Latest Blog Posts
Grammys To Honor Music Teachers
From the New York Times: The Grammy Awards are adding a new honor for music teachers. Neil Portnow, the president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, announced the new award for music educators, which will be presented for the first time next year. He made the announcement on Thursday evening at an […]
Composition Spotlight: The Lord’s Prayer
COMPOSITION SPOTLIGHT ~ by Jack Senzig (Each week we look at a piece of useful repertoire from the ChoralNet Community Composition Showcase. A variety of voicings and levels of difficulty will be presented. Enjoy!) The Lord's Prayer by Dustin Oldenburg SATB a cappella (click for PDF and AUDIO) Level: High School or higher Uses: Sacred, General […]
Stick Time: Vast Inspirational Riches
Edsel. Beta-max. New Coke. In their respective days, these were supposed to be the “next big thing,” products that were thought to be so revolutionary that the paradigm would be re-written in their glorious image. Not so much. Contrary to what advertisers (particularly, it seems, the purveyors of various iGadgets) scream, “new” is […]
Asteroid or Reading Packets?
What will scare a choral conductor worse this Friday . . . the building-size asteroid passing within a few miles of the Earth or missing out on the reading packets at the ACDA National Conference? The answer, of course, is missing the reading packets! The American Choral Directors Association REALLY wants you to […]
Guest ChoralTech: A DIY Website Crash Course
Have you wondered about having a website for your group? Not sure where to begin? Decided "it ain't for me?" Today is the first of a series from guest ChoralTech blogger Seth Garrepy on how to build your own choral website. “Your choir needs a website.” Does this statement immediately cause gnawing anxiety […]
Rehearsal pacing
We all recognize a well-paced rehearsal when we experience one. What does it mean to create a well-paced rehearsal? I think one of the most important things is to plan in advance for variety: hard work on some individual pieces or sections of pieces, run-throughs of more familiar music, alternating faster with slower […]
Scholarly Abstractions: Philippine Choral Music
Yanson, Eliezer, Jr. Philippine Choral Music: A Conductor’s Guide to Selected Works Composed between 1900 and 2010. Doctor of Musical Arts dissertation. University of South Carolina, 2010. The Philippines is a country that possesses unique choral traditions, excellent choirs, and fascinating composers. Along with deep tribal roots, the musical practices of the Philippines are […]
Conductor’s Health Survey
Your input is needed to understand the health of conductors! An online survey has been created to better understand the medical issues and injuries related to conducting. This survey is for both choral and instrumental conductors and is being sent to the members of many different conducting organizations. The research is being conducted by […]
Stick Time: Look Ma, No Score!
Yesterday’s column featured a “CJ Replay” in which a colleague opined, “It is only logical that the choral director who memorizes his music like his/her singers shows respect for the singers by being equally prepared. After all, music is the director’s business.” Of course, memorizing an entire program can be challenging. However, if one […]