Choralosophy

What if the piano — the instrument sitting in every choir room in America — is quietly teaching your singers to sing out of tune? I rehearse a cappella. From the first day of rehearsal to the final product, no piano. I’ve been saying it for years, and I catch heat for it. So when … Continue reading "Episode 308: It’s Just Intonation After All with Ross W. Duffin"

Real music literacy isn’t about robotic, first-time perfection. Here is how to create individualized leveled readers that meet every singer right where they are. If you think back to elementary school, or when your own kids were young, you probably remember them bringing home leveled reading books tailored to their specific vocabulary, phonics stage, and … Continue reading "Episode 307: Education is Individual. Ensembles are not"

ACTUAL student-centered education occurs when we design our classes, pedagogies and assessments around individual student skill attainment. The calculation of “what works” cannot simply boil down to teacher preference. One of the most common things you hear at music education conferences is the phrase: “I just do what works for me.” It sounds harmless, even … Continue reading "Episode 306: Why “What Works for Me?” is the Wrong Question for Teachers"

What happens when a choral piece becomes so wildly popular that choir directors start refusing to program it? We like to tell ourselves that our repertoire choices are based on objective artistic standards… …but all too often, artists fall into a familiar trap: the moment a piece captures the public imagination or goes viral on … Continue reading "Episode 305: An Invitation to Connection with Jennifer Lucy Cook"

What if we’ve been approaching Music Ed and Conducting backwards? Dr. Jordan suggests, that “the first course in music ed shouldn’t be methods. It should be a semester of learning who you are—because that’s what actually reaches students.” Why is it that two conductors can give the exact same technical pattern to the same choir, … Continue reading "Episode 304: You Are the Thing That Teaches with James Jordan"