The Choir Director Corner Podcast

Maybe you got your class registrations for next year and thought, "Maybe I should do some recruiting!"  But all of your time and energy didn't produce the results you wanted, resulting only in stress and frustration. In Episode 101 of the podcast, I'm sharing the audio from my recent video over on YouTube (Yes, I have a YouTube channel!) where I discuss five of the common reaso...

It seems like just yesterday, I uploaded the first episode of the Choir Director Corner Podcast, not knowing where the road might take me.  And here we are, at 100 episodes! In Episode 100, I'm going back into the podcast archives and sharing with you ten of top 10 episodes of the podcast.  Not only are these some of the most downloaded episodes, but they are also episodes that cover topics t...

The question came from one of the members of our CDC Community Membership: "How, or where, do I start in teaching music literacy to my choir, when almost all of my singers are beginners when it comes to sightreading?"  Our elementary general music colleagues know--it's all about starting with "sound before sight"!  We need to give our singers an aural vocabulary to work fr...

As choir directors, we often find our teaching centered in the "Performing" set of the National Music Standards--it can be difficult to find ways to incorporate the "Responding" and "Connecting" sections of the standards.  In Episode 98 of the podcast, I share with you how I use my Choir March Madness Listening Project to cover some of these "harder to reach&quot...

After several days off due to snow and dangerous wind chills, I knew it was going to be a challenge to get my singers back into our routine.  As they started coming into the room, I thought to myself: "I'm going to have to go all Ted Lasso on these guys today!" And it got me thinking--there are lots of lessons that we as choir directors can learn from Ted Lasso.  In Episode 97 of th...

The social post said, in so many words--"My Choir is SO Unmotivated!"  And this is obviously a widespread problem, because the responses were flying fast and furious, all from choir directors with the same problem!  But most of the responses never dealt with the real question, which is WHY our singers are so unmotivated. Pinpointing the root cause is the first step to coming up with pote...

Diving into a choral score is a big process, but also one that is critical in bringing the music we have before us to life.  Once we have tackled our score study, a new challenge emerges–how does the work we’ve done in preparing the score show up in our rehearsal process? In Episode 95 of the podcast, I’m sharing with you some tips for how choir directors can connect the dots between the in-depth...

There’s been a lot in the news about AI recently, and more specifically, with ChatGPT.  I myself have used ChatGPT for a number of things, for a number of purposes–usually as an assistant to bounce ideas off of, and to brainstorm ideas when my brain is fried.  It certainly can be helpful in saving me time.  But there are still a lot of issues with it--the information often isn't accurate, you...

As choir directors, we always have to be one step ahead.  Which means that even though it's fall outside, it's time to start planning for those much-anticipated winter choral concerts! In Episode 93 of the podcast, I share with you five hand-picked winter themed choir pieces, all of which would be great additions to your winter concert.  Get set to introduce new repertoire to your choir,...

One of the questions I most often get from choir directors is, "My singers are so chatty--how do I get them to stop talking?"  Granted, I'm not someone that expects total silence in my rehearsal.  But at the same time, in order for there to be as few distractions as possible, and have rehearsal be as productive as possible, it's a good idea to limit any unnecessary chatting by...

I've run into numerous choir directors, just in the past couple of weeks,  all describing the same problem--singers that won't sing out!   The directors have tried everything, and are at their wits end.  What do you do??? This episode is a replay of Episode 62--I feel like I have a fresh perspective on the problem, and there are choir directors that continue to struggle in diagnosing the...

I've had choir directors ask about a "Beginning of the Year To-Do List", but our jobs as directors can differ greatly, just because of the particular school district or organization we work for.  However, I do believe there are some universal key elements that help us to give ourselves, and our singers, the best possible chance to be successful. In today's episode of the podcas...

In order to market your choir program to prospective singers, you need to get the heart of what motivates singers to join your program, as well as the obstacles that prevent them from joining your program. When you talk to prospective singers about why they haven't yet joined your program, you'll hear a lot of different reasons--we call these objections .  Once you have a better understa...

While it's always a good time to recruit, the end of the year is the perfect time to recruit more singers to your program.  Students are making plans for the following year and finalizing their schedules, so now is a great time to get potential singers to consider joining your program. In this last month of school we are making a "recruiting push" for our program, and in Episode 88...

Every year when warmer weather starts to roll in, there's one thing you can always count on at our house--multiple days of Spring Cleaning!  The dusting, the switching out all of the clothes in the closets, cleaning windows, getting out the patio furniture--you know what I'm talking about, right? As I was switching out the clothes in my closet recently, I thought about what a "Sprin...

One of the activities I started with my singers several years ago was creating a Choir March Madness Bracket of choir performances.  This activity gives my singers to listen to choral music from many different composers and musical styles, and also helps to build their "choral vocabulary"--they learn more about what high quality singing sounds like!  They also get to practice analyzing a...

I have been a fan of Pentatonix, and contemporary a cappella as a whole, for as long as I can remember.  I was a huge fan of The Sing-Off, and little did I know that years later, I would have an opportunity to talk with one of the arrangers and vocal directors on that show, Rob Dietz!  In this episode of the podcast I'm sharing with you my conversation with Rob, where we talk about how to bui...

I had a great conversation recently via Zoom with Matthew, who is a member of our Choir Director Corner Community Membership.  He wanted to pick my brain about a couple things, and we discussed a variety of topics, including how to improve retention when it came to music literacy skills.  Matthew was doing all of the things that a choir director should do, but for whatever reason, he was still hav...

Welcome to 2023!  To get the new year started off, I'm sharing my conversation with composer and music educator Ryan Main.  I talked with Ryan about how he became a composer, his compositional process, some of his recent compositions, his work with the Youth Chorus of Kansas City, and more!  I had a great time talking with Ryan, and I know you are going to enjoy learning more about him and hi...

If you are looking for a fun activity to do with your choir, Kahoot is one of the best options out there!  And in today's episode of the podcast, I am sharing with you ten of my top reasons why you should play Kahoot with your choir.  And, I am also sharing with you the Kahoots I have already created, so that you don't have to start from scratch!  Whether you are looking for a different...

Yes, my friends...Winter Is Coming!  But it's not the Game of Thrones--it's the "Game of Tones"! ;) In Episode 81 of the podcast, I'm talking with Zack Durlam, who serves as the Director of Choral Activities at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.  Zack is a fantastic choir director (he was my cooperating teacher for student teaching back in the day), and also has a wond...

Growing up, we always had the "ten-second rule"; if what we were eating fell on the floor, we had ten seconds to pick it up and eat it.  Otherwise, it went to the trash!  Chances are, you have a similar rule in your household, depending on the food, and the floor :) We had the opportunity to Zoom with the composer of two of the pieces on our most recent concert, and he discussed a differ...

Ever wish you had a rubber stamp, so you didn't have to keep saying the same thing over and over again?  I had that experience recently, as choir directors were detailing the different challenges they were dealing with in their rehearsals.  I found myself saying the same response to all of the different rehearsal challenges I was hearing, and it was "sight reading"!  In Episode 79 o...

In Episode 78 of the podcast, I'm excited to share with you my conversation with composer Tim Takach!  We cover a lot of ground in our conversation, talking about his time with the group Cantus, his growth and development as a composer, and his compositional process.  Tim is a wonderful storyteller, which happens to be one of the main objectives of his music--to tell stories!  We also discuss...

Over the years, I've used a number of software programs for tasks involved with music composition.  A while back a friend recommended MuseScore, and after trying it out, I've added it to the list of tools that I use on a regular basis.  Recently I discovered a new function inside of MuseScore that to me was a game-changer, making MuseScore my "go-to" composition software moving...