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“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.

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Stick Time: Clarity of Line

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Johann Sebastian Bach.  I confess, dispite my adoration of his art, he’s still one of my musical tormentors.  The reason is simple: I don’t think I’ll ever grasp all he poured into his monolithic compositions (which explains why some conductors devote themselves almost exclusively to his music).  I won’t stop trying, though.   Today, let’s […]

Contacting the Publishers Directly about YouTube

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I was pleased to find another choral musician publicizing information about YouTube performances of choral music.   Jack Senzig, director of the Gifford Children’s Choir of Racine, WI, has been a choral director for 20+ years and he's trying to provide a useful service for my professional colleagues.  He has created a site called the […]

Featured Community: South Dakota ACDA

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Over the next few months, ACDA will be encouraging local chapters to move their communications operations to ChoralNet. South Dakota's state ACDA chapter has been blazing a trail in this regard, recruiting 72 ChoralNet members to their community and posting information about conferences, honor choirs, leadership positions, and so on. They've made great use of […]

Play List for Great Sacred Music – October 2, 2011

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Great Sacred Music airs from 8-11 a.m. eastern every Sunday on 89.7 fm in central North Carolina and online at http://theclassicalstation.org The show is hosted by Rob Kennedy.   08:00:20 Gregorian chant: Cantique, Benedictus I Monks of Saint-Benoit Abbey, Andre Saint-Cyr 08:06:14 Jan Lohelius Oehlschlagel: Benedictus and Hosana ~ Missa pastoralis Cantores Pragenses; Musica di […]

Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow

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I have a short arrangement of the text Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow – SATB a cappella. It’s just one page – it could be that last piece for the choir to sing while folks are fumbling for their coats and carkeys. I can send a copy as a pdf. Contact me if […]

Two new choral works by Keane Southard

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Two new choral works by Keane Southard are now available.   Do You Hear How Many You Are? for a cappella SATB choir (c. 3min), with text by the composer, won the 2011 Ars Nova Singers Colorado Composers Competition and was premiered by the group, led by Thomas Edward Morgan, in June 2011 in Boulder, CO, USA.  You […]

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