Singing is one of the earliest developing and most fundamental musical skills, but we don’t know as much as we should about how accurate singing develops and why it never develops for some children. Recently, a number of researchers from music education, psychology, and neuroscience have begun to explore systematically the prevalence of accurate singing […]
Sample Page
Taking the Mystery Out of Commissioning New Choral Works
This session will answer common questions about how to commission new choral works, including, “How do I approach a composer to initiate a commission?” and “How do we justify spending money on a commission?” Topics will include engaging and collaborating with composers, commissioning costs, funding models and sources, contracts, non-commission collaboration options, and composer residencies. […]
Stretching a Point Here and There: Preparing Your Body for a Lifetime of Physical Activity
Since Harriet Simon’s survey in the Choral Journal revealed that over 75 percent of the conductors surveyed experienced a wide assortment of debilitation or physical limitations, it has been well known that a career in conducting can induce a wide variety of short-and long-term impingements, especially in the back, neck, and shoulders of the conductor. […]
Singing in the Groove: Connecting with Our Rhythmic Roots
Gospel, spirituals, music of Africa and Latin America: choirs and audiences cannot seem to get enough of music with rhythmic roots. How can we best help our choirs connect to their natural sense of rhythm? This session gives participants an experience of the many facets of rhythm, including movement, clapping, and singing a variety of […]
The Senses Collide: Connecting Artful Movement and Dynamic Formation in Performance
Kinesthetic connections activate the spirit, mind, and body, enhancing both technical and expressive pathways. This session will present movement principles partnered with art music in the context of traditional choral performance. The models explored in this session seek to augment the meaning and potency of the repertoire performed. Topics include the connection of body and […]
Musical Malpractice: Dumb Things We Do and How to Avoid Repeating Our Failures
Failure is a part of life and part of being a choir director. Failure can either be instructive or destructive—and many good things we accomplish have come from making mistakes, learning from them, and ensuring they never happened again. This session deals with the actions we take that undermine our ability to be effective, musical, […]
