"Demain, dès l'aube" is dedicated to my dear friend Lillian Holowka and her partner Donald Bergen, who died less than a year apart in 2013 and 2014. Victor Hugo's heart-wrenching 1847 poem describes a walk he plans to take tomorrow Morning ("Demain, dè...  more"Demain, dès l'aube" is dedicated to my dear friend Lillian Holowka and her partner Donald Bergen, who died less than a year apart in 2013 and 2014. Victor Hugo's heart-wrenching 1847 poem describes a walk he plans to take tomorrow Morning ("Demain, dès l'aube") through the countryside to his daughter Léopoldine's grave four years after her tragic death in a boating accident, which also took the life of her husband Charles who had tried to save her. Sincere thanks to Matthew Curtis (choraltracks.com) for recording "Demain, dès l'aube." To purchase the sheet music for this song, please contact: info@leadingnote.com. I would like to acknowledge the a cappella choir that I sing in, The Stairwell Carollers, and our director Pierre Massie, for their musical inspiration these past 26 years. I would also like to thank my friends in our "Ad hoc Chorale" for testing out this piece in one of our informal workshops and offering valuable comments. And with deepest appreciation to my brother Adam Rain and m...    less

[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...

(This post was orginally written for the Embro Thistle Singers blog.)   I think sometimes we get so focused on making the music as directors and singers, we forget that the people around us have "baggage" Good and bad that we need to unpack before ...

[this is an updated version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   First I need to fess up: I have a low boredom threshold and always try to squeeze in as many songs as possible. Not always a Good idea!  ...

If you’re a singer on your way to a voice lesson, rehearsal, or audition, it’s always Good to do a bit of warming up in the car, because there are few things more annoying to music directors than singers wasting time complaining that they&rsqu...

[A version of this article first appeared as a post on my blog From the Front of the Choir] If you’re like me, you’re always tempted to add harmonies to the simplest of melodies, whether it’s singing along with others or arranging a...

Why would anyone bother to join a choir? Why would somebody ever want to do that? Most of us will remember some experience singing at school- be it Good or bad- the national anthem, some song for a concert or a play with a song, a teacher strumming a ...

If you're a beginner singer and you've just joined a choir, this article is written for you. Maybe you joined the choir because you wanted to test the waters. Maybe you're just too nervous to sing on your own. Or maybe you jsut enjoy singing with like mi...

To put a Good program together is not easy and sometimes it seems hard to find the perfect song. With this short recommendation we would like to assist you in this. Nancy Telfer has composed more than three hundred works for orchestra and solo instru...

[A version of this article first appeared as a post on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   People pay Good money to come on a singing course and want to sing as much as they can.     But everyone needs a break. How do you fin...