[The views expressed in this blog are from my personal experiences from 25 years of leading non-auditioned community choirs in the UK, as well as adult singing workshops. My focus is on teaching by ear using a repertoire of songs from traditions across th...

Rain by LaDamion Massey Kansas City Kansas Community College The Standard Vocal Jazz Ensemble Rehearsal recording from 12/10/14

[this is a version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   From my experience with choirs and singing groups it appears that we are a rhythmically challenged nation.   photo by by The Failed Photographer ...

Budapest International Choir Festival and Competition - a milestone in the history of choral competitions. Since 1988, choirs are magnetized to join every second year. With an experience of almost 30 years meeting music has focused on improving its ev...

I. A WATER WHEEL TURNS Inside water, a water wheel turns. The star circulates with the moon. We live in the night ocean wondering, What are these lights? Texts by Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks © 1995 Coleman Barks. Used by permission. ...  moreI. A WATER WHEEL TURNS Inside water, a water wheel turns. The star circulates with the moon. We live in the night ocean wondering, What are these lights? Texts by Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks © 1995 Coleman Barks. Used by permission. Performed by the Millennium Consort, Martin Neary, conductor, and the Pomona College Choir, Donna Di Grazia, director. Water Ruminations is a setting of six poems by the thirteenth-century poet Rumi, in English translations from the Persian by Coleman Barks, for double choir and organ. The poetry sings of literal and spiritual connections between water and sky, a drop of water and human life, flowing water and love, drinking water and its container, the giddiness of spring and rolling seas, and the ocean's gifts and singing. Its images, from 800 years ago, speak to us with both vivid immediacy and transcendence. The idea for the piece originated with the Mellon Elemental Arts Initiative, which proposed funding activities that would involve students in ar...    less

[this is a version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   There’s a strange thing that happens in choirs just as a concert is coming up. Everything that can go wrong does go wrong.     Benny G...

[this is a version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   Many choirs dress identically when they perform. Some have a choir uniform, some choose a particular colour for a particular concert, some have specially m...

Is singing good for stress? Yes, it can actually stress you out a bit... By rushing to rehearsals, trying to park the car and not finding a space, or getting stuck in public transport at peak times (I really wish there were more morning choirs) By ...

[The views expressed in this blog are from my personal experiences from 25 years of leading non-auditioned community choirs in the UK, as well as adult singing workshops. My focus is on teaching by ear using a repertoire of songs from traditions across th...

One of my favorite choir tricks was to telling my singers to ‘aim for the top side of the pitch.’  This was, of course, because they were singing flat, and I thought the imagery would give my singers a way of thinking about an abstract co...