This session prompts us to ask deeper questions about the language we use, about systems of power, and about our heritage and inheritance. When we examine our teaching, we may find that while we do not intentionally act with bigotry, we may be complicit in adopting systems and language that marginalize and discriminate. In this […]
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“Sing Me a Sorrow… Sing Me a Spiritual”
Violence and systemic racism led to the Black Lives Matter movement as a response to issues of racial profiling and inequality in the United States. How can we as choral artists respond to these issues? This session invites conductors to respond by sharing the rich heritage of African American spirituals. Moving beyond the rousing concert […]
Reinvigorating the Chestnuts
The process of discovering new artistry and musicianship through “tried and true” repertoire should be a part of our standard choral curriculum. These “Chestnut” songs become part of the canon because of the music’s ability to stand the test of time. Instead of just performing these pieces through emulation of past performances, the reexamination and […]
(Re)imagining Your Rehearsals: The Art of Creative Rehearsal Repetition
Drawing direct parallels with over a dozen psychological experiments on learning and memory, this session reexamines the way we plan and implement our rehearsal both on the large and small scale to achieve the highest levels of learning and mastery possible among our singers. Focusing on lab-tested and verified techniques including spaced retrieval (the testing […]
(Re)imagining The Changing Voice: Adolescence to Senescence
As our culture ages, more and more singers are remaining active longer in life. Church choirs and community choruses are filled with aging singers, all of whom face challenges with their senescent, or aging, changing voices. As we are seeing an explosion of choirs for older adults, this session will explore a new and developing […]
(Re)Imagining Relevance through New Music and Social Consciousness
The purpose of this panel discussion is to provide thoughtfulness on the importance of new music and social advocacy as we reconceive the impact of the choral art in our various communities. The panelists will speak from the depth and breadth of their own experiences, and broader trends in the field, to provide practical ways […]
