The Choral Contrarians

Richard and Eric essentially live out the Dunning-Kruger effect by talking about the Dunning-Kruger effect.  They introduce the concept and land on an important question: To what degree do we recognize incompetence — not just in others, but in ourselves?  Does it matter?  This troubling phenomenon is seemingly (and unfortunately) a ubiquitous feature of the human psyche. Kruger, J., & Dunning,...

Richard and Eric dive into the deep end of the pool in seeing how T.S. Eliot's "Tradition and the Individual Talent" may intersect with music.  This surprisingly short essay (which is hailed as perhaps the best essay of the 20th Century) shows off Eliot's rare genius of getting to the bottom of things as eloquently and powerfully as possible.  Beyond poetry, there is indeed qui...

Composer and Conductor, Timothy Tharaldson, joins Eric to speak about his unique, recent visit to the Arvo Pärt Centre in Laulasmaa, Estonia.  They celebrate not only his experience, but Pärt as a composer and human being. Arvo Pärt Centre: https://www.arvopart.ee/en/ Timothy Tharaldson: https://timothytharaldson.com/

Richard and Eric look into a fascinating phenomenon: Collective Memory Decay.  Owing much to the work of the Cesar A. Hidalgo and the Collective Learning group at the MIT Media Lab, this concept looks generally (and specifically) into the interaction between culture and memory.  Can we learn something from the way pieces of information are shared and retained by large number of people.  This study...

Eric is joined by friend of the cast Dr. Jeremiah Cawley to discuss what in the world musicians (students, teachers, and professionals) can do to continue growing during the silence of isolation.  Many musicians are thrust into awkward living situations where traditional practice regimens are not feasible or even possible.  What types of things can we do or practice instead to make a "musical...

What do cyborg arms, Pampered Chef, truth, lies, and influential composers have in common?  Nothing!  Take a dive into some game time with Richard and Eric as they have fun (for once).

Richard, who has been living in Zoom, must be rescued by Eric and brought back to the corporeal with the power of the *beep bop boop.*  They discuss how the use of technology could continue to grow and be implemented by conductors and musicians after the initial wave of global pandemic.  What could be some long term ramifications?  Eric ends up uploading his mind to the interwebs.

Richard and Eric riff on what's going on from their isolated bunkers.  What are a just couple ways that choral music could be effected by this pandemic?   Be safe, be healthy, be well everyone!

With Richard gone, Eric goes solo to give some inspiration for those who are staying home from the choral conventions taking place nationwide in the United States this week.  He spends time with an excerpt from Howard Swan's "Conscience of a Profession," and looks at what we can do to stay present and inspiring for those we interact with on the home front. H. Swan. "Conscience...

Richard and Eric hobnob about the concept of 'theme' in music programming.  Do themes play too prevalent of a role in the programming craft of a choral conductor?  What's the purpose of a theme anyway, and what might it look like to have program without any theme?  Perhaps a theme is inevitable, but its worth thinking about to keep things in context.

Richard and Eric make their return after a short winter hiatus.  They begin 2020 discussing the choral "canon" and some composers therein.  What is it?  What do we do with it or how do we engage with it?  Does it matter whether we engage with it or not nowadays?  Should we care that some "great" composers may find themselves generally forgotten? https://www.classicfm.com/discov...

Richard and Eric respond to a small excerpt about Nora Ephron found in Greg McKeown's wonderful book: "Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less."  Finding out "the point" of something is worth considering, and the two try to figure it out as it relates to the choral art and conducting.  Perhaps an impossible task... They go so far as to ask what is the point of discov...

Richard and Eric broach the subject and philosophy of being within the ensemble.  How 'real' are we really willing to get with the people around us?  When we enter a space, do we think it is important to 'leave everything at the door?'  How do we navigate being tired or depressed?  How do we encourage others who are dealing with that same tiredness?  The guys land on some encou...

Richard and Eric take an unusual approach in discerning what it means to have successful choirs in performance and practice.  Looking through the lens of Abraham Maslow's mid-20th Century psychological paradigm of an 'Hierarchy of Needs,' fully expressed in his 1954 book "Motivation and Personality," they look at key factors that potentially make individuals successful and...

Richard and Eric ramble on in attempting to tip over a perceived 'sacred cow' of the current choral scene: the 'warm-up'.  What is a choral 'warm-up,' and what are the various ways it could be seen to be a positive or negative tool and experience?  Are we being thoughtful in our time 'warming up' an ensemble, or is this a time of ritual and routine? Jordan,...

It is Season 2, folks!  Richard and Eric dig deep and cover the highly controversial and substantive topic of the yearly Choir Retreat, which is fraught with dangers, terror, and drama.  Oh the drama!  Besides telling a few stories, the guys talk a bit about the potential importance of a retreat at the beginning of the choral calendar.

Richard and Eric take a look at an article about the late Robert Shaw composed in 2006 by Peter Phillips (conductor of the Tallis Scholars) entitled "The Cult of the Conductor".  Phillips briefly analyzes the methodology of Shaw as well as the choral outcomes that arise from such (perceived) methods.  Though they discuss the article in full, the guys primarily focus on Phillips's ti...

Back after a short summer hiatus Richard and Eric take up the surprisingly controversial topic,"l’art pour l’art" (art for art’s sake), brought back into contemporary consciousness by Yo Yo Ma’s recent Harvard Gazette interview.  Made famous by author Théophile Gautier, and argued about in a variety of ways over many (many) years, this concept provides murky swimming waters indeed, parti...

Richard and Eric examine the prevalent human adaptive process called "hedonic adaptation" and its relevance to not only our daily life, but more specifically: choral conducting.  What is the hedonic treadmill, and once we understand what it is, is there a way to get off?  There must be something more and deeper than just this "pursuit of happiness" thing. Frederick, S. and Loew...

Richard and Eric take a break from their recent heavy lifting to rank the top 5 choral Requiems of all time.  Some surprises are in store if you love the Office of the Dead!  Tomfoolery and skullduggery ensue as the guys go full Requiem.

Richard and Eric discuss the now famous Virtual Choir phenomenon and its varying ramifications on not only the choral community but on greater social society.  In their critique, they attempt the impossible by unifying seemingly disparate ideas of thinkers and philosophers such as Debord, Baudrillard, Eco, Kierkegaard, all in too short of a time.  Is the virtual choir actually a choir?  Does the v...

Richard and Eric take a brief look back at their year and find its a little harder to do than it would seem.  What can be learned from the many surprises and disappointments the season or school year annually present?  The guys also answer a listener email and reference the inimitable Gordan MacRae. 'musica obscura' looks at Communist composer Hanns Eisler's (1898-1962)  “Woodbury S...

Richard and Eric discuss a recent article from The Spectator by Andrew Mahon, who was critical of Peter Sellars's staging of the St. John Passion of J.S. Bach.  The article forms a jumping-off point to examine the role context plays in performance, performance practice,  and artistic interpretation.  There are a number of relevant issues surrounding the notion of context that play out in the...

In what amounts to a double episode, Richard and Eric are joined by special guest Dr. Jeremiah Cawley, and plunge into the deep end of the pool to discuss the state of criticism and its usefulness in the choral world.  What is a critic and what is good criticism?  Do we as a culture have a growing distaste, distrust, or maybe misunderstanding of what criticism is?  Are there sources of good, impac...

Richard and Eric try a new mode of discussion and ramble on in attempting to tip over a perceived 'sacred cow' of the current choral scene: closing concerts with 'crowd-pleasing' pieces.  This seemingly simple idea has a surprisingly large number of factors and variables to ruminate on, and the boys end up perhaps having more questions than when they started. 'musica obscu...