Choir Fam Podcast

“We are there to be servants of our community. A lot of amateur choirs can become bowling leagues; they show up on Wednesday night, they have a great time, and that’s the reason they do it. I think t…

“So many people view conducting as a reflection of the music, and if that works for them, that's great. I view conducting as a reflection of the movement. Undergrads aren't always predisposed to musi…

"The question I had to ask myself was, 'Do you want to change who you are as a composer just so can match a particular sound that is in fashion or is expected of you in the concert hall world or do y…

“The music that I fell in love with that made me want to be a musician when I was a young teenager was not loved because it’s super difficult. That’s not the reason you love music. You love music tha…

“You can’t be a good teacher, you can’t be a good conductor, without being a good human being... I’m grateful that I have stuck with so many of the things that felt true to me. I’m honest and vulnera…

“My professional career comes from something that I did not study. I think it’s called the hidden curriculum - things that you learn that are not on your schedule that are many times equally or more …

"When you're singing choral music, you can't be thinking about all those other things that are going on in your life. It takes incredible mental focus. People would say to me, 'how do you have time t…

“Being text-focused has been really beneficial and a change from the way I’ve seen concerts programmed in the past: ‘Do the keys align? What is the soundscape?’ Those things are important, but for th…

“I really thought I wanted to be a high school teacher, but the first job I got was in elementary. That turned out to be the best ‘teaching-me’ experience I could have had, because I learned that if …

“Let your passion guide you. That has been such a huge help to me in this journey because I know that I’m doing it because I love to do it. Don’t get caught up in going through the motions. It’s easy…

“It’s powerful to see [the Dallas Street Choir] perform. It’s powerful to see the invisible become visible. Both the audience reaction to take an invisible, isolated population and see them for the v…

“As first-year teachers, we have more power than we think we do. Our voice is heard more because we’re the new person in town. As young teachers, I think that our confidence is still growing. We’re s…

"The repertoire will always have some sort of example of something that you're talking about in music theory, and it helps really build that connection between the studying of music and the doing of …