Choir Teachers

Favorite Choral Conductor Phrases

noreply@blogger.com (AI for Teachers Today) — Sun, 23 Aug 2015 23:05:00 +0000

Yesterday on the American Choral Directors Facebook Group someone made a post asking for our Favorite Choral Director phrases. In just over a day it had close to 200 comments.

While they were all great I decided to compile a list of some of my favorites. (It turned into a pretty long favorites list.)

Approach the note from above.
Singing is an athletic event.
Drink in the breath.
Listen louder than you sing.

Let the breathe fuel the sound.
Stop talking.
Smile with your eyes
Sing through it, not to it.
What are you singing? To whom are you speaking? What are you trying to say?
80% of life is showing up. The rest is what you do after.
Gird up your loins!
Pitch is not optional or approximate!
Stand from the waist up.
Pull the taffy!
What are you singing ABOUT?
One more time...
Make mistakes. Make them boldly. Make them once.
Lay a big fat green egg, because I cannot fix "nothing."
Have a love affair with the center of pitch.
Too much, too soon, too bad. (About a crescendo)
Once a mistake, twice a habit!
Don't make it more accidental than it already is.
The higher you go, the brighter. The lower you go, the brighter.
No one can smile and sing except Miss America...and she only learned one song.
Bend your knees.
Long vowels!!
Put more space in your face!
No one note is the same as the other.
Everything we do, we do together.
Never sing louder than beautiful.
Look up here!
Do not take steps backwards!!
I own your eyes.
Pretend there's a string being pulled out of the top of your head.
What does [accel./rit./fermata/etc.] mean?" After various mumbled responses with the actual definition, "No, it means to look at me!"
There's a reason God gave us two ears and only one mouth.
The arch of the eyebrow governs the shape of the tone.
Honor the rests, please.
Look up and live.
Miss a note. Get a rhythm.
Enjoy the process not the product.
Ok we're going to go from the top to the end. I promise I'm not going to stop.
All music must dance.
Watch!!!!
Better to be confidently wrong than wimpily right.
One more time.
Let your head rule your heart and your heart rule your head.
Never louder than lovely.
They who cannot spread light, are content to generate heat instead.
It's a SONG, so SING it.
Sing through your eyes.
Good is the enemy of excellent.
Fish lip and rabbit teeth.
We want bel canto, not can belto.
I coach choir.
I'm tired of that mistake, make another one.
Do we sound like one?
Do as I meant, not what I said.
Early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable.
Look #, don't b flat, and act natural.
Make it interesting!
The eyebrows matter - it's hard to look interested and sound dull and equally hard to look uninterested and sound engaged.
Look up and live!
Sing as if you were fatter stand as if you were taller.
Strong and wrong is better than feeble and right.
North-south vowels rather than east-west vowels.
One more time...
If the basses are bad, the choir is bad.
Sing on air.
Sing from your toenails.
“What's your favorite piece?" Students: "The one in our hand!"
Men - sing like football players in tuxedoes.
Vertical vowels, please.
Breathe in the shape of the vowel.
Sit tall.
Don't 'sing the voice - - sing the phrase.
Don't land hard on the last note of the phrase just because you've got extra air to spend.
English is a second language for conductors - Sarcasm is first.
That vowel sounded like a cat being pulled through a keyhole - backwards.
That sounded like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs!
“How do you Spell Monodynamoc?" (Choir starts to spell) -interrupting- "Wrong! It's B.O.A.R.I.N.G!"
Vomit out the air.
Breathe as if you have 20 noses around your waist.
Don't let the consonants contaminate your vowels.
This is a Chor"us" not a chor"me"!
Use your "Disney eyes"
Sometimes it's more beautiful when you DON'T sing! (Rests)
Sing out or Get Out!!
Few will be expert singers, but many can learn to be expert listeners.
Never let a note sit still.
Everything we do here is EXTRAordinary (breathing, vowels, posture, etc.)
Do what you love, and do it to the best of your ability.
Don't do anything stupid or illegal. (general life lesson)
Massage the vowel!
I can look at your mouth and see you're behind!
Breathe on the pitch you're about to sing.
Can we try once more - - I'm just not following you as well as I'd like.
If you make a mistake, that means you're trying.
Own it.
Try not to look like you are either going to pass out, puke, and/or harm the audience when performing.
If you do it in rehearsal, you'll do it in performance.
Make the notes come alive, give them momentum.
The audience wants a show- make it look effortless and fun; and try to have fun while you're at it.
The vowels make the beauty and the consonants make the meaning.
Always resonate on the vowel and make the consonant clear."
Never resonate on the consonant!
NEVER resonate on the end of a diphthong!
All of your voices are important, but yours is no MORE important than anyone else's. If the only person you can hear is yourself, you're doing it wrong. Pick someone in another section to listen to.
If you're chewing gum, you are wrong.
The quality of the breath equals the quality of the sound.
Once more - with talent.
If you sin, sin boldly!
The fewer phrases, the better. The less said, the better.
An amateur practices until they get it right. A professional practices until they can't get it wrong.
Singers must have the skin of an elephant with the soul of a butterfly.
There is nothing more tragic in a choir than the face of indifference.
I don’t think anybody should sing in a choir if they can help it. I’d like to belong to a choir that sings because they just can’t help it.
The biggest battles one fights are in one's own head.
You sound like your conductor told you to do it. The next step is letting it sound like it was your idea.
That was lovely-- WRONG-- but lovely.
You are singing to loud to be good. Save vocal gold.
I reserve the right to conduct you.
I can't tell you how wonderful that was
C'mon its a spiritual. If you can hear the person next to you then you're not singing loud enough.
It is not as important to know your part as it is to know what you're a part of.
The right note at the wrong time is still the wrong note.
Character is more important than talent.
Referring to rests: "Don't think about how you want the sound to stop but rather how you want the silence to begin."
Tuning is a process, not an event.
Pianissimo is like a photographer’s darkroom... light destroys an untreated film and forte destroys a unplaced voice.
Yogowypi...You only get out what you put in.
There is no forte without piano.
We don't do cut-offs, we do releases.
Don't bring your street voice into this room - - put your choir face on!
After some weak diction is sung, "now let's add the words!"
Make the stop more about the go.
You just prepped a prep. You might not go to Heaven now.
Care as much about the final note of the phrase as you care about the first.
I'd buy a ticket to hear that.
An audience listens with their eyes. That's why we are going to look snappy.
Don't be inconsonant!
Love the vowel. Consonants are always forte.
Let's make Grandma turn up her hearing aids.
Beauty is in the vowels, passion is in the consonants.
Sing with your eyes!
Sing with all the colors of your voice.
Don't blend- listen.
Never sing the same note. Always make it an onion skin higher.
Sing curves.
Never sing without your ears!
Love the little notes, too!
Sing from your butt!
How do you spell rehearsal? P-E-N-C-I-L
And now, in English! (referring to diction)
Put your voice above the shelf. (placement)
Never sit on a note.
Eat the apple! (Drop the jaw)
Silence is golden.
One more time!
Every note needs to go somewhere.
Well, that was very good…individually.
Let's do that one more time to make it skill and not luck.
Sing to the stressed syllable and away from the unstressed syllable.
When a section misses an entrance- "That was too soft."
Hold hands with your ears.
Where I grew up, "very good" would get you about a "3" at festival.
Consonants are explosions of sound.
Now do it again to show me that wasn't an accident.
Even the little notes get a vote.
We sing "within" piano.
Let's share the beat.
Air comes into the body like a wave from top to bottom.
Sing forte in the sleeve of the sound.
God loves in tune singing.
When in doubt, don't be doubtful.
Sopranos, it's a high note, not a 911 call.

As a note I decided to take off the names of who said each of these because I found many of them were listed more than once and had a different person attributed as the author. I guess its just further evidence of how much we as teachers steal good ideas from each other.

GARDNER'S HINTS FOR GROUP SINGING

noreply@blogger.com (AI for Teachers Today) — Sun, 11 May 2014 15:11:00 +0000

GARDNER'S HINTS

FOR GROUP SINGING

All music must dance!!! All music must dance!!! All music must dance!!!

1. Proper posture is essential to good vocal production.

a. Don't stand too rigid. (This will cause tension)

b. Stand tall and stately with your arms, shoulders and neck area relaxed.

c. Don't slouch, it restricts the lungs and diaphragm.

2. Tension is the great enemy to all singers;

a. The jowls and the jaws must always be relaxed.

b. When singing in the higher registers always tip your forehead slightly forward.

(flirt with someone in the audience)

c. When women sing notes above the staff, turn all vowels to Aaah and use less volume.

VOCAL PRODUCTION

3. The higher you sing the darker the vowel. (Lips further from teeth)

4. The louder you sing the darker the vowel. (Lips further from teeth)

5. The lower you sing the brighter the vowel. (Lips closer to teeth)

6. The softer you sing the brighter the vowel. (Lips closer to teeth)

NOTE WEIGHT

7. The longer the note the more weight you put on it.

8. The shorter the note the less weight you put on it.

NOTE SHAPE

9. Every note has shape and contour. (crescendo, decrescendo, tenuto, staccato) (When listening to younger musicians you notice that every note is the same and has no shape, contour or direction.)

10. You never sit on a long note. (You must either increase volume or decrease volume)

11. When singing a series of notes on the same pitch each note must be altered for interest. (Four quarter notes, on the same pitch, become boring unless you make them interesting with shape, contour, and volume.)

RHYTHM

12. When singing a note that is three times longer than the note that follows, you must separate. (Examples Dotted half note followed by a quarter note - You Separate. Dotted Quarter followed by eighth - you separate, Dotted eighth followed by sixteenth - you separate.

ACCIDENTALS

13. An accidental is a Sharp, Flat or Natural sign that takes the note out of the key and you should emphasize or accent the accidental so that the listener won't think you just made a mistake.

14. A rhythm accidental is syncopation or any beat that does not occur on the pulse and you should emphasize or accent all rhythm accidentals.

MESSAGE

15. The message is most important. Enunciate well. Communicate well. Understand the message that you are trying to get across to the audience. Do your part to inspire and edify the audience. (When your spirit bears witness to their spirit, both will be edified.)

Peter Hollens

noreply@blogger.com (AI for Teachers Today) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:00:00 +0000

If you haven't yet discovered Peter Hollens let this be your introduction and the thank me later :)

This only one of many great tracks he as done. Check out his channel to find the rest.
http://www.youtube.com/user/peterhollens?feature=watch

Mentors

noreply@blogger.com (AI for Teachers Today) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Recently I attended the Arizona Music Educators Association Conference. It is always a boost to go and spend the weekend with like minded individuals and share ideas.

I was planning on attending a session on breathing techniques but the clinician was a no show. So I just decided to go to the session next door. Who would have thought it would turn into one of my favorite sessions of the weekend.

The session was on Mentors and the presenter was Tim Sharp.

It really made me think about the importance of being a mentor and to reflect on who were/are my unofficial mentors? Also, how to be a better mentor.

He listed some of the top polled characteristics of a mentor and from that list here were my favorites:

Enthusiastic
Confident
An authority in the field
Career and life balance
Intellectual diplomacy and humility
Spiritual integrity
Encouraging
Friendly
Intense

Some of my favorite lines from the session were:

A mentor cares about you personally not just professionally.
There is a demon that says you are not good enough.
Protege affirmation is important.
Honest affirmation with direct and clear directions on what they need to improve.
Leonardo da Vinci was a student of life.
What bumper sticker would I put on my dashboard/music stand or t-shirt for the world to see?
Be a protege for a day.

Bumper Sticker

noreply@blogger.com (AI for Teachers Today) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 19:19:00 +0000

What bumper sticker would I put on my dashboard/music stand or t-shirt for the world to see?

Bumper sticker car parked in Santa Cruz, California. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The pathway to hell is paved with it will be fine at the concert.

It's not your fault but its your problem.

All music must dance.

Character is more important than talent.

Hell is when the person you are meets the person you could have been.

We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act but a habit.

To be continued....

Please add your own in the comments.

Using Wordle with Regional Auditions

noreply@blogger.com (AI for Teachers Today) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 02:54:00 +0000

We just had our regional auditions and my students did very well. Today I had the idea to type out all the notes that they received from their auditions. This way I have a digital record for as long as I want and secondly I could put that into wordle.net and see what trends I noticed.

The Result

I like this because it is a fun way for me to look at some of the things we need to work on as a whole. Also, I plan on showing this to my class and asking them what they notice from it.

My New Favorite Website

noreply@blogger.com (AI for Teachers Today) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 13:00:00 +0000

www.ifttt.com

Check out this really cool website. It is really hard to explain but it can do some really cool things. It kind of wires all of your favorite internet tools together.Trust me you need to go and check it out.

Here are a few examples of what you can do.

I am running 15 recipes and so far I am loving them all.

Shark Tank

noreply@blogger.com (AI for Teachers Today) — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Shark Tank 3 (Photo credit: Sakurako Kitsa)

I really like the show "Shark Tank"

I think it would be a lot more fun to watch if it was more like "The Voice" where the sharks picked their mentors, invested in them and then we got to watch as their companies either succeed or bust. Then we could really see what companies were good ideas and which sharks really know their stuff. It could even be fun to have some of the ideas that were rejected come back in and see where they are by themselves.

I think this would be a fun show and who knows if they could get the products into market fast enough we as an audience could vote via our purchases.

Come on ABC make this happen :)

Class Facebook Page (Update)

noreply@blogger.com (AI for Teachers Today) — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Image via CrunchBase

A year ago I wrote a post about creating a Class Facebook Page. After a few tweaks I think I found the Facebook setup that works for me.

I have set up a general Facebook Page for all the choirs that anyone can like and follow for general announcements. Also a good way for alumni to stay connected and a means for free performance advertisement.

Where the real success has been is with Private Group Pages for my individual performance groups. I have found through these private groups I get the protection from out siders posting stuff I don't approve of and also I get to communicate directly with just my ensembles outside of school time. Granted not all of my students have a Facebook but I would say at least 90% do and have all accepted an invitation to be a part of this group.

You can set up your own groups here: https://www.facebook.com/about/groups/

3 Must Read Books for Choir Directors

noreply@blogger.com (AI for Teachers Today) — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Here are 3 books that I have found most useful in helping me become a better Choir Director. I highly recommend them and if you have any suggestions for me I am all ears and ready to learn.

Sing 6-7-8! - Choral

This book has a great way of simplifying things. It allows you to see things from a younger students perspective from someone who has worked for many years with that age group. I have heard it said before that just because you can do does not mean you can teach This book has lots of great tools to help bridge that gap.

The adolescent years can be a challenge for any choir director, but this practical handbook by Roger Emerson provides an engaging and witty approach to working with these young singers. Ideal for experienced educators and those new to the field, this text is full of creative ideas and solid solutions in an easy-to-read question and answer format. The fifty topics include recruiting, the adolescent voice, choral tone, classroom management, budgets, choral balance and blend, sight-reading, repertoire, programming, incorporating pop music into the choral program, working with your administrators and colleagues, parent and community relations, helpful recommended resources and much more!

Evoking Sound Choral Warm-up Method, Procedures, Planning And Core Vocal Exercises

The book is a comprehensive guide to teaching vocal technique through designing an efficient choral warm-up that gives the choir "tools" to sing and hear better. Among the topics presented are alignment (using Alexander Body Mapping principles), inhalation, exhalation, support, resonance, vowel colors, leaps, range extension, crescendo/decrescendo, martellato, staccato, teaching procedures for diction (plus general diction guidelines), teaching and reinforcing rhythm and consistent tempo, and strategies for teaching intonation. This is a comprehensive guide for choral directors that: helps conductors plan and implement efficient choral warm-ups builds healthy voices within the choral rehearsal provides vocalises that have accompaniments complete with modulations upward and downward categorizes vocalises according to specific vocal objectives

Choral Concepts: A Text for Conductors

Not too often did I find a college text book that I really liked but here is one exception. This text provides a concise and practical introduction to choral techniques and conducting for potential choral conductors. The author-America's premier choral conductor, mentored by Robert Shaw-brings 43 years of teaching and workshop experience to this text.

4 Best Choral Warm Up Resources

noreply@blogger.com (AI for Teachers Today) — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 13:00:00 +0000

If you are like most choir directors one of the things you do everyday and even multiple times a day if you teach multiple classes is Warm-ups. Here are the best 4 warm up resources that I have found.

1. The Complete Choral Warm-Up Book By Robinson, Russell/ Althouse, Jay

This is a great book full of lots of different warm up exercises. Great resource when you are tired of doing the same old Warm-Up all day every day. Pick one and change it up.

2. Pop Warm-Ups and Work-Outs for Guys

Unchanged, changing or changed male singers in middle school and high school may need a little extra help in "finding" their singing voices. Roger Emerson has developed a series of warm-ups that use excerpts from classic rock and roll tunes that will provide the motivation and repetition they need to do just that. Each song features limited ranges; the pattern starts in a moderate range and gradually ascends into the tenor range and descends through the bass range as needed. The professionally-produced CD recording presents each exercise with vocals so your guys have a model to emulate. Exercises are based on the following songs: The Addams Family Theme; Theme from "Jaws;" Jump, Jive an' Wail; Land of a Thousand Dances; Mission: Impossible Theme; Na Na Hey Hey, Kiss Him Goodbye; Shake, Rattle and Roll; Smoke on the Water; We Will Rock You.

3. Evoking Sound Choral Warm-up Method, Procedures, Planning And Core Vocal Exercises

This book is more than just good choral warm-ups it is a text book on how to use Choral Warm-Ups to truly make your choir better. I am a big fan of James Jordan and this book is what got me hooked.

4. Apple iPhone

Probably my favorite resource of all is the Video Camera feature on my iphone. I am that guy at Regionals or All-State standing at the back of the room recording the clinician. Especially during warm ups. I found early on that I would learn lots of great things from watching other directors but would forget most by the time I got back to my class room. That's where my camera on my phone came in and has saved me. Now I have those resources to reference.

Regional Honor Choir Auditions

noreply@blogger.com (AI for Teachers Today) — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Here is an old post that I found in my drafts folder. With my regional auditions coming up again here in a month I thought it would be relevant to go ahead with the post and try to get some ideas.

What do you do to help your students prepare for an audition?

Yesterday we had auditions for our Regional Honor Choir. I had 9 students qualify which is awesome considering I had 12 audition. I am not happy with my low numbers auditioning but that is a discussion for another day.

The audition is broke up into 2 different auditions. Sight Singing and a Solo. Both with different judges.

Sheet Music (Photo credit: jayneandd)

Sight Singing

The sight singing portion consists of 3 single line exercises and a Block and Contrapuntal Section.
Examples @ http://www.azchoraleducators.org/

Solo

The solo is a 2 minute selection of folk/art song.

Does your state do anything similar? And what are you finding works for you?

Viral Video Class Project (Update)

noreply@blogger.com (AI for Teachers Today) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 15:48:00 +0000

Last year I had this crazy idea -

Creating Viral Videos (A Classroom Project)

Well we did it and the kids absolutely loved it! I think it was their favorite part of the year. I have had kids asking me all year "Mr. G are we doing the viral video thing again this year?" And yes we are. I am going to tweak a couple things and give better expectations but overall I will stand behind the original idea of I am staying out of the way and let the kids creative sides come out.

Here is the video that got the most views during our allotted time frime, thus the winner. Though now there are videos that actually have more views. This is the same two kids who inspired the project, pretty cool.

If the contest ended today this video would have actually won. And the likes won for sure.

This one did really well and was one of my favorites. The video quality could be an actual music video.

This girl wrote her own original song.

This is a fun one where they went to a mall and interacted with the workers.

And the winner is...

noreply@blogger.com (AI for Teachers Today) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 13:00:00 +0000

I promised an up date on the 99designs.com contest so here it is.

This is the logo we chose for our races. I think it turned out amazing and we even got the other designs from that desiger as part of the package.

This is the design we used on the shirt.

I highly recommend the service. It was a lot of fun to get to pick from al the designs and work with the designers and in the end I think we ended up with great branding for our race.

Here is a link to the contest we ran just so you can get a better idea of what we worked with and how the logos progressed.

https://99designs.com/logo-design/contests/help-bucket-blood-races-logo-124461

Here is a link to our races.

https://www.facebook.com/bobraces

Music Advocacy Done A Little Differently

noreply@blogger.com (AI for Teachers Today) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Recently I have felt the need to do something more at my concerts as far as music advocacy is concerned. I hate to just hit my audience over the head with it as I am not sure how effective that is, so I had an idea for this years Christmas Concert. I interviewed each of my music students (only those who wanted to) and then I put edited them all together into a video that I played on a big screen while parents were coming in before the concert ever started.

The parents really seemed to love seeing their kids via this medium and the kids loved being on the big screen. I did this for both my Junior and Senior High Schools. I think if I did it again I would make the videos shorter and maybe sneak in a few slides with music advocacy stats on them.

High School Video

Junior High School Video

What do you think?

Learning Guitar

noreply@blogger.com (AI for Teachers Today) — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 16:04:00 +0000

The day we got out for Christmas break I felt the pressure of school lift off and decided I wanted to pull out the old guitar and give it another try. The thing is I don't really know how to play the guitar, I know how to play about 4 chords. Enter the iPad.

I started searching for iPad apps that would help me learn a few Christmas songs and I stumbled across the app Four Chords. If you have ever played Guitar Hero or any game like it you will immediately feel at home.

The App is Free but where they make their money is buy selling individual songs. The list of songs is not huge but they take requests and have a good section of Free songs as well. To be honest I mainly have used it so far to learn Christmas Songs and those were all free.

After you select a song it shows you what chords you will need to know to play the selected song and shows you the fingering if you need it.

When the song starts it looks a lot like guitar hero though it doesn't check if you are right or not so there is no score. Just strum when that chord lights up or if you want to get creative you can fill in the space with your own strumming pattern. It also has the lyrics on the screen so you can sing along.

No score but if you feel like it there is the option to record yourself and share it with others. It has a video or just audio recording options.

One of the thing that makes the app so great is that while you play the chords it provides the melody and or guitar sounds with you to help you stay on and guide you through the song. This is fully controllable so if you feel comfortable with the song you can turn those off and sing and play yourself when you are ready.

This is a great app that I would recommend to all young and old. It makes you feel successful while learning a tough new talent and as any music teacher knows feeling successful and confidence are keys to learning.

Les Miserables

noreply@blogger.com (AI for Teachers Today) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 16:51:00 +0000

English: Les Miserables at Queen's Theatre, as seen in the day. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There have not been many movies I have looked forward to watching more than Les Miserables. So I understand this is always hard to satisfy.

When I was 21 years old I saw the musical live on stage in London from the 5th row and ever since then it has been my favorite musical. One of the things that I love most about the musical is that the sets are more of a secondary aspect and the music is the star.

This is the big mistake of the movie. It had great cinematography and looked amazing but the star power and picture seemed to take precedence over the singing. I just don't think the stars that they cast were capable of singing at the level you get on Broadway.

Listen to this version of bring him home compared to the movie version.

No comparison.

English: Eddie Redmayne, British actor. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

They are both live or in the moment which I know is what the director was going for but with the right actor you can still have the best of both worlds. I believe that if the directors would have not sold out for star power and focused on the singing more this movie could have been phenomenal.

Even within the movie itself I much preferred the voices of the actors I didn't know before hand like Eponine (Samantha Barks) and Marius (Eddie Redmayne). The movie was much more enjoyable in the sections of the movie that focused on them. But as soon as Russell Crowe came back in I think I actually cringed in the theater.

So all in all as far as movies go it was probably pretty good but for someone who truly loves Broadway Musicals this movie left me wanting.

Fun Start To Our Christmas Concert

noreply@blogger.com (AI for Teachers Today) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 04:42:00 +0000

This year we decided to have a little fun for the start of our annual Christmas Concert. So my top choir decided to make our own music video. It was a lot of fun and while the original idea was to record our own song we ran out of time and decided to just go ahead and make it anyway using an old N'Sync Christmas Song. The concept is the choir is all arriving for the concert in one car and we follow them as they get ready. When you see them run into the auditorium the choir ran into the actual auditorium the night of the concert and interacted with the audience while singing along (David Letterman Style). Then we all gathered on the stage and sang a fun song "One for the little bitty baby" and then went and changed into our formal wear for the rest of the concert.

What do you think?

Titles

noreply@blogger.com (AI for Teachers Today) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 02:12:00 +0000

I have many titles as I am sure do you. Have you ever stopped to consider what are the most important titles you hold are?

If I made a list of mine in no particular order it would go something like this.

Husband, Father, Teacher, Musician, Brother, Son, Race Director, Chamber of Commerce Board Member, President of the Holbrook Regional Arts Alliance, Regional Governor, Assistant Scoutmaster, Home Teacher, Stake Music Specialist, Stake Chorister, Young Mens Secretary, Member of Team Donate Life, Crew Member, DJ, Auditorium Manager, Freshman Class Sponsor, Sound/Lighting Tech...

This list definitely keeps me busy and looks good on a resume but what are the truly most important titles on this list?

Husband/Father - Everything else should take a second role or even serving role to this title in my opinion.
The rest

Now I just need to remember this more often :)

All You Have To Do Is Ask (Vocal Point)

noreply@blogger.com (AI for Teachers Today) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 22:18:00 +0000

If you watched the television show the sing-off this last season then you are familiar with the mens a cappella group Vocal Point.

Vocal Point is a collegiate group from Brigham Young University and is one of the worlds best.

This last Thursday night they were performing in a nearby town where my wife and I got tickets to go and watch them perform. It was an amazing performance and afterward i went to give their sound man the proper kudos he deserved as the unsung hero of the night.

When I talked to him I learned that he was also the groups manager/arranger. I right then and there invited him to stop by my classroom the next day. He said the group was busy and wouldn't have time which I understood. But before I left I told one of my students who was waiting in line to talk to the performers to ask them if they wanted to come to the class the next day.

Fast forward to 10:00PM that night. I get a call from the manager saying a few of my students also asked if they could stop by and the group would like to do it if they could come in the afternoon. :)

Luckily I have a great principal who agreed to let me get my choir out of their 5th period class at the last minute to come have a clinic with Vocal Point. I have great administration.

This was at the end of an amazing/inspirational last minute clinic.

Just Ask!

Design Contest

noreply@blogger.com (AI for Teachers Today) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 13:42:00 +0000

One of the many things that I do outside of teaching is organize a local race called the Bucket of Blood Races. Great name no? While it is a great name we do not have a great logo... yet.

Enter 99designs.com

I found this website recently and starting today we are going to use it to try and crowd source a logo for our races. If it turns out well I can think of a few other things in my music world that could use some graphic design help.

Want to see how the contest is going find it here: http://99designs.com/logo-design/contests/help-bucket-blood-races-logo-124461

It's a BOY!

noreply@blogger.com (AI for Teachers Today) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 23:51:00 +0000

I have two beautiful little girls already and today we found out that we can expect a little boy around the beginning of August.

I love my girls but I must admit I am a little excited to get a few boy toys around here :)

Now to figure out a good boy name that both my wife and I like. Boys names seem to be much harder for us than girl names. Suggestions?

What Others Think

noreply@blogger.com (AI for Teachers Today) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Do you work for your students or what others will think?

Music classes are different from most other classes. They are performance based classes. This means that multiple times through out the school year we get to put on public display what we are doing in the class room.

This is not always easy to do. I would love to see a math teacher or science teacher put all of their students work on public display to be scrutinized. And they can't only put the best student work on display it has to be all skill levels. Sure, it is not a perfect analogy but you get the idea.

The point is, it is easy to allow public opinion to sway what we do in the classroom.

Our groups, while we strive for the best are not professional groups, they are school groups and the intent is to deliver a balanced education to all students. When we let public opinion that is based off of our performances sway what we are doing in the classroom we need to assure that it is not at the expense of education.

Race Across America

noreply@blogger.com (AI for Teachers Today) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 21:30:00 +0000

Last year I went on one of the craziest adventures of my life. I was on a crew for a non-stop bike race across America. And I just agreed to do it again.

From June 16th to June 22nd, I will be on the crew for a bike race across America as a member of Team Donate Life , a non-profit organization that raises money and awareness for organ and tissue donation and transplants. By joining others and contributing to team donate life you can help give hope to thousands by raising money and awareness for organ/tissue donation and transplants, and feel good about it all. Every little bit helps.

The Race Across America begins in Oceanside, CA and will end 6 days and 3,005 miles later in Annapolis, MD. Our relay team will ride 24 hours a day, racing from the Pacific Ocean, through the Mohave Desert, climbing 3 mountain ranges (including the Colorado Rockies) totaling over 118,000 vertical feet, traversing the Great Plains, with all its wind and rain, riding throughout the day and night on our way to the Atlantic Ocean until finally, worn out yet victorious, we’ll celebrate with actual organ donors and recipients, as we cross the finish line, to support the miracles associated with organ donation~ LIFE!

Your tax deductible donation of any amount can either be made by check to “Team Donate Life” mailed to the address below, or you may go directly to our fundraising page here:http://teamdonatelife.com/riders.asp?ifid=198 to donate online. Please note on your donation who you are supporting. We are committed to reaching our goal by June 16th.

Event: RAAM
Event Date: 6/16/2012
Fundraising Goal: $1,500.00
Current : $0.00

Donate Now

This is my 2nd year being associated with Team Donate Life and you can call me a believer. There is no more important cause in my book than life and Team Donate Life demonstrates that on many levels. Most importantly organ donation. I remember as a teenager coming up on a car accident where they were flying someone out. Word quickly got out that the person being transported had already died but was an organ donor and they were racing to get his organs to someone in need. That moment I decided that is what I wanted to do and have registered as an organ donor ever since. Join me in helping me reach my goal of $1,500 toward this cause, every little bit helps.

Thank you for your support,
Kyle Gardner
Team Donate Life
El Dorado Hills CA, 95762
http://www.teamdonatelife.com

Choir Teachers

Favorite Choral Conductor Phrases

Yesterday on the American Choral Directors Facebook Group someone made a post asking for our Favorite Choral Director phrases. In just over a day it had close to 200 comments.

While they were all great I decided to compile a list of some of my favorites. (It turned into a pretty long favorites list.)

GARDNER'S HINTS FOR GROUP SINGING

VOCAL PRODUCTION

NOTE WEIGHT

NOTE SHAPE

RHYTHM

ACCIDENTALS

MESSAGE

Peter Hollens

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What bumper sticker would I put on my dashboard/music stand or t-shirt for the world to see?

Bumper sticker car parked in Santa Cruz, California. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The pathway to hell is paved with it will be fine at the concert. It's not your fault but its your problem. All music must dance. Character is more important than talent.

Hell is when the person you are meets the person you could have been. We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act but a habit. To be continued.... Please add your own in the comments.

Using Wordle with Regional Auditions

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And the winner is...

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Titles

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Design Contest

It's a BOY!

What Others Think

Race Across America

Event: RAAMEvent Date: 6/16/2012Fundraising Goal: $1,500.00Current : $0.00

Donate Now

Bumper sticker car parked in Santa Cruz, California. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The pathway to hell is paved with it will be fine at the concert.

It's not your fault but its your problem.

All music must dance.

Character is more important than talent.

Hell is when the person you are meets the person you could have been.

We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act but a habit.

To be continued....

Please add your own in the comments.

Event: RAAM
Event Date: 6/16/2012
Fundraising Goal: $1,500.00
Current : $0.00