The Choir Director Corner Podcast

When my kids were little, they used to talk about how "stations" was one of their favorite parts of the school day, because they got to do lots of different things!  Which got me thinking--how could we use stations in a choir rehearsal? In Episode 76 of the podcast, I discuss exactly that--situations when stations might be a useful rehearsal strategy,  the types of activities you could i...

In Episode 75 of the podcast, I’m very excited to share my conversation with Dr. Emily Williams Burch!  Emily is a fantastic music educator who has taken a unique path in carving out a career in choral music education.  In our conversation she talks about her journey and all of her experiences that led her to where she is today.  You’ll hear about her new book that she wrote with her colleague Ale...

In Episode 74 of the podcast, I’m very excited to share my conversation with composer Katerina Gimon.  I found her music while doing a repertoire search a couple of years ago, and I just fell in love with her work.  Her music is so interesting and so creative--she gives singers and conductors the opportunity to explore choral music in some very unique ways. Whether or not you are already familiar...

It’s so important to get the choir year started off with productive, effective rehearsals.  There’s always a lot to do, and that’s especially true at the beginning of the year.  It’s imperative that we take advantage of every single minute of rehearsal.  Not only will that help us get everything done, but that also sets the expectation for the rest of the year that using our rehearsal time product...

When I talk with other choir directors, one of the topics that always seems to come up is setting rehearsal expectations–choir directors want to know what expectations I have for my choirs, how I set rehearsal expectations, and what the logistics of my rehearsals look like.  And our conversations often turn to issues with classroom management. In my experience, there’s a direct correlation between...

One of the biggest challenges we have as choir directors is time management.  We have so many duties, so many responsibilities, so many irons in the fire...it's a full-time job just keeping track of everything!  I recently came across the work of Rory Vaden, who became widely known a few years ago with a TED talk on how to "Multiply Our Time".  While much of his work and research is...

When I talk with choir directors about planning and preparing for the new year, before we get into anything else, we start by talking about setting goals.  In Part 1 of my "Back to School" Podcast Series, I talk about five reasons why you should be setting goals, as well as best practices that we should use when setting our own goals. What are your goals for this year?  Send me an email...

I had the chance to hear several different choirs this past spring, and heard some wonderful performances.  Along with my own choir performances, singing and directing, I collected several great ideas this spring for programming for your choirs.  And in today's episode of the podcast, I'm sharing them with you!  They are definitely pieces to keep on your "list of possibilities"...

In Episode #68 of the Choir Director Corner Podcast I'm sharing my conversation with Paul John Rudoi.  Paul is a conductor, a singer, and a composer--a true choral Renaissance man!  I talk with Paul about his growth as a composer and his compositional process. We also talk about some of his other projects that are designed to bring more opportunities for creativity, collaboration, and accessi...

How did the end of your school year/performance calendar go?  I don't know about you, I'm ready for a bit of a breather!  It was a sprint to the finish, with many, many irons in the fire (as usual).  There were Senior pranks gone wrong, a massive internet outage, and more, but we made it! Now that grades have been submitted and things are stored for the summer, I find myself reflecting o...

So, you just finished up your spring concert.  NOW WHAT?  You've got a couple weeks (sometimes more) left of school, what in the world are you going to do with your singers?   I see this question a LOT this time of year, so in Episode 66 of the Choir Director Corner Podcast, I'm bringing you TEN ideas for activities that you can do with your choir at the end of the year! One great idea f...

I saw a post on social media recently that prompted this question: "Should You Limit How Many Singers Are In Your Choir? In Episode 65 of the podcast I give my two cents on this issue: situations where this could be a beneficial thing to do, as well as reasons why this might not be a practice that is in the best interest of your singers. If you want to dive deeper into topics just like this o...

Delegate. Delegate, delegate, DELEGATE my friends. This is one of the secrets to getting everything done and not driving yourself crazy in the process! But in order to make the best use of your time, and make sure that things get done in a timely and productive fashion, you need to have some systematic, repeatable ways of delegating certain tasks. One of the ways you can do this is with a Choir Co...

I had a coaching call a while back with a middle school/high school choir director who was facing several challenges, with the biggest one being that the members of their concert choir were not “buying in” to this director’s way of doing things.  This in turn was affecting not only the choir’s performance–as the director was struggling to get the choir to sing out–but also the general atmosphere a...

I've seen a lot of choir directors over the past several months say, "My singers won't sing out! I've tried everything, what do I do?" If modeling for your singers the sound you're looking for and asking them to imitate you doesn't work, that often means there are other issues at play.  In Episode 62 of the podcast, I discuss five potential issues that might be a...

In today's episode of the Choir Director Corner Podcast, I'm sharing my conversation with Brittney Stanton and Arreon Harley-Emerson from the Choir School of Delaware.  They are two of the organizers of a new conference for choir directors, called "Bent, But Not Broken", which strives to amplify the musical contributions and accomplishments of Black artists across time and genr...

This week on the podcast, I’m sharing my fantastic conversation with Charlie Kinnison.  Charlie and his wife Carrie run Kinnison Choral Company, which provides practice tracks for choir directors. I had a blast talking with Charlie, as we dove into how music literacy and practice tracks can co-exist in the choral program, the incredibly valuable work that Kinnison Choral Company is doing, and how...

I had a question recently from one of our Choir Director Corner Community Members about how I choose warm-ups for my choir rehearsals, and what my main goals and objectives were for my warm-ups in rehearsal.  In today's episode of the podcast, I share with you my response, and I also share two choir warm-ups resources that I know you are going to love! To get access to my free online training...

It's easy for our choir rehearsals to get a little stale, a little repetitive.  We are always working towards something, and we get focused, because stuff needs to get done!  And especially at this time of year, when we may feel like we are treading water until Spring Break, we may need a little something to spice up our rehearsal.  If this feels like you, then Episode 58 of the podcast is ri...

One of my favorite events to attend is the ACDA Conference.  For those that are unfamiliar, ACDA rotates every-other year, regional conferences with their national conference.  This year was a “regional conference year”, and I was fortunate to be able to attend the Midwest Division conference in Chicago. In today's episode of the podcast, I share with you my "conference highlights",...

How do you structure your choir rehearsals?  How do you plan them out?  What are your objectives you want to accomplish in a choir rehearsal? These are questions that I hear a lot, from fellow choir directors, from coaching clients, and from members of our CDC Community Membership.  So in today's episode of the podcast, I share with you my five focus points for every choir rehearsal.  I striv...

My singers learn so much when I play videos of choir performances for them.  And one great resource for finding those videos is, of course, YouTube.  But the ads drive me CRAZY! In this podcast episode, I'm sharing with you not one, but two solutions that I'm using to work around those annoying ads.  And, the first works not just for YouTube, but other websites as well! Looking for a lis...

I have talked with many choir directors who really struggle with teaching their singers vocal technique, for a wide variety of reasons.  I am lucky that I originally started out in vocal performance, including earning a Master's degree in vocal performance.  This allowed me the opportunity to study voice on a deeper level, and it also gave me the opportunity to teach private voice at the coll...

"The Power is in the Debrief".  My friend, who works in the business world, said this to me recently.  As we talked, what he really was talking about was the importance of reflection and self-assessment.  In this episode of the podcast, I discuss the different ways reflection can benefit student learning, and also discuss a perfect opportunity for reflection that you should be using--and...

The search for choir repertoire can be time-consuming, and often frustrating.  You may be in that place where you are asking yourself, "What in the world am I going to program for my next concert?"  Or maybe you are just looking for some fresh repertoire ideas.  If so, today's episode is for you!  I'm sharing five new choral pieces that you should consider programming in 2022. ...