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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.

Search Results for: choir

Fron trip to NYC televised

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By Karen Price CARDIFF, WALES — ALL the drama, emotion and excitement of the Fron Choir’s debut visit to New York will be relived this week in a television documentary – including the moments they were caught up in a hurricane. Members of the North Wales-based choir have had a memorable few years since signing […]

ACDA announces U.S. / Cuba Choral Summit

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An historic opportunity has become available to American Choral Directors Association members and selected choral ensembles.  After fifty years of separation between Cuba and the United States – a period during which both countries have developed a thriving choral tradition – ACDA, through the auspices of its International Choral Exchange Program, has established the first-ever […]

Bath Choral Society appoints new director

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BATH, UK — Bath Choral Society has announced the appointment of Will Dawes as its new musical director from September, following the retirement of Matthew Bale in July. Based in Oxford, Will Dawes graduated with a degree in choral conducting from the Royal Academy of Music in 2006, being awarded the Thomas Armstrong Prize for […]

LA Children’s Chorus appoints Larissa Donnelly

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By Barbara Kaplan   LOS ANGELES, CA — Larissa Donnelly has been appointed director of the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus (LACC) Apprentice Choir. Donnelly will oversee all aspects of the Apprentice Choir, geared for young singers with little or no previous vocal training, including selecting appropriate repertoire to match the singers’ skill level and conducting […]

New role at university for Denise Eaton

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By Christina Hayden   SPRING, TX — After 17 years as the head choral director at Spring High School, Denise Eaton will take on a new role teaching choral methods at Sam Houston State University and conducting the women’s choir. Eaton will also be a full-time choral editor for Carl Fischer Music Publishing. “I’ve always […]

On demand or not?

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Today's gripe: print-on-demand bureaucracy.   I ordered a piece for my Christmas concert for choir, organ, and trumpet. I placed the order with my usual vendor for the p/v scores and a separate trumpet part. Today (six weeks after I placed the order) I get a phone call saying they can't send me just the […]

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