[Originally published on Michael McGlynn's Wordpress site HERE, and subsequently published by On Being, December 2011]   I was brought up as a Roman Catholic. My parents endeavoured to give me every opportunity to be exposed to a vast range of musi...

[The views expressed in this blog are from my personal experiences from 25 years of leading non-auditioned community choirs in the UK, as well as adult singing workshops. My focus is on teaching by ear using a repertoire of songs from traditions across th...

[A version of this article first appeared as a post on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   Last week I wrote about the kinds of singing that I like (I may not know much about music, but I know what I like!).     Now I want to give...

One of my favorite choir tricks was to telling my singers to ‘aim for the top side of the pitch.’  This was, of course, because they were singing flat, and I thought the imagery would give my singers a way of thinking about an abstract co...

Why not give singing for men a go! www.facebook.com/bournemouthmvc

This post was originally posted to the Embro Thistle Singers blog.  There is a really fun explanation of the 4 basic choir sections as seen by a young person.  I don't know where the original document came from or I would give proper credi...

We may have had our last concert as Albion on the 13th August but we still have lots to give. Check out our Farwell to Albion Tumblr page. Holy Trinity 13th August Last bow. The CD's and downloads are still available as a are the sheet music to the wo...

Many directors, even though they deeply care and want to give their singers the best, simply can’t afford to commission new works or secure premieres. Odes of Love is an honest work—an ode to what we love most: life itself...

[A version of this article first appeared as a post on my blog From the Front of the Choir] Many choir names are descriptive and give a clear idea of what kind of choir it is.But choirs change over time. Maybe your choir name doesn’t fit what y...

Looking for a sunny, happy song for your concert?  This unaccompanied SATB setting of The Peanut Vendor will light up your choir and have audiences sitting on the edge of their seats!  Here's a computer playback to give you an idea.  The sh...