The following question is posted by Matt Lee @ J.P. Stevens High School: How important is sight reading in your audition process?
Please answer via the ‘Ask A Choir Director’ box and the results will be reported back here!
Please register here!
The award-winning founder and conductor of The New York Virtuoso Singers and The Canticum Novum Singers, Harold Rosenbaum will share insights, tips, and demonstrations for conductors and choral singers based on his 50 years in the field.
Dr. Rosenbaum’s masterclasses provide choral conductors with positive and supportive feedback, a deeper understanding of their art, and an opportunity to grow under the guidance of a world-renowned maestro.
The Glee Club from The United States Military Academy at West Point will be performing their Spring concert on Saturday, March 18, 2023 at 7:30 pm at the First Presbyterian Church of Freehold (Monmouth county).The concert is free to the public and there will be a “Meet & Greet” after the performance.
…another Great Post from Matthew Lee!
Matt’s Top 10:
This event pro
vides an opportunity for teachers to share best practices for the sight-reading portion of the HS Festival. Also — we heard your suggestions and made some tweaks to the process which will better alight with the way you teach students how to sight read!!! We will hear from our sight reading adjudicator, Timothy Urban, during this Zoom session!
Remember, the HS Choral Festival isn’t about competition — it’s about adding value to our students’ choral experience and supporting each other! Teachers, come share your good ideas so we can all grow from your wisdom!
REGISTER HERE: https://forms.gle/Js9TAvUAHRaUyCAk7 !
You say, to your audience, here I am.
Here is my art. I hope you enjoy – I’ve been working hard on it.
There’s no true way to predict how our audience will react, because we are blind to their expectations just as they are blind to the sweat and tears that went into our art. 5 minutes onstage, one painting on the wall, can represent 50 hours or more. But up to that point, it took us the proverbial 10,000 hours to hone our craft.
Art is bravery. When we embrace someone’s art, we embrace their ideas and their spirit. We acknowledge that they shared with us the product of their skills and knowledge, and we give thanks for their sharing. We do not jeer, we do not denigrate. We support and we lift because we know how much courage it takes to create and show other people our art.
Art is vulnerability.
Art is interaction between humans. It is an exchange of not just ideas but expression. Sometimes we are the vessel for ideas that have been created before — Shakespeare, Beethoven, a study of Frida. At other times, the art we present is an original offering that we alone brought into fruition. Without Newton, humanity would have eventually divined the formula to calculate 9.8 meters per second per second. If Edward Hopper had never lived we may have never seen Nighthawks. If Shakespeare had never lived we would have never experienced two star crossed lovers from fair Verona. Each time we sing, play, draw, dance, recite, create, a new experience is created for the first time.
Art opens a window into another world. When we attend a Broadway show, we immerse our attention – our minds, our eyes, our ears, into a far-off land. Just as Titanic transported us onboard a roaring 20s vessel across the Atlantic, Carmen pulls us into 19th century Spain. Not every window is fantasy. Sometimes the window opened by art is an invitation to feel the joy or pain of the artist.
All art has worth. Some art explores the heart of humanity herself; others celebrate values such as patriotism or kindness, or resisting against oppression. Art can be enjoyed and it can provoke. When viewing, listening to, and experiencing it, we can choose to hate it or treasure it. Just as not all ideas will resonate with all other humans, not all art will resonate with other humans. Not everyone connects with Metallica, Tupac, Duke Ellington, or Debussy. Not everyone understands the appeal of Mona Lisa or Sunday in the Park or Water Lilies or The Scream. And that’s okay. That is good. Art is for everyone but it isn’t for everyone. When sharing art there is always the possibility that people don’t like it. This does not diminish the worth that the art has – though it may impact its gallery appeal. People have the freedom to censure art just as artists have the freedom to create it to serve a whichever purpose they choose.
People who art understand how messy, awkward, broken, ugly, and off-key it can be. Art must be bad before it can be good. The first step to walking is trying and falling. The first step at creating an inspiring piece of art is sucking. There is no shortcut to greatness just as there’s no way to fast track a marathon. Art demands patience and humility. If our art had eyes, then it has seen us at our worst and at our best. In many ways, Art knows us like no one ever will.
Matthew Lee is the NJACDA High School R&R Chair and teaches at J.P. Stevens High School in Edison NJ.
This inspirational three-hour workshop will provide High School, 8th Grade Middle Schoolers, and high school-aged Community Youth Choirs the opportunity to sing in a dynamic massed choir environment supported by the Montclair State University Singers and under the leadership of VOCES8. Participating choirs will need to learn two accessible pieces provided well in advance (available October 2022). Additionally, there will be performance demonstrations by VOCES8 and the University Singers, as well as Q&A opportunities. This will be a wonderful day to celebrate and share the joy of choral singing under the guidance of dedicated, expert choral musicians and music educators.
In addition to the February 17thchoral workshop, for those school choirs interested, US representatives of the VOCES8 Foundation Choral Scholars Program under the Direction of Paul Smith (VOCES8 Co-Founder and Foundation CEO), will be available to visit and work with choirs starting October through early February. This opportunity is only available to choirs participating in the February 17th workshop. Individual school visits will be scheduled at mutually agreeable times and provide artistic/vocal/musical support for you and your students in meaningful ways specific to your program needs.
There is no charge for the February 17, 2023 Workshop or the In-School Visits. The VOCES8 ensemble is part of the John J. Cali School of Music’s 2022-23 Cali Immersive Residency program.
To secure your choir’s participation please register ASAP, providing student chorister and teacher/chaperone numbers. Please also indicate your desire to participate in the VOCES8 Foundation’s Choral Scholars In-School Visit program too.
On Friday, 2021 November 12, Harvey Mudd College’s Office of Alumni and Parent Relations hosted Mudd Talks: “Making Music Using Low-Latency Technology in the New Jersey Gay Men’s Chorus.” David Liao (NJGMC bass section member) and Sarah Michal (Artistic Director, New Jersey Gay Men’s Chorus) gave a presentation including live demonstrations of singing using Soundjack and LiveLab.
The video recording of the session has been posted on Harvey Mudd College’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHuZggd_3Cc, and an accompanying website is at https://15til.com/talk.njgmc.
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