Choir Fam Podcast

"If people are taking pictures with their phones and having them in their hands all the time, why are we not leveraging these to talk about choral music? I am so tired of us being afraid of what people are going to say. Share what you're doing! Look at what your athletic programs are doing. Sports teams are sharing their losses. It's choir: 95% of the time, we don't lose. You c...

"It gave me some amazing opportunities, just that one phone call, that one chance. For my grad students, that's one of the things that I really try to model and mentor and teach them: you can be a fantastic musician, but if you aren't one that seizes the moment or takes the initiative, it makes a difference." John Dickson is Professor Emeritus and former Director of Choral Stud...

"I call it 'choral confession.' They come up to you and tell you their history with choir: 'I don't read sheet music.' 'I'm not a soloist.' These are wonderful capable singers, musically creative individuals that love what they do and contribute so much. My hope is that a book like this can give them the confidence to look at themselves and say 'I&...

"It is important for our members to be seen in spaces that they've traditionally not been welcome to. When you feel that you belong in a space, it changes something inside of you... You learn to use your voice by singing, and then you have the confidence to go use it in ways that dramatically impact your life and the lives of others." Erin Guinup ’s pursuit of creative, uplifting, a...

"It's not about only 'what do you hear,' it's about how you hear. What is the color of the sound you hear? What do you hear in the vocal mechanism? What are some of the things that they are doing that maybe are reflected in my conducting? Is my conducting reflective of the music? Is my conducting causing the issues?" Jo-Michael Scheibe, a Southern California native, h...

"The feeling that I got from being part of a good, and solid and warm choir culture was a big one for me. The feeling of being the person that has a hand in creating that space for somebody else and also sharing my love for music in the same breath just really appealed to me. I never saw myself going for anything else, really, except for music ed." Alana Scott is a fervent curator of sou...

"I was in this limbo place, and I took a church job and a community chorus job. [I thought,] 'I need a piece that does this thing, and I can't find one, so I might as well just write it.' I discovered that I really liked it. It became central to me fairly quickly. Writing has always been a fairly need-driven activity rather than something that I just did off the top of my head....

"As someone who moves at a million miles per hour, choir -- music -- is the one thing that does make time stop for me. I knew that I needed to be in the arts. I have to be a teacher, I have to be a conductor, so that I can live in this endless moment that is quite finite but feels like infinity. I want to live in this forever." Coty Raven Morris  is a proud alumnus of Texas State Univers...

"As a realist, it's hard for me to be a dreamer, but I think when you're creative, you have to be. You have to find those ways to surround yourself with people who speak opportunity into your life. That's something that I'm really focusing on: how to find a neat path forward that isn't necessarily set in stone." Skip Stradtman is a choral composer and arranger ba...

"I'm an only child. I grew up in rural North Dakota in the country, and I spent a lot of time by myself and at the piano bench and in my own head. I hold my ideas very close to the chest. I don't let them out until I'm pretty sure I know what they're going to be. Learning to collaborate was something I actively had to go after and figure out." - Jocelyn Hagen Jocelyn...

"A lot of our projects and our pieces seek to empower people and to bring stories to the surface that don't always get told. We have a literal stage to put these ideas forth, and we're able to ask our audiences for a little more out of them." - Timothy Takach Jocelyn Hagen composes music that has been described as “simply magical” (Fanfare Magazine) and “dramatic and deeply mov...

On the Choir Fam Holiday Special, Dean and Matt discuss making music during the busy holiday season and also look back on some favorite winter memories from their childhoods. We wish all our listeners a happy holiday season! We hope you all can enjoy some rest and relaxation as your semesters wind down. Choir Fam wants to hear from you! Check out the Minisode Intro episode to hear how to share you...

"We’ve found other ways to make music by centering on the creative process and composition – collective composition in particular. Bringing young people together to meet across difference and to put music at the center as a tool for them to engage in dialogue has just been greater than I could have imagined." Alysia Lee receives national recognition for advancing access, equity, and deco...

"The skill set of the executive director is actually the activation of knowledge in the organization rather than the specialization of the knowledge itself. I’m better served in clearing the road so that the artistry can come through. The outcome of that is really exceptional experiences for students and their teachers." Robyn Hilger is beginning her second year as executive director of...

Choir Fam Minisode 1 includes Lightning Round answers from four of our Choir Fam listeners: Jessica Koenig Rockford, Illinois Choir and piano lab teacher at Harlem Middle School Kayla Mommsen Pullman, Washington Choral music education student at Washington State University James Rodrigue Baton Rouge, Louisiana Choral conducting graduate student at Louisiana State University and co-founder of Opus...

"It's really easy for a teacher to work 80, 90, 100 hours a week. What does that do to a person? When I'm exhausted, I'm a less effective communicator. I am less prepared to deal with the emotional challenges of the classroom. I am less likely to give grace when I'm tired. Giving 100% of yourself is not an effective educational strategy. You can't give everything.&quo...

"When I was teaching high school, I really wanted to do some comprehensive and interdisciplinary lessons and didn't have the time to do that for all of my music. Now I have some time to do that research. Inspired Choir is a place that I get to share well-researched information on individual pieces of music." Dr. Colleen McNickle is Assistant Professor of Music Education at Arkansas...

"The International Conductors Exchange Program was a profound experience. What was unique was the chance to work with Cuban choirs, not just take an American choir and perform in a spectacular setting. It really is a life-changing cultural exchange. There's nothing like international travel to broaden your horizons." John F. Warren is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activi...

"If you can give students really clear directions about what they're doing with their bodies at all times, then their minds are much more likely to be focused. By the end of the rehearsal, there's all this energy. That comes if you're able to grab their attention and have everyone participate in a visual and kinesthetic way." Dr. Reed Criddle is Director of Choral Activiti...

"One of my opportunities here at this school is to be able to do ‘harder’ music while still honoring our mission of being for the community. I have people who don’t read music. I have people who have never been in a choir before in their lives. But everybody should sing, so come on in here, and let’s do the best we can." Dr. Jacob Funk is director of choirs at Clark College in Vancouver,...

"A lot of my choral works get inspiration from Philippine indigenous chants. We have 7000+ islands with different cultures and soundscapes, and that is itself is a very rich jump-off point for a new composition. I contact a tribe, interview them, ask permission to use a folk chant, and recompose it in a manner that is respectful of the original form of the chant but with something new added t...

We want to hear from you! We'd love all our listeners to answer our Season 1 lightning-round questions for us to share with our audience. We are looking forward to getting to know you better. Email choirfampodcast@gmail.com with the following info: Subject Line: Choir Fam Minisode First and last name, pronouns optional City and state you live in School where you teach or study, choral organiz...

Thank you for listening to our show this season!! Here are the favorite choral pieces from our guests in the first season: Even When He Is Silent, Kim André Arnesen The Gift I Leave You, Kim André Arnesen Bist du bei mir, J. S. Bach Der Geist hilft unsrer Schwachheit auf, J. S. Bach St. Matthew Passion, J. S. Bach Warrior, Kim Baryluk Chichester Psalms, Leonard Bernstein Hymn to St. Cecilia, Benja...

"Smart kids are good thinkers. They don't like to make mistakes, but they're going to. So many of them are perfectionists, as are many musicians. The beauty is giving students a chance to explore, to fail, and try again - all the time figuring out what it means to be okay with being uncomfortable. Beautiful things come out of that vulnerability." Heath Weber is Dean of the Scho...

"Being part of an ensemble taught me to look not just at my line but at all the music. The composer gives you so much information in the orchestra that you don't get from just the vocal line. That really informs your character. It allows me to be more fun and more creative if I can focus on being part of the whole at any given time." Bass Benjamin Sieverding of Minneapolis, MN has g...