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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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Registration Opens for ACDA Chicago National Conference

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Our long-anticipated registration for the 2011 American Choral Directors Association Chicago National Conference opens this week, and I am pleased to share all of the exciting details.   We return to Chicago, Illinois this year for the National ACDA Conference the week of March 9-12, 2011. Chicago was home to our 1999 National Conference, the […]

Reality show winners to start music school

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Mumbai, October 05, 2010 Shillong Chamber Choir, which won India’s Got Talent, will start a music school with their Rs 50 lakh prize money. Says Donna Marthomg, member of the choir, “Much before we won the title, we had decided to start a music school. It’s what we always wanted to do. We tried to […]

Community contributions of a Scunthorpe choral director recognised with award

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Scunthorpe, UK A SPECTACULAR Scunthorpe choral director has been hitting all the right notes at a national awards ceremony in London. Talented choir master Susan Hollingworth, of the Scunthorpe Co-operative Junior Choir, has scooped a prestigious award in recognition of her invaluable contribution to the community. Susan picked up Gramophone magazines’ Music In The Community […]

LA Children’s Chorus Announces 25th Season

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Los Angeles Children’s Chorus (LACC), considered one of the world’s foremost children’s choirs, honors its history of artistic excellence and embraces exciting new opportunities as it commemorates its milestone 25th Anniversary in 2010-11.  The year-long celebration features a series of concerts and musical partnerships with some of the region’s leading arts organizations on stage and […]

Don’t talk during rehearsals

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  Watch it all the way to the end (only 30 seconds). h/t Chris Rowbury, who has a bunch of good suggestions for handling chatting during rehearsals with adults.

Gleeless

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Lucerne Mottaz, writing in Choral Director magazine, got out of the Glee rat race: So the kids proposed that we make it a class project to watch “Glee” and talk about it every other Friday, during tutorial. I thought to myself, “Sure, why not. It will be a great way to connect with the kids […]

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