Choir Fam Podcast
The Choir Fam Podcast is a venue for conversations about the current state of choral music. Hosts Dean Luethi and Matthew Myers seek to bring the worldwide choral community closer together through their discussions with a variety of guests who work with choir in its various forms. The goal of the podcast is to provide listeners with interesting tidbits of knowledge they could use in day-to-day choral rehearsals and to bring light to the ways that issues in the choral field are being observed and addressed.
- Update frequency
- every 9 days
- Average duration
- 46 minutes
- Episodes
- 142
- Years Active
- 2022 - 2025
Ep. 92 - Developing Independent Musicianship in Choral and Instrumental Ensembles - Will Gunn
Ep. 91 - Building Artistic Versatility Through Contemporary A Cappella - J.D. Frizzell
“At the end of that first year, I did a pops concert. I developed the formula that I use now, which is to make it sound a lot like the actual songs. You give a lot of soloists opportunities to sing s…
Ep. 90 - Reinvigorating Historic Music with Modern Creativity - Robert Hollingworth
“Uniformity is a two-edged sword, isn't it? Within a choir you need uniformity or you're not going to get a good blend, but within that uniformity, I want as much individuality as possible. I do a lo…
Ep. 89 - Creating Choral Camaraderie on a Global Level - T. J. Harper
“The folks who I think are really doing incredible work around the world, not just for one festival or for one tour, but for decades, are the folks who are trying to literally make the world a better…
Ep. 88 - Prioritizing Representation in Choral Music - Matthew Chi Lee
“I haven’t moved exclusively to doing multicultural music in our classroom, but I have done a lot of music that has a positive message that they can relate to. If this song has nothing to do with the…
Ep. 87 - Sharing Stories to Stir the Soul - Tim Seelig
“From my first ACDA in 1991 to ACDA now: complete reversal. People are not afraid to perform something that moves the soul, and in 1991 nobody did it. Now people are digging in and not being afraid. …
Ep. 86 - Honoring Diversity Through Historical Research - Elizabeth Schauer
“I have fallen deeply in love with looking at a piece, seeing what it is, and realizing that there are no real absolutes in music. There are no rules. You have to look at each piece of music for what…
Ep. 85 - Choral Music and Personal Growth - Jonathan Talberg
“I grew up thinking that we should sound like the music we're singing. There was never one right way for me. There are those great choral traditions where they sing everything a certain way. I never …
Ep. 84 - Building Choral Skills from the Adjudication Table - Brett Epperson
“I’ve really enjoyed getting into classrooms to affirm my colleagues. I seek whenever I do a visit to say something that is both positive and true. I could just be positive, but if it’s not truthful,…
Ep. 83 - Building Choral Excellence to Serve Communities - Joshua Cheney
"Choral programs don't exist in a vacuum. They exist in a place, and they exist in a place that serves a people. That people group is always bigger than choir. The first thing that you've gotta do is…
Ep. 82 - Inspiring and Motivating Adolescent Tenors and Basses - Vincent Oakes
“Octave displacement is a really big thing with adolescent singers. Make a game out of it - I’ll have them match me, match me up an octave, match me down an octave - versus scolding when you’re in th…
Ep. 81 - Expanding Access to Choral Participation - Marcela Molina
“I started to see the possibilities of what a youth community choir could be. Seeing that profound impact on a young woman was very transformative for me. After two or three years, everything that I …
Ep. 80 - Bridging Artistry and Scholarship - Jessica Nápoles
“If a student has been unsuccessful at elementary and middle school, by the time they get to high school, it’s really hard to shift and course correct. But if they haven’t been successful at elementa…
Ep. 79 - Voice Pedagogy Concepts for a Variety of Genres - Ryan Deignan
“Contemporary commercial music is closer to the students’ everyday musical culture. There’s that component of culturally relevant pedagogy that both show choir and vocal jazz meet. They are a bit mor…
Ep. 78 - Optimizing Choral Administration with a Booster Club - Cathy Britton
"I didn’t want to do any middle level teaching because of behavior, but I ended up teaching eight years at Patrick Henry Junior High. I loved every moment of it. I learned that if the kids loved and …
Ep. 77 - Creating Opportunities Through First Impressions - Stephen Caldwell
"The greatest lesson that I learned as a gig singer is that your career and reputation are built one chance at a time. You get one chance and one chance only. If I want people to go out on a limb for…
Season 3 Wrap-Up
Thank you for listening to our show this season!!
Here are the favorite choral pieces from our guests in the third season:
Sommerpsalm, Waldemar Åhlén
Christmas Oratorio, Johann Sebastian Bach
Komm, Jesu…
Minisode 3 - Stephen Salamunovich, Anneliese Zook
Choir Fam Minisode 3 includes Lightning Round answers from two of our Choir Fam listeners:
Stephen Salamunovich
Renton, Washington
Anneliese Zook
Garfield, Washington
We want to hear from you! We'd love a…
Minisode Intro Part 3 - Share Your Story with the Choir Fam
We want to hear from you! We'd love all our listeners to answer our Season 3 lightning-round questions for us to share with our audience. We are looking forward to getting to know you better.
Email ch…
Ep. 76 - Approaching Choral Music with Imagination - Jean-Sébastien Vallée
“The number one thing that I look for when I meet a younger conductor is imagination, someone who comes with ideas but also has a story to tell with the music. Often younger conductors are really wor…