Do you think of yourself as a “choir leading business person?” I am going to guess that most of you don’t, and I’m going to suggest that maybe you should. There are aspects of leading any type of choral program that require business acumen in order to excel. This makes many of us bristle as artists because we love to stay wrapped up in the emotional and in the art. But the reality is that we often have to call upon skills that our training programs didn’t prepare us with. They didn’t teach us tax law, or marketing or accounting, but we have to develop these skills or our programs fall apart. So I had a conversation with Alex Gartner about that very thing. Tune in as we discuss the business of doing choir.
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Alex Gartner serves as the Artistic & Executive Director of the Pensacola Children’s Chorus in Pensacola, FL. Under his leadership, the organization has grown to impact nearly 25,000 individuals throughout Northwest Florida, including over 5,000 youth, through innovative programs, performances, and organizational practices. He also serves the American Choral Directors Association as the Children’s and Youth R&R Coordinator for the Southern Region, is an all-state coordinator for the Florida Music Education Association, and previously served on the national arts education council with Americans for the Arts. An active clinician, guest conductor, and composer, his arrangements are available through many reputable publishers. Check out his latest work on social media or at www.AlexGartner.com.
Episode 176: Cementing the Spiritual as American Art with Dr. André Thomas
Over the last year, I have seen Dr. Thomas present twice on the importance of ensuring that the African American Spiritual is passed on to the next generations through our choral ensembles and music classrooms. In these presentations he also speaks eloquently about the challenges we face in doing so. We have parents, students and…
Episode 175: Gratitude Makes Us Better. Thanksgiving Episode
In a world characterized by constant social criticism and a perpetual desire for progress, the often-overlooked emotion of gratitude emerges as a powerful catalyst for personal and societal improvement. While constructive criticism and a drive for change are essential elements in fostering growth, without a foundation of gratitude for what we DO have, individuals and…
Episode 174: Adapting the Science of Reading To Music
In this episode, In this episode I will be referencing a few resources, provided in the Patreon Google Folder. The “Science of Reading” refers to a large body of interdisciplinary evidence. The past 40 years has yielded tremendous, interdisciplinary insights into the process of learning to read, gathered from developmental psychology, cognitive neuropsychology, developmental linguistics,…