NEW HARTFORD — Margaret Benson of New Hartford is part of the Lebanon Valley College Concert Choir that performed at the American Choral Director s Association Regional Conference last month in
Why we need to sing again | Opinion
Updated Feb 02, 2021;
When it is safe to do so, we need to sing again.
Self-reflection led me to an outlook on the return to singing, but by the time I sat down to type up my thoughts on the issue, I realized I had it all wrong. Here is a summary of my original thoughts:
As a choral conductor and music educator, my whole world changed in March 2020, thanks to the global pandemic, when we discovered singing together was unsafe. These past ten months have revolutionized the way I teach music and engage the singers with whom I work. I’ve learned new technology, relied on discussion of music rather than actually performing, and even helped organize a concert of virtual choir music (you know, those videos with floating heads appearing to sing “together,” but in reality, it’s just A LOT of audio and video editing). I’ve also spent tons of time doing things that I’ve never done before. I conquered countless home improvement projects (than