Commercial's Soundtrack Uses Only Human Voices

Michael Shaughnessy | Innovation, Singing

This car commercial features a soundtrack that seems to include many different instruments, but actually there's just one—the voice. Read more

Knowing When to Say No

Cory Davis | Careers, Health, Networking, Professional

When you're a freelance musician eager for work, why would you ever pass up a gig? Read more

Best Little-Known Choral Recordings

Helene Whitson | Repertoire, Singing

Choral music sleuth Helene Whitson has sifted through used CD bins and trolled the Internet to bring you some of the hidden gems of the choral repertoire. Read more

Advocating for the Arts: One Chorister's Advice

Glen Howard | Impact/Value

In times of economic drought, singers and choruses wonder if and how their chorus will survive. Glen Howard, arts consultant and choral singer, shares his insights about approaching potential funders and making a compelling case for choral music. 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

Symposium: The American Choral Tradition

7 Vendeventer Street, Princeton, NJ

Princeton Pro Musica | Adults/Seniors, Community Outreach, Education, General

  Symposium panel discussion: Marjorie Herman of WWFM’s “Sounds Choral” and Dr. Amanda Quist of Westminster Choir College and Dr. Ryan Brandau, discuss American Choral Tradition – its roots and its future – including some of the repertoire on the upcoming program. Read more

CHORAL CHAMELEON SUMMER INSTITUTE for Composers & Conductors

New York City

JefferyThyer | Adults/Seniors, Composing/Commissioning, Conducting, Education, Innovation, Networking, Participation, Performance, Professional, Rehearsal, Repertoire, Singing

The Choral Chameleon Institute is an eight-day intensive workshop in New York City, designed to immerse emerging composers and conductors of choral music in the intricacies of the choral idiom in a nurturing environment surrounded by respected professionals. It gives students an opportunity to explore and experiment with writing and conducting techniques in a "best-case scenario". During the course of the institute, many new pieces of choral music are cultivated and ultimately publicly performed, with live recording of the concert. Standards of the choral repertoire serve as a springboard for young conductors to work on challenging matters of gesture, musicianship, and rehearsal technique. Generous lab and podium time is given to all participants to ensure maximum practical and hands-on experience. The Choral Chameleon Institute also places heavy emphasis on ear training and analysis as means of deep, joyful discovery and informed, innovative interpretation.   Read more

Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 - Choralis and Alexandria Choral Society

Alexandria, VA

Alexandria Chor... | Audiences, Children/Youth, Community Outreach, Families, General, Performance, Singing, Symphonic

Beethoven’s final masterpiece will be brought to life in its entirety by the Choralis Orchestra with the combined voices of Choralis and the Alexandria Choral Society, with a stellar cast of soloists. Also on the program is Brahms’ Schicksalslied (Song of Fate), making this concert a must for the lover of symphonic works as well as the choral aficionado. Read more

Songs of San Francisco: From Gold Rush to Golden Gate (1840's-1930's)

2515 Fillmore Street, San Francisco, CA

Tricia Bell | Performance

An unusually charming concert of historical popular songs depicting life in San Francisco from before the Gold Rush to the mid-twentieth century, featuring rollicking arrangements for piano and choir by Eric Davis. Read more