I did not coin this phrase. I borrowed from former Google Exec Tristan Harris. Social media companies are trying to outcompete the others for attention by appealing to ever more primal drives, dragging human cognition “down the brain stem” instead of cultivating critical thought. Is Education falling into the same trap?
On Facebook, X and Substack this week, I posted some thoughts that started a LOT of conversation.
“Maybe the most unhealthy thing we teach teachers, is that if the cheap dopamine addicted teens in their room are not brimming with excitement during your class, you are “failing to engage them,” as if students do not bear any responsibility for their own engagement.
This belief causes teachers to seek to gamify instruction, find gimmicks, cut corners, dumb down and reduce the load. But, more tragically, it causes young teachers with potential to be great teachers to give up and change professions.
The reality is that it is not a fair expectation for teachers to compete with “the entertainment value of a cell phone.” With quality instruction, often times, the dopamine hit may take days, or weeks to finally drop. This should be encouraged, supported and reinforced.”
Part 5
This issue has come up on the channel before. First in my review of the “Anxious Generation” book, and from many concerned colleagues since. In this episode we dive into the colleague conversation, and discuss strategies possible solutions in YOUR classroom!
🎧 Tune in now on YouTube or your favorite podcast app!
Choralosophy presented by Ludus. Visit Ludus.com/choralosophy for the cutting edge in fine arts ticketing and marketing solutions.
Tune in, and have your thinking stimulated and challenged. Then, weigh in yourself with your related ideas and experiences on Facebook in the Choralosophers group or over on choralosophy.substack.com Also, don’t forget to grab a reading rope for your classroom wall from the shop! Music Reading Rope
www.sightreadingfactory.com is the best literacy tool on the market today. Enter Choralosophy at checkout to get 10% off memberships for you AND your students!
Be Sure to Find Choralosophy on TikTok!
For future rehearsal clips, find me on TikTok, Insta and Facebook
Enter Choralosophy at Checkout for a 5% discount when you shop for folders, robes and other gear for your choir program! www.mymusicfolders.com and www.mychoirrobes.com
RyanMain.com is now expanding to a family of composers! Visit endeavormusicpublishing.com and of course, enter Choralosophy at checkout for a 10% discount!
‘If we see that this is a beneficial thing for our kids, then that’s my burden of responsibility as a parent to make sure that my kids are doing that regardless of the amount of whining or complaining to the contrary.”
In this conversation, Marianne Forman shares her journey as a composer and musician, discussing her early musical experiences, the importance of parental support in music education, and the challenges of balancing family life with a career in composition. She emphasizes the significance of accessibility in music, particularly for young singers, and reflects on her recent contributions to choral music publications. The discussion also touches on the representation of women in music composition and the support systems that help navigate these challenges!
“Nobody regrets that. How many people have you met who studied music briefly and as children and then gave it up and their parents let them give it up. And now what do they say? Every single one of them says, I wish I’d stuck with it.”
🎧 Tune in now on YouTube or your favorite podcast app!
Choralosophy presented by Ludus. Visit Ludus.com/choralosophy for the cutting edge in fine arts ticketing and marketing solutions.
Tune in, and have your thinking stimulated and challenged. Then, weigh in yourself with your related ideas and experiences on Facebook in the Choralosophers group or over on choralosophy.substack.com Also, don’t forget to grab a reading rope for your classroom wall from the shop! Music Reading Rope
www.sightreadingfactory.com is the best literacy tool on the market today. Enter Choralosophy at checkout to get 10% off memberships for you AND your students!
Be Sure to Find Choralosophy on TikTok!
For future rehearsal clips, find me on TikTok, Insta and FB!
Sign up for an annual membership and save over $50 by entering Choralosophy at checkout! Save 15% on monthly or annual subscriptions.
Enter Choralosophy at Checkout for a 5% discount when you shop for folders, robes and other gear for your choir program! www.mymusicfolders.com and www.mychoirrobes.com
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RyanMain.com is now expanding to a family of composers! Visit endeavormusicpublishing.com and of course, enter Choralosophy at checkout for a 10% discount!
Group vocal tips, and singing instructions can be a mine field. Every voice in the room is different. It really is possible to say things in a choir rehearsal that helps one singer gets better, while making ten worse. Let’s be careful!
Part 5
This episode is sourced from a recent professional development I gave for Wentzville, MO school district. The focus was Vocal Pedagogy concepts specific to a group setting. The crucial jumping off point is that our knowledge of our OWN voice does not qualify us to instruct the voice of others.
The choir teachers of the district and I delve into the complexities of teaching singing to children, particularly in group settings. We explore the unique challenges faced by vocal instructors, including the need for individualized instruction, the importance of understanding vocal anatomy, and the impact of language on teaching methods. The presentation emphasizes the significance of fostering a supportive environment for young singers, encouraging them to explore their voices while navigating the intricacies of vocal pedagogy. If you want to hear the rest of this presentation and others from that PD day as well as my full collection of PD sessions, become a paid subscriber on Patreon or Substack!
Choralosophy presented by Ludus. Visit Ludus.com/choralosophy for the cutting edge in fine arts ticketing and marketing solutions.
🎧 Tune in now on YouTube or your favorite podcast app!
Tune in, and have your thinking stimulated and challenged. Then, weigh in yourself with your related ideas and experiences on Facebook in the Choralosophers group or over on choralosophy.substack.com Also, don’t forget to grab a reading rope for your classroom wall from the shop! Music Reading Rope
www.sightreadingfactory.com is the best literacy tool on the market today. Enter Choralosophy at checkout to get 10% off memberships for you AND your students!
Be Sure to Find Choralosophy on TikTok!
For future rehearsal clips, find me on TikTok, Insta and Facebook
Enter Choralosophy at Checkout for a 5% discount when you shop for folders, robes and other gear for your choir program! www.mymusicfolders.com and www.mychoirrobes.com
RyanMain.com is now expanding to a family of composers! Visit endeavormusicpublishing.com and of course, enter Choralosophy at checkout for a 10% discount!
The name “Jo Michael Scheibe” has been known to many in the world of choral music for decades for more than just the sound of his choirs. The Jo-Michael Scheibe Choral Series is one of the richest and most thorough curations of the art form available.
Choosing repertoire can often be a “needle in a haystack” type of process. But Dr. Scheibe has it down to a science. His series began in the 1990s, and many of us in the profession, including myself, may have known his name from the cover of a TON of octavos before we knew his phenomenal work with his choirs. He sets the premise bluntly: “Well, number one, I think I look at my choir. I need to know what my choir is composed of so that I don’t frustrate them. If I don’t have low C’s … Rachmaninoff is not going to work.”
From there, we get practical about process.We dig into musical literacy and materials that actually fit the ensemble. Finally, we talk pacing and philosophy—why sometimes themes can be good, but also can be limiting, and how tricky it can be to create a philosophical hierarchy of programming that balances the needs of your singers with other needs like diversity of time, culture, sound etc as well as with the ever present need to please our colleagues.
Choralosophy presented by Ludus. Visit Ludus.com/choralosophy for the cutting edge in fine arts ticketing and marketing solutions.
🎧 Tune in now on YouTube or your favorite podcast app!
Tune in, and have your thinking stimulated and challenged. Then, weigh in yourself with your related ideas and experiences on Facebook in the Choralosophers group or over on choralosophy.substack.com Also, don’t forget to grab a reading rope for your classroom wall from the shop! Music Reading Rope
www.sightreadingfactory.com is the best literacy tool on the market today. Enter Choralosophy at checkout to get 10% off memberships for you AND your students!
Independent Student Rehearsal By The Second Month Of School School by Chris Munce
Welcome back to Choralosophy Community Contributor, Ian Henning! This fantastic article will useful to vocal music educators of all levels. Ian is a great example of a myth buster.
Jo-Michael Scheibe chaired the Department of Choral and Sacred Music at the USC Thornton School of Music from 2008 to 2020 and continued to teach and conduct as a full-time professor in the department until the end of December 2022, and awarded the title Professor Emeritus of Choral Music. Scheibe served as National President of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) (2011-2013), Western Division President (1991-1993), and National Repertoire and Standards Chairperson for Community Colleges (1980-1989). He served as a member of the board of the International Federation for Choral Music (2020-2023).
Ensembles under his leadership sang at seven national ACDA conventions, two national conventions of the National Association for Music Education (formerly MENC), the National Conference of the National Collegiate Choral Organization, and the World Choral Symposium in South Korea. He remains professionally active as a conductor and teacher.
Enter Choralosophy at Checkout for a 5% discount when you shop for folders, robes and other gear for your choir program! www.mymusicfolders.com and www.mychoirrobes.com
Scheibe collaborated with Luciano Pavarotti, José Carreras, the Rolling Stones, Sir Elton John, the Eagles, and Kenny Loggins and has prepared choruses for Helmuth Rilling, Sir Colin Davis, Michael Tilson Thomas, James Judd, Carl St. Clair, Jeffrey Kahane, and Jamie Martin. Recordings of his ensembles are available on the Albany, Cane, Centaur, NAXOS, Arsis, and ANS labels.
Music publishers Walton, Colla Voce, Hal Leonard, Santa Barbara Music, and Pavane distribute the Jo-Michael Scheibe Choral Series internationally. Scheibe was the editor and co-authored Teaching Music Through Performance – Choir Volume 4 and Teaching Music Through Performance – Choir Volume 5.
RyanMain.com is now expanding to a family of composers! Visit endeavormusicpublishing.com and of course, enter Choralosophy at checkout for a 10% discount!
In April of 2023, Scheibe was named one of the fourteen US Fulbright Scholars in Ireland for 2023-2024. His home base was north of Dublin, in Balbriggan, at the Irish Institute for Music and Song for Fall 2023. He conducted the IIMS Chamber Choir at the Institute, and Còr Fingal taught a Conducting Course. During the Fall of 2023, Scheibe was active throughout Ireland and Northern Ireland, working with ensembles of all levels, lecturing, and visiting choirs throughout Ireland. Jo-Michael Scheibe received his DMA from USC (1985) and earned his BA and MM degrees from California State University at Long Beach, where he was named a Distinguished Graduate.
Many choir directors share warm ups and other activities in the form of video clips. But few have gained as much traction as Jonas Rasmussen. Tune in to find out why, and to go behind the scenes and in depth on these awesome exercises!
You may know him as The “Choir Conductor” on Instagram. In this episode, Jonas Rasmussen, a choral director from Denmark, joins the Choralosophy Podcast to discuss his journey in choral music, the cultural differences in choral practices between Denmark and the US, and his innovative approach to choir warm-ups. Jonas shares his experiences studying in Sweden and the UK, his work with youth and adult choirs in Aarhus, and his viral success on Instagram with choir warm-up videos. The conversation delves into the challenges of choral conducting education in Denmark, the importance of embracing failure in rehearsals, and the unique Danish tradition of communal singing from the Folk High School Songbook. Jonas and the Chris also explore the concept of ‘blend’ in choral music and the impact of linguistic heritage on singing styles.
The impact of cultural differences on choral practices in Denmark and the US.
Jonas’s innovative approach to choir warm-ups and his viral Instagram success.
The challenges of choral conducting education in Denmark and the lack of institutional support.
The importance of embracing failure in rehearsals to foster growth and learning.
The unique Danish tradition of communal singing from the Folk High School Songbook.
The concept of ‘blend’ in choral music and its different interpretations.
The influence of linguistic heritage on singing styles and choral sound.
Choralosophy presented by Ludus. Visit Ludus.com/choralosophy for the cutting edge in fine arts ticketing and marketing solutions.
🎧 Tune in now on YouTube or your favorite podcast app!
Tune in, and have your thinking stimulated and challenged. Then, weigh in yourself with your related ideas and experiences on Facebook in the Choralosophers group or over on choralosophy.substack.com Also, don’t forget to grab a reading rope for your classroom wall from the shop! Music Reading Rope
www.sightreadingfactory.com is the best literacy tool on the market today. Enter Choralosophy at checkout to get 10% off memberships for you AND your students!
Independent Student Rehearsal By The Second Month Of School School by Chris Munce
Welcome back to Choralosophy Community Contributor, Ian Henning! This fantastic article will useful to vocal music educators of all levels. Ian is a great example of a myth buster.
For future rehearsal clips, find me on TikTok, Insta and FB!
Sign up for an annual membership and save over $50 by entering Choralosophy at checkout! Save 15% on monthly or annual subscriptions.
Jonas Rasmussen (b. 1992) is a Danish conductor, composer, content creator and educator, widely recognized for his ability to combine artistic ambition with playfulness and accessibility. He serves as Artistic Director of Academic Choir Aarhus and Youth Choir Aarhus U, both award-winning ensembles with whom he has achieved significant international success, including victories at the World Choral Championship in Tokyo, European Choir Games and Let the Peoples Sing.
Educated in choral conducting at the University of Cambridge, the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus, Jonas has quickly established himself as one of the most distinctive choral voices of his generation. He has worked with professional ensembles such as The King’s Singers and Ars Nova Copenhagen and is in high demand as a workshop leader throughout Europe.
Enter Choralosophy at Checkout for a 5% discount when you shop for folders, robes and other gear for your choir program! www.mymusicfolders.com and www.mychoirrobes.com
Beyond performance, he is committed to education and mentorship. Since 2021 he has taught classical choral conducting at the Royal Academy of Music Aarhus, and since 2025, he has shared content about choral music online for a wide international audience with a following of 100.000 across platforms and millions of views.
His work combines artistic excellence with accessibility, fostering community and innovation in choral music.
RyanMain.com is now expanding to a family of composers! Visit endeavormusicpublishing.com and of course, enter Choralosophy at checkout for a 10% discount!
