Should Choruses Memorize Their Music?

Kelsey Menehan | Adults/Seniors, Conducting, Impact/Value, Performance, Rehearsal, Singing, Technique/Tool

Memorizing music can be daunting, but choruses that require it report that their singers connect better with the conductor, with the music, and ultimately with the audience. The memorization techniques that worked for them can help ease the process. Read more

On Tour with the Eric Whitacre Singers

Kelsey Menehan | Audiences, Conducting, Performance, Repertoire, Singing, Venue

The Eric Whitacre Singers recently made its debut U.S. tour in March, organized and presented by Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY.) Chorus America asked four of the Singers to provide some insight into life on the road, performing in American venues, and working with a choral "rock star."    Read more

Singing and Healthy Children

Kelsey Menehan | Children/Youth, Education, Health, Impact/Value, Participation, Performance, Schools, Singing

Participating in a chorus can have a transformative effect on a child’s academic achievement and overall well-being. Read more

Singing and Psychological Well-being

Kelsey Menehan | Health, Impact/Value, Participation, Performance, Research/Data, Singing

The power of group singing to elevate mood and forge relationships can help people weather challenges and face life’s ups and downs. Read more

The Choral Warm-Ups of Robert Shaw

Pamela Elrod | Rehearsal, Singing, Technique/Tool

Believing that the chorus was a corporate entity with a spirit of kinship, famed conductor Robert Shaw used the warm-up period to focus on matters of tuning, tone color, ensemble blend, acoustical conditions, and development of the dynamic palette. We've compiled several of his warm-ups. Read more

The Feldenkrais Method for Singers—Vocalizing To Release Tension

Karen R Clark | Health, Singing, Technique/Tool

Through a self-discovery process using movement, the practice of Feldenkrais can help singers perform with minimum effort and maximum efficiency. In this video, Feldenkrais practitioner Karen Clark guides a singer to notice and then release tension while vocalizing. Read more

The Feldenkrais Method for Singers—Opening the Throat

Karen R Clark | Health, Singing, Technique/Tool

The practice of Feldenkrais can help singers perform with minimum effort and maximum efficiency. In this video, Feldenkrais practitioner Karen Clark demonstrates how opening the throat releases tension and allows for greater freedom in singing. Read more

The Feldenkrais Method for Singers—Introduction

Karen R Clark | Health, Singing, Technique/Tool

You know that freed-up feeling where it seems your body is singing itself? Singers yearn for more of that, but myriad stresses, tensions, confusions, and vocal issues can get in the way. Through a self-discovery process using movement, the practice of Feldenkrais can help singers perform with minimum effort and maximum efficiency. In this video series, Feldenkrais practitioner Karen Clark describes and demonstrates how this approach has helped her—and the singers she works with—release tension and find greater freedom in their singing. Read more

GLORIA! Chorus, Organ and Brass

60 Forest Park Avenue, Larchmont, New York

H.Joyce Duffy | Audiences

Lenten Reflection: Stabat Mater

520 N. Bloulevard, Richmond VA 23220

Nan Hall | Adults/Seniors, Audiences, Conducting, Education, Families, General, Impact/Value, Performance, Repertoire, Singing, Volunteer

Dvorak's cantata  gives significant meaning to Good Friday and Mary's despair at the loss of her Son. Read more

battle hymns

San Francisco, CA

Alan Kleinschmidt | Audiences

The must-see event of the spring arts season is a major collaboration between four performing arts groups, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War with performances of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang’s masterful choral and dance piece battle hymns.  Commissioned and premiered in Philadelphia in 2009, battle hymns has never been performed since, owing to its unusual and complex demands.   Read more

Registration Open for Encore Creativity for Older Adults Summer Institutes at Chautauqua

Chautauqua, NY

Jeanne Kelly | Adults/Seniors, Participation, Performance, Rehearsal, Repertoire, Singing

Encore Creativity for Older Adults returns to Chautauqua for the 6th year to present the Summer Institutes for Adults 55+.  Three concurrent tracks in Choral singing, Movement and Theatre.  Visit www.encorecreativity.org for more information and to register. Read more