From the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), a non-profit based in the UK, a research paper entitled, “Impact of arts education on the cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes of school-aged children. A review of evidence” by Beng Huat See and Dimitra Kokotsaki, Durham University. Just so ya’ know, this was not a study of the arts but […]

In the fall of 1983 I was aboard the United States Navy’s USS Guam (LPH-9, “Swift and Bold”) sitting 300 yards off the coast of Beirut supporting Marines and getting shot at.* Good times. Not really. There was one beacon of fun, however, serving as home base for Bob Hope’s taping of his “Christmas in […]

I coulda copied all of this but a link works mo’ betta’. Some information nuggets about our amazing accompanist. And no, I would NOT have guessed Canadian…hope he’s a Leafs fan. Tommy Yee Welcome to the ohana!

If you’re new to singing in front of a conductor this is for you. You see, there really is a method to the madness of Susie’s flailings and I wanted to clue you in. All of the time signatures that we use have a standard pattern of flailing and I wanted to share them with […]

A quick reminder: the opinions expressed and the order of the words in Windward Notes are mine and nobody else’s. They do not reflect the views of and are not influenced or reviewed  by the Windward Choral Society, its members, its Board of Directors or anybody else on the planet. I got a little feisty […]

Note: a little ahead of the monthly schedule but I thought it would be a good read prior to open house. —– When in doubt, go to the source. The only one of our merry band that’s been part of the Windward Choral Society MORE than 10 years…’cause she started the thing. I give you […]

There are some words that just go together. The two add up to something that makes perfect sense and there’s no confusion about what’s going on. Some examples: “Richly Decorated” “Regular Exercise” “Excruciating Pain” (yeah, it’s not much fun but they DO go together well) “Vaguely Remember” “Get Drunk” (which leads to the “vaguely remember” […]

This begins a series of monthly blog entries focusing on our 10th year and all of the fun, laughs, tears, bizarro warm-ups, even more bizarro international music and…well…everything that took that that first group of a couple dozen curious singers (and not-so-singers) through the journey that’s gotten us to this milestone. And evolved us and […]

A few months back I pounded aimlessly on my keyboard about how to sing the intervals between notes to assist in sight reading:  and prior to that a piece about a song that was really helpful in understanding those intervals. I assume that you’ve read and memorized them and gotten a tattoo of the really good […]

So we get this big pile of music in a few weeks and then Susie starts teaching us how they’re supposed to (going to) sound and she waves her arms and makes funny faces and eventually it all comes together. But what happened before that? What did our fearless leader do? Having done this kind […]