VA, USA. This piece features a lively beginning in which the piano part presents the theme from the middle section. The first entrance of the choir presents the main theme, and right after […]

My Way – Sinatra

by Leave a Comment

Item: My Way choral octavo – Alfred publishing Composer/Arranger/Edition: Arranged by T. Chinn, SATB or SAB Starting: Asap For: Until October Copies: 1 Willing to rent: Yes   Looking to perform this arrangement with alumni choir to honor retiring choral director. Performance would be late September. 

© 2025 American Choral Directors Association. All rights reserved.
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy