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Choir Fam Podcast

Dean Luethi & Matthew Myers

143 episodes

2 days ago

"In my third year of teaching, I started to have vocal problems. I was taking voice lessons. I was singing professionally. It was feeling great. Suddenly my voice was gone, and I couldn't get it back. I took a leave of absence to get some speech language therapy. That's why I'm so passionate about using our voices in the choral ensemble in an effective way and having us as conductors find how to use that voice so that they don't need to manipulate things. Dr. Jennaya Robison is the Artistic D...

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Performing Arts

Music Interviews

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"In my third year of teaching, I started to have vocal problems. I was taking voice lessons. I was singing professionally. It was feeling great. Suddenly my voice was gone, and I couldn't get it back. I took a leave of absence to get some speech language therapy. That's why I'm so passionate about using our voices in the choral ensemble in an effective way and having us as conductors find how to use that voice so that they don't need to manipulate things. Dr. Jennaya Robison is the Artistic D...

Show more...

Performing Arts

Music Interviews

Episodes (20/143)

Choir Fam Podcast

Ep. 122 - Music and Mission in LGBTQ+ and Senescent Choruses - Tim Seelig

“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 a conductor, speaker, author and educator. He is the Conducto...

5 days ago

55 minutes

Choir Fam Podcast

Ep. 121 - Choral Collaboration with the Choir Guys: Daniel Gutierrez and Blake Richter

"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 Gutierrez "It was super rewarding to be so invested in those pieces, and t...

1 week ago

50 minutes

Choir Fam Podcast

Ep. 120 - Unlocking Humanity and Vulnerability Through Choral Singing - Chris Maunu

“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.” Chris Maunu is a conductor, educator, and composer dedicated to inspiring you...

1 month ago

51 minutes

Choir Fam Podcast

Ep. 119 - Mentoring the Next Generation of Choral Educators - Jennifer Sengin

“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 Sengin is the Raymond R. Neevel/Missouri Professor of Choral Music and Dir...

1 month ago

48 minutes

Choir Fam Podcast

Ep. 118 - Preserving the Art of Community Music Making - Michael Murphy

“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 music.” Dr. Michael Murphy is the director of choral activities and a p...

1 month ago

49 minutes

Choir Fam Podcast

Ep. 117 - Tips for Writing Accessible and Eloquent Choral Music - Dan Forrest

“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 rich and full and profound.” Dan Forrest (b. 1978) has been described a...

2 months ago

49 minutes

Choir Fam Podcast

Ep. 116 - Modeling Vocal Versatility for Singers - Cindy Ellis

“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, Cindy Ellis immigrated to the United States in 2005. She earned her ...

2 months ago

54 minutes

Choir Fam Podcast

Ep. 115 - Mental Health Strategies for Choral Ensembles - Sarah Graham

“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 was just promoted to Professor of Music at Lewis-Clark State College in...

2 months ago

46 minutes

Choir Fam Podcast

Ep. 114 - Creative Problem Solving in the Choral Rehearsal - Sharon Paul

“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 at any age." Sharon J. Paul holds the Robert M. Trotter Chair of Music at the University of Oregon, w...

3 months ago

48 minutes

Choir Fam Podcast

Ep. 113 - Advancing Composition with Improvisation and Mixed Media - Katerina Gimon

“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, ideas that facilitate that.” Composer, improviser, and vocali...

3 months ago

51 minutes

Choir Fam Podcast

Ep. 112 - Building Cultural Empathy Through International Travel - Emily Ellsworth

“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 someone who is different from you.” Nationally recognized as a lead...

3 months ago

50 minutes

Choir Fam Podcast

Ep. 111 - Saying "Yes" to New Opportunities - Jessica Koenig

“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 know where those opportunities are going to take you.” Jessica Koenig love...

3 months ago

44 minutes

Choir Fam Podcast

Ep. 110 - Flourishing and Growing Amidst Life's Surprises - Julie Yu

“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 people is just equip yourself, make the best informed decision you can, then be...

4 months ago

48 minutes

Choir Fam Podcast

Ep. 109 - Growing and Thriving in the First Years of Teaching - Ross Cawthon

“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 every week, and you just prepare to wake up and then try something different.” ...

4 months ago

44 minutes

Choir Fam Podcast

Ep. 108 - Adapting the Voice for Solo and Ensemble Singing - Alisa Toy

“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 and defined was career-changing.” Award-winning coloratura soprano ...

5 months ago

47 minutes

Choir Fam Podcast

Ep. 107 - Strengthening Pedagogy Through Choral Literature Study - Chester Alwes

"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.” Chester L. Alwes holds degrees in music from Hanover College, Union The...

5 months ago

58 minutes

Choir Fam Podcast

Ep. 106 - Building Bridges Between Singers and the Music - Luke McEndarfer

“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 really want it, that's when the results become infinitely spectacular.” ...

5 months ago

45 minutes

Choir Fam Podcast

Ep. 105 - Advocating for the Study of Music Written by Women - Alan Davis

“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.” Alan Troy Davis is a conductor, music educator, tenor, and voice teacher with exten...

6 months ago

52 minutes

Choir Fam Podcast

Ep. 104 - Musical Experiences to Feed the Spirit - Pearl Shangkuan

"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 highly sought-after conductor, lecturer and clinician who has led performances and ...

6 months ago

52 minutes

Choir Fam Podcast

Ep. 103 - Developing Choral Tone Through Community Building - Joel Tranquilla

“I don't have a sound that I'm trying to make the choir fit into. I'm trying to understand and uncover the palette of sounds that are in front of me and then expand our sense of what we can sound like. This happens through the community building process, because the more we honor each individual and allow them to bring themselves into that rehearsal space, then the fuller and richer we are.” Dr. Joel Tranquilla (he/him/his) is a conductor and music educator noted for his versatile musicianshi...

7 months ago

54 minutes