Choir Fam Podcast
The Choir Fam Podcast is a venue for conversations about the current state of choral music. Hosts Dean Luethi and Matthew Myers seek to bring the worldwide choral community closer together through their discussions with a variety of guests who work with choir in its various forms. The goal of the podcast is to provide listeners with interesting tidbits of knowledge they could use in day-to-day choral rehearsals and to bring light to the ways that issues in the choral field are being observed and addressed.
Episodes
123 episodes
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 g...
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Season 5
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50:39
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 ...
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Season 5
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44:27
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, t...
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Season 5
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48:51
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 stud...
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Season 5
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44:12
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....
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Season 5
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47:16
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 ...
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Season 5
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58:00
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 tea...
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Season 5
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45:51
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 represent...
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Season 5
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52:18
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...
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Season 5
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52:18
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 buildin...
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Season 5
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54:45
Ep. 102 - Breaking Barriers for Women-Identifying Conductors - Coreen Duffy
“Historically, in higher education and in music in general, it was a male-dominated podium expectation. When we step on the podium as women-identifying conductors, we're breaking that image. There's a long way to go, and WiCHEd is working on br...
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Season 5
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42:45
Ep. 101 - Developing Listening Skills and Fostering Empathy Through Singing - Ethan Sperry
“When people talk about what skills kids are lacking in America these days, two of the skills that come up a lot are the ability to listen to each other and have some empathy for each other. Some people would say it’s not just kids that are lac...
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Season 5
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48:07
Season 4 Wrap-Up
Thank you for listening to our show this season!!Here are the favorite choral pieces from our guests in the fourth season:St. John Passion, Johann Sebastian BachSt. Matthew Passion, Johann Sebas...
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Season 4
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19:26
Ep. 100 - Strengthening the Bond Between Composers and Choristers - Sarah Quartel
“For me, choral music is all about the people. I write for the choristers. I've gone through that phase in my life where I've written only for myself, where I had a lot of things I needed to express and every note that went on a page was for me...
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Season 4
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45:49
Ep. 99 - Exploring Passion and Expression Through Gospel Music - Trey McLaughlin
“No one cared about my accolades coming in as a freshman. It’s not enough just to be good, because everyone is good. It forced me not to ride on my natural ability and to buckle down to figure out things like theory, music history, and performa...
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Season 4
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49:03
Ep. 98 - Growing the Choral Community Through International Collaboration - Ken Steven
“In Indonesia, choral singing has just been really popular recently, maybe around ten years. It has become a lifestyle. Everyone wants to be part of a choir because choir is very interesting - you can go on tour, you can do concerts... What dri...
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Season 4
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46:48
Ep. 97 - Growing Cross-Cultural Appreciation Through Choral Music - Michael Barrett
“As choral conductors, we're first and foremost educators, and we have to realize that we have to come with compassion in everything that we do when we listen to choirs. All too often we sit there thinking, ‘the intonation wasn't so great, or m...
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Season 4
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44:34
Ep. 96 - Building the Culture of Choral Music in Your Community - David Fryling
Dr. David Fryling is director of choral activities at Hofstra University, where he conducts both the select
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Season 4
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51:02
Ep. 95 - Improvisation and Community from the Folk-Acoustic Tradition - Lissa Scheckenburger
“A lot of what I end up teaching with regards to all of music, but certainly improvisation, has to do with becoming comfortable. You can do all kinds of different technical exercises, improvisation exercises, conceptual brain project exercises,...
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Season 4
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53:49
Ep. 94 - Encouraging Musical Ownership for Middle School Singers - Karla McClain
“That's my job: to take the foundation of what they have – love of singing and basic vocal technique – and then just refine it, to challenge them to start being more musical artists themselves. I personally do a lot of giving the kids choices: ...
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Season 4
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46:38
Ep. 93 - Cultivating Confidence for Elementary Singers - Bethany Main
“My goal is that no child will leave my classroom thinking they can't sing. If I have a coworker say, ‘I can't sing,’ I'm like, ‘no, no. First, give me 15 minutes and a piano and I will show you that you can. Second, you can't say that because ...
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Season 4
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44:16
Ep. 92 - Developing Independent Musicianship in Choral and Instrumental Ensembles - Will Gunn
“I wanted to get kids to work more collaboratively. We say we’re a collaborative group, but the conductor is behind the piano teaching the choir parts rather than saying, ‘here's the part I want you to learn. Go learn it. Here are the expecta...
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Season 4
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49:59
Ep. 91 - Building Artistic Versatility Through Contemporary A Cappella - J.D. Frizzell
“At the end of that first year, I did a pops concert. I developed the formula that I use now, which is to make it sound a lot like the actual songs. You give a lot of soloists opportunities to sing solos, especially in the verses which are hard...
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Season 4
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46:32
Ep. 90 - Reinvigorating Historic Music with Modern Creativity - Robert Hollingworth
“Uniformity is a two-edged sword, isn't it? Within a choir you need uniformity or you're not going to get a good blend, but within that uniformity, I want as much individuality as possible. I do a lot of 16th-Century music, early 17th-Century m...
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Season 4
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51:56
Ep. 89 - Creating Choral Camaraderie on a Global Level - T. J. Harper
“The folks who I think are really doing incredible work around the world, not just for one festival or for one tour, but for decades, are the folks who are trying to literally make the world a better place through choral music. How many opportu...
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Season 4
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49:41