Choir Baton

I met Tommy Economou through a Tik Tok he made about the influence choir has had on his professional singing career with his band. Listen to find out more about how growing up in choir has made an impact on his current life and how Tik Tok has brought musicians together during these pandemic times. You can connect with Tommy and his band More Fatter with the info below: Instagram: @MoreFatter Webs...

In this episode, I talk about how we as musicians and especially as music teachers often find it hard to ask for help. I discuss the stigma around seeking assistance both in our classrooms and personal life and I share some examples from my own life. When we ask for help, it allows us to focus our attention on things that need it. Choir Baton Host: Beth Philemon | Choir Baton Podcast Producer: Mag...

This interview was conducted with two former students of mine: Maggie Hemedinger and Jonathan Pelletier. Jonathan is a senior civil engineering student at North Carolina State University and continues to sing in his university's ensemble. Maggie is a senior music education and Hispanic Studies major at East Carolina University. In this episode, they discuss bonding over choir, the applicable...

Long time friend and colleague, Troy Meeker, shares his experience with addressing the fear of failure in the choir classroom. How can we show students that it is okay to make mistakes? How can we show ourselves that it is okay to make mistakes? Taking the time to grapple with this makes us better musicians and better humans.  We also discuss some of the ways Troy Meeker has created a choral commu...

You don't want to talk about this, but we must. As we come to grips with rehearsing through a variety of digital and socially-distanced means, we must determine what "concerts" will look like in the future. Research indicates that more people are watching concerts live/ live-streaming these days (shocker) but once concerts are "reinstated" - research also shows people will...

New to the Choir Baton podcast? OG Choir Baton podcast listener? Somewhere in between? In this episode, I'm recapping the last 50 episodes to help you find which one you've forgotten about, where to start if you're not sure, or highlighting some of your favorite moments. Have a favorite episode? Let me know, I'd love to hear. A friendly reminder to join the Choir Baton Teaching...

I am incredibly particular in my approach to teaching music literacy because when I'm teaching music literacy, I'm teaching music. I'm teaching everything. I don't do voice placements, I do this. I don't start with teaching quarter notes, I do this. I don't avoid improvisation, I do this. And here's the thing with "this." You can do it online or in pers...

In a time where "normal" just is not a possibility, how do we "unlearn" what we have been learning and teaching for years and move forward with choir in a meaningful but safe way? Change can be scary, especially when we must make drastic changes in a short amount of time, not knowing whether it will be effective or work. In this episode, I walk through many choral concepts and...

This is a long awaited interview with my dear friend and colleague, Darrick King. A native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Darrick King began his tenure as Director of Choral Activities at Southeast Raleigh Magnet High School - University Connections: School of Design, Arts, & Engineering in July of 2016.  Darrick earned a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Winston-Salem State Unive...

Rebecca Sabree is a choir teacher in Michigan with a love for choir music, but especially show choir. In some places, Show Choir gets a bad rep. (other places, not so) But the important take away from this episode is, "all choir is choir." And if there's ever been a time for the discussion of what "is" choir and what "isn't" choir today - it's now as we...

and the Choir Community Needs to Hear Spoiler alert: 1. What makes you a choir teacher? (read some of your IG comments here) 2. What is choir truly about? 3. Focus on what you can control. 4. Your voice matters (shout out to my sister here and GSW singer, Ella) 5. American society will never respect teachers like they should. 6. It's okay to want to make money, in fact choral music should pro...

Y'all. I'm throwing down some fire in this week's episode. I'm talking about why I believe online teaching is what you need to plan for this fall but cite examples of how I've used online teaching in my past classroom experiences and know it can be effective. Simultaneously, we need to realize we have to stop teaching people to love our choir more than they love choral sin...

Today I interview Maria Ellis, founder of Girl Conductor. Maria and I met online over a year ago via, of course, Instagram. If you’ve ever found yourself unsure of how to go after your dreams or in need of choral-inspiration. This episode is for you!  Maria Ellis is a Music Educator, Choral Conductor,  with over 20 years of choral music experience.  Called a “Master Educator” and a “Force of Natur...

The Choir Baton podcast was started with a desire to record real conversations with people about choir. I can think of no more of real conversation than to trace the journey of a new choir teacher. Over the course of the past year I have talked with Nyi Nyi Myin and Lamar Davis as they started student teaching, finished student teaching, and now have finished their first year of teaching. We refle...

In graduate school, I was an assistant conductor with the Master Chorale of Flagstaff. This experience was transformative for a multitude of reasons, two of which you’ll hear about here. Working with this choir each week I established relationships with community members who loved to sing. I always identified more with non-music majors than music majors in undergrad, so these singers were a unique...

The power of the Instagram choir community strikes again in this special interview with my dear friend, Emily Campbell. While I was struck with the fact there was another choir teacher posting about choir on Instagram (Yay! - this was a big deal 2 years ago) - I was also more struck by Emily’s openness in sharing her wedding pictures on her school choir social media picture with her wife. At the t...

Last year Choir Baton sold shirts with this phrase on it. Since then this phrase has continued to evolve in what it means to me. I’ve struggled to find my voice my entire life both metaphorically and musically. In this 40th episode of the Choir Baton podcast I share about how I’m leaning into owning the enough-ness of my voice both personally and musically. And so my question to you is, do you bel...

Have you ever seen someone on Instagram and thought - THIS person - Who is she? Where did she come from? How did she get here? About a year ago I found her on Instagram and was captivated not just by the colorful, Pinterest perfect aesthetic of every aspect of her "grid" but found myself searching Targets for items she was repurposing for her classroom. (I went crazy with the letter spin...

Anyone else get as excited as I do when you hear choral music in mainstream media? When Coldplay released their 2019 album Everyday Life, I was captivated by the song "When I Need a Friend." Fast forward several months and I was lucky enough to sit down with Ben Parry, conductor of that track sung by London Voices. Ben is a conductor, composer, arranger, singer and producer. Former membe...

I'm excited to bring today's Choir Baton episode to you, because it is an example of how someone is innovating in music education, even before the pandemic hit. I was connected with Dr. Sara Gulish through Instagram, and you're about to listen to an Instagram Live we recorded about a month ago. Sarah’s story is an amazing example of how someone found a problem and is delivering a so...

How many times of you struggled to find the exact piece of repertoire for a concert? How many times have you thought you found the perfect piece only to discover the tessitura that sits in all the wrong places? Or there's a four-part TB divisi in a random 2 pages of the piece. Or all of the many other pervading themes that are a part of the struggle for finding repertoire to meet your ensembl...

In an unprecedented era of technology use in choral music, I was curious: how has technology influenced the history of choral music? I knew insight could be found from none other than the god of choral repertoire himself, Dr. Dennis Shrock. As a graduate student in choral conducting his Choral Repertoire book served as our bible for three semesters of choral literature. I poured over the many page...

While you can't give your singers in the Spring of 2020 a final end of the year or semester concert as a culminating experience of the work they've done, I do believe you can provide a unique opportunity to reflect, showcase, and remember their year. Digital Portfolios, my friends. Yes, digital portfolios. Before you dismiss this idea - stay with me. A portfolio is a product that ultimat...

I remember sitting on my bed one day and crying (sobbing) to my best teaching friend, Valerie, that I had made the wrong decision to go to graduate school. That I couldn't do it. I was not good enough and was crazy for thinking I could. Simply put, my first year of graduate school for my masters in music was not easy. But my second year felt like a breeze in comparison. There were many reason...

My friend Andrew "Andy" Surrena began posting videos of him singing every day at 5pm from his soon-to-be inlaw's farmhouse in New York State amidst our nationwide quarantine. Andy's closing weekend as Romeo in Sarasota's Opera Romeo and Juliet had been cancelled and to encourage the singers to keep performing, the cast launched a 5'clock #SuddenlyOpera movement to enc...