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Choral Clarity Blog Presents:
Keep “Religion” Out Of High School Choir!
Public high school choirs and choir directors should not be preaching religion; how can we be effective choir directors who expose our students to the high-quality, historically significant music as well as the greatest works of living composers?
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Choir Clarity Blog presents:
Avoid Ripoffs – Plan It Yourself!
There are so many ways we can enrich our students’ choral experience by providing unique external performing opportunities and working with guest clinicians. While many advertised experiences cost huge sums of money, this article provides alternate way for enrichment that still involve travel, performing, and outstanding guest clinicians.
Click here to find creative ways to “plan it yourself” – frequently on the cheap!
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The November 2016 issue of Choral Journal included an article written by Jane Ramseyer Miller titled “Creating Choirs that Welcome Transgender Singers.” This was adapted and revised from the California ACDA newsletter. There has been much conversation about the topic of gender as it relates to choral music classrooms, and some of this was discussed in the November 2015 issue of Choral Journal with the feature article by Joshua Palkki, “Gender Trouble: Males, Adolescence, and Masculinity in the Choral Context.”
Jane Ramseyer Miller’s article on transgender continues this discussion and is intended to assist choral music educators with their task of making choir a safe and welcoming space for all singers. Whether or not a conductor personally agrees with a singer’s decision to transition between genders, it is the teacher’s job to support students where they are, being a safe place for expression and guidance, specifically when it comes to our voices.
As part of the article, Miller shares 12 tips for making chorus more welcoming for all students, specifically transgender. A few tips are below, and you can read the full article by clicking here (note you must be a member of ACDA to read the Choral Journal online).
Do you have any tips to add? Have you had an experience with a transgender student in one of your choirs?
I was recently introduced to an article on the Michigan ACDA website (editor, Jed Scott). It was an interview with composer Andrea Ramsey about her recently commissioned work, “But a Flint Holds Fire.” The piece was composed for a Chorus America consortium project and is part of an effort to raise awareness and monetary support for the Flint Water Crisis.
Ramsey states that she lived in Michigan for three years while working on her PhD at Michigan State and that “[t]he Flint Water Crisis has weighed on my heart since it began. I remain stunned that over 100,000 people have been living since April 2014 without usable running water and that the government has yet to replace a single pipe for the mess they created.”
Through Internet research, she discovered a poem written by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894). Ramsey says, “I was slack-jawed when I read the poem. It is a beautiful poem from the 1800s with wildly haunting relevance to Flint being overlooked and underestimated, yet powerful. As beautiful as the poem is, it is a picture of brevity. I knew it was too short, and that is when I brainstormed an idea to elongate the work by reaching out to Flint residents and gathering their words to include in the piece.”
When asked if she has any specific hopes for how this piece might affect the listener, she replies: “I hope listeners respond with action. My greatest hope is that people will listen, be moved, and act. My greatest fear is that people will listen, be moved, and do nothing.”
Twenty-one choirs across the United States and Canada will be performing “But a Flint Holds Fire,” and there are also opportunities to hear it in Michigan in January 2017 at the Michigan Music Conference and on October 28, 2016, at the ACDA Michigan Fall Conference.
For those interested in learning more about the Flint Water Crisis and how you can help, go here.
To read the full interview article, go here.
“Sing a Song of Joy and Gladness ~ Sing a Song of Peace and Harmony
Sing Across the Islands ~ Sing Across the Sea
Sing a Song of Peace and Harmony ~ Oh Sing! Sing! Sing a Song!”
America Cantat 8 continues to represent the very finest musical and cultural exchange in one of the most beautiful settings in the world. It is marked by the open exchange of ideas and new friendships that defy national borders and geographical distance. In truth, these friendships are enhanced because of the power inherent in the universality of choral music. There is power but there is also joy and happiness when people come together in the creation of beauty and fellowship. This is at the very heart of the American Choral Directors Association and this is why America Cantat exists.
Highlights from America Cantat 8
Over ten days, singers of all ages and abilities participate in overlapping five-day-long workshops, led by some of the most prestigious choral clinicians in the world. During these workshops participants rehearse choral pieces indigenous to participating choirs including some previous America Cantat host countries. At the end of the Festival, the workshops present joint concerts to showcase this music. In the evenings, participants attend Gala Concerts, performed by acclaimed choirs from each host country and our sister festival, Europa Cantat. Additionally, there are Opening and Closing Ceremonies, hosted by The Bahamas, a mid-week Dinner & Beach Party, and plenty of time to explore the island, relax on the beach, and take part in excursions to fully experience all that The Bahamas has to offer.
America Cantat 8 would not be possible without the tireless efforts of a small, dedicated team of superstars. This team have been responsible for imagining what AC8 could be and working out the details required for all logistics involved in the day-to-day execution of this festival. ACDA is forever grateful to these individuals and their commitment to cultural exchange through ensemble singing.
Please join me in expressing our heartfelt gratitude to Eden Badgett, ACDA Festival Development Director; Audrey Dean-Wright, Associate Professor of Music at the College of the Bahamas; Cleveland Williams, Bahamas Ministry of Tourism; Christy Lee, Lecturer in Collaborative Piano & Orchestra Conductor at Maryville College; and Adrian Archer, Music Director Christ Church-Bahamas, Conductor Highgrove Singers.