Choir Fam Podcast

“Everything changed for the gay choral movement because they had twins: music and mission. They weren’t just there for the music, and they weren’t just there for the mission. I’ve been feeding my twins every day, and I feed them equally. Audiences that are interested in just music for music making are dying out. There are a lot more reasons to get them in: many concerts can reach into the community and be of service.”

Tim Seelig is ...

"I start every morning at the junior high, and we co-teach together. It's great for alignment in the program, for familiarity with the students and getting to know them and hopefully continuing in choir. Our students see that we collaborate. I like that they can see that because it shows them how to go about relationships. People need be modeled how to treat each other and work together and talk to each other.” -Daniel Gu...

“I think during my formative years, shying away from my true self – my authentic self – that's definitely shaped how I approach being in front of choirs, using choir as a platform to really encourage kids to be themselves. I think there's a vulnerability to singing where it really is an avenue to accessing the truest parts of ourselves, and so that's kind of my life mission now that I get to be in front of choirs.”

“You never know what anybody's potential is. I think about that now as a teacher, that we are expecting 17-, 18-year-olds to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives. It’s so early in your life to make those decisions, and so much can change during those really formative years. I want to help them to be the best version of themselves in the field and achieve the goals that they would like to do.”

Jennifer...

“Sometimes my students ask me if I worry about the future of choral music with advanced technology, AI, but I really am not concerned at all. The way that I see it, the act of making music with each other, the need to connect with each other – I don't see that going away anytime soon. To connect through honest, authentic communication that is not a digital platform – people want that. I'm excited for the future of choral ...

“I think the hardest thing in the world is to write easy music that still is eloquent. A piece relies on strength of idea and not strength of technique or difficulty. That underlying idea is so rich with potential and can be developed in so many beautiful ways within a 3-minute work or a 70-minute work. The pieces I'm the most proud of are the pieces where I've gotten down to the simplest necessary means to say something ...

“I want students to function in a studio recording session and a live performance, which are very, very different worlds. I want them to be able to do not just jazz, not just classical, not just gospel, but everything so that they can be hired to sing backgrounds for Beyoncé one day and the next day be singing with Andrea Bocelli on tour. I try to give them the most well-rounded experience I can.”

A native of Holguín, Cuba...

“Students will often refer to voice lessons, to choir rehearsal, as therapy. I felt that there was something to that. I wanted to make the connection between individual therapy and voice lessons and group therapy and the choral rehearsal. What is it about the choral organism that becomes a space that can be therapeutic? I found a lot of commonalities in group and individual counseling and what we do.”

Dr. Sarah J. Graham w...

“One of the things we know about the brain is that information that is acquired through problem solving is more likely to be retained. I might start rehearsal by saying 'take out the piece in D major,' 'let's start in the climactic moment of the Brahms,' 'take out the piece where fire is used as a metaphor for passion.' You start with a problem, so you're already engaging neurons. This works ...

“You never know someone else’s story. You never know what the experience of a concert or hearing a piece is to somebody. You don’t know how that affects them. So much of my music and why I do what I do is to facilitate these moments of connection between choristers, to give autonomy to choristers to feel like co-composers of my music themselves each time they’re performing the work. I always tend to seek out music, texts, stories, ...

“People may live in a place that's very different from us, but they have the same hopes, dreams, fears, and struggles with everyday life that we all do at some level. All the parents want education for their kids. Everyone wants a home, wants good food to eat, loves a good laugh and a good joke, loves to play and be silly together. If you find that out as a young person, you are less likely to quickly judge in a negative way s...

“A big part of being a musician is believing in yourself and saying ‘yes’ to the little opportunities that come your way. Sometimes we can get down on ourselves. We think, ‘I'm not cut out for that.’ Believe in yourself and what you can do, no matter what the situation... Don't be afraid to say ‘yes,’ to try out for that show or audition for that ensemble. Encourage your students to do the same thing because you never kno...

“In science, they're not tied to an outcome. They're open to the possibilities of what is going to result from an experiment. How freeing is that – not to be tied to a specific outcome. I've really tried to adopt that in my own personal life, the idea of just growing, learning, and being open. So many things are out of my control, so I might as well just be ready to go for the ride. I guess what I would tell young pe...

“Your first year is not going to be perfect. You're not going to feel like you're having a lot of success a lot of the time because you're figuring out how to work within a school system, how to work with other teachers, with parents, with students that may not be too much younger than you if you start teaching high school. So you do your best, and you do a lot of reflection at the end of every day, at the end of eve...

“Going back for a master’s was exhilarating. So many of the things that I had been doing in my studio were corroborated with education. On the flip side, I had a lot of moments where I thought, “I've been doing that wrong. I should change that.” Having had years doing a lot of my own education—I attended conferences and did everything I could to soak up anything available to me—going back to school and having it corroborated a...

"I think in many ways the pattern is the least important part of conducting. It’s much more about showing what the music should be doing, not beating four. If it were just a matter of keeping time, we could use a flashing red light. That's not what your job is. Your job is to encourage and show the music physically. I believe very strongly that the conducting gesture is nothing more than your vocal process externalized.”<...

“You have to create the bridge between the instructor and the student. Talk about your passion about the music, why you're performing it, why the piece is so special, and mix some humor in there. Once that engagement happens, everything you teach is automatically transferred because all the performers want that excellence for themselves, which is different than just telling people what to do. When you can inspire them to reall...

“I said, ‘I really wish a book existed with more women composers in it’... This book is so important in 2024 with equality and inclusivity being at the forefront of our profession. I think that this is timely, and I think it's a great representation of where we're going in our profession right now especially given the fact that I see a lot more programming to be equal with male composers and women composers.”

Ala...

"I have always been very intentional about my programming. My students sit in front of me, they're 18 to 22 years old, but I would have programmed for their 35-,  40-year-old self, for when the hard times come. What are we singing? What is this choir mama feeding them that eventually, when the hard times come, bubbles up in their spirit to help them get through the harder times?"

Dr. Pearl Shangkuan is a hig...