As a young professional I loved going to ACDA conferences to learn about the choral art and to meet like-minded people. Between the concerts, interest sessions, and reading sessions, I’d come home with more repertoire ideas and information than I could possibly use in a lifetime. ACDA conferences were exhilarating and occasionally a bit intimidating, but they invigorated me and always left me wanting more. Since that time I have served ACDA in many capacities, from small to large and from grunt work to visioning for the future. People who serve ACDA are as different from one another as day is from night, but they share a passion for choral music and believe in the value of the choral experience. People who serve ACDA also tend to possess a generosity…
At a time when social divisiveness is on constant display and our differences are highlighted in a contentious way, choral music that brings communities together and focuses on shared values is more important than ever. Well-crafted and meaningful repertoire creates a lens through which young singers can focus on their community and develop a meaningful value system. As youth choir directors, we often find ourselves searching for a deeper pool of new repertoire with inventive texts that appeals to younger singers. [caption id="attachment_236" align="alignnone" width="300"] LSYC Cantemus[/caption] The choirs of the Lake Superior Youth Chorus (LSYC) recently had a mountaintop collaborative experience with a well-known choral composer, in which singers of all ages and audience members were transformed by a newly composed choral work. Throughout the process, the directors of…
I have taught students at the middle school level for over twenty years, and I have yet to discover a quick and easy method for choosing great repertoire. In fact, the process is intense, sometimes stressful, and takes a lot of time. But I have never regretted the hours of searching, listening, analyzing, and planning that have become an August tradition in my home, and the process fires me up for another year of teaching middle school students! Choosing repertoire that will essentially become the “choral textbook” is arguably the most important job of a middle school choral director. It is imperative that middle school musicians be exposed to high quality works of art at every level of their development. In an article titled “Swimming Upstream, Part II: Hooking Singers…
When it comes to commissioning music, one size does not fit all. It can have many different variables. Some people, when they think about commissioning, have their own bias, and they believe that it only works in a certain way. Here are some assumptions many conductors make regarding the commissioning of a work: It costs a lot. You might get a piece that your choir can't handle. It has to be 3-5 minutes. The conductor has no control over the parameters. The composer should have no control over the parameters. Commissioning is risky. Most of these are myths, and don't paint an accurate picture of the process. There are ways you can be very creative with how you commission a new piece of music. But to start with, let's bust…
