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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

KVIE public television profiles choral music

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  Is the Sacramento Choral Society really the only community choir with its own professional orchestra? They kept saying that. Must be pretty substantial, too, if they're often doing pieces like Carmina Burana.   Don Kendrick is a perfect example of the beats-at-the-top style of conducting.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaZuKy0ga_s

Richard Sparks leaving Edmonton’s Pro Coro

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By Tom Murray EDMONTON – For Pro Coro artistic director Richard Sparks it’s an emotional time. After 12 years at the helm of the 30-year-old Edmonton choir, he’s in the process of rehearsing Pro Coro for the very last time. Bach’s St. John Passion will be the concert he signs out on to commit full-time […]

PRINCETON PRO MUSICA FOUNDER TO “PASS THE BATON” IN 2012

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  Press Release   For immediate release – May 1, 2011   Contact: Mary Trigg, Interim Executive Director                                                                                                                609-683-5122   PRINCETON PRO MUSICA FOUNDER TO “PASS THE BATON” IN 2012   Princeton Pro Musica has announced that Frances Fowler Slade, Founder and Music Director, will “pass the baton” at the end of […]

U of NM Choral program scores new score

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By Alexandra Swanberg UNM’s choral program commissioned a piece on death to celebrate its 100 years of life. About a year ago, UNM Choral Activities Director Brad Ellingboe approached world-renowned composer Rene Clausen to request a piece to celebrate the program’s centennial. It just so happened that, at the time, Clausen was thinking about doing […]

Students, young and old, help those near and far

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By SUSAN SCHWARTZ Five children’s choirs came together on April 9 for a Junior Choir Festival concert that raised $2,362.63 for the Japanese Disaster Relief Fund of the Canadian Red Cross. The benefit concert was held at Mountainside United Church in Westmount. Participating choirs were the English Montreal School Board Junior Chorale, directed by Patricia […]

The creeping choral rock of Scala & Kolacny Brothers

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By Ricardo Baca There’s something deeply moving — disturbing, even — about the recordings of the performers known as Scala & Kolacny Brothers. The ensemble is built around a Belgian girls choir that takes on contemporary rock standards with a straight-faced, postmodern ferocity that catches listeners unaware. If you thought you knew Radiohead — or […]

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