We all love Appalachian folk songs as an integral part of our American music history, but how do we translate that high-lonesome mountain voice tradition to our ensembles? This session will cover many popular Appalachian tunes, identifying stylistic changes that can be made to existing choral arrangements to perform them within the Appalachian tradition. Dialect, […]
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Ambition, Adaptation, and Risk: Stay at the Top of Your Craft
As artists in the creative field, we need to embrace the right mindset to make sure we’re always learning, growing, and being as effective as we can be with our work. Timothy C. Takach has co-founded the professional vocal group Cantus and the music publisher Graphite Publishing, and his work as a composer has risen […]
Advent, Lent, and Ordinary Time! Oh My!: Creative Programming for the Church Year
Explore strategies for effective planning for church choirs of all shapes and sizes. Planning is the key to promoting musical growth, volunteer retention, and achieving long-term ensemble dreams. In this session, Joshua Taylor will share the planning process and ideas of church musicians from across the country and provide a rubric for music selection that […]
The Adolescent Female Changing Voice: Supporting Singers for a Life of Song
This session aims to empower adolescent female singers and validate their voice change experiences at a very pivotal point in their lives; to reinforce that females, too, can persevere through this challenging developmental process; and to stress the importance of the choral teacher’s role in navigating this experience for female choristers. Discussion will include an […]
The Active Choir: Using West African Drumming and Dance to Augment Choral Rehearsals and Performance
Movement and activity have a well-documented positive effect on the sound of our choirs. West African Dance is a full-body, high-energy experience requiring both coordination and communication and control of the body and the mind. During this session we will examine how singers’ bodies transform during dance and how our thinking and attention are developed […]
Active Aging and the Choral Ensemble
The wave of interest in singers in their Third Age (sixty years and over) has grown steadily over the last ten years, and research has shown that efforts to increase active aging among senior adults increases community participation and well-being. While voice scientists explain physiological changes to the body and voice, educators and conductors are […]
