| Comment: Re: Notice anything new? | David Topping | May 16, 2012 |
|
I think there's been a status change on this issue--an enhancement to the Resources menu has just been activated, so Jed, please let Allen know what you think.
|
| Community Forum Post: This and that | David Topping | May 16, 2012 |
|
First, "this" -- Thanks go to Allen and Martin for some website upgrades--nice work on the menu enhancements!
Now, "that" -- I stumbled upon a relatively new choral site -- http://www.choirplace.com/ -- have any of you checked it out recently? Among the features are video links/embeds and b... |
| Comment: Re: Notice anything new? | David Topping | May 7, 2012 |
|
Nice work, Webmaestro Allen! The availability of all the additional content in the menus makes it very convenient to browse through the most recent activity.
|
| Comment: Re: Gotta love this | David Topping | April 24, 2012 |
|
While the lyrics directory is surely useful, I've long been a bit concerned about websites devoted to boy treble singers (not necessarily the site linked in this post, however) that focus on individual prepubescent singers, rather than on the artform in general or on boychoirs. My concern involves... |
| Choir: SCC - the South Coast Chorale (Long Beach, California, USA) | David Topping | April 7, 2012 |
|
| Comment: Re: Gamechanger: CadenzaOne | David Topping | March 29, 2012 |
|
This looks like it has promise, and from my first visit to the site, I found some of the features to be useful, including the viewing of entire scores and the "My Recent History" feature that (sometimes) shows up at the bottom of pages. However, there are some current deficiencies in the interface... |
| Comment: Re: Resources updates? | David Topping | March 16, 2012 |
|
Margot - I'll bring your input to the attention of the ChoralNet Committee. We only have one person working on that portion of the website (Allen Simon, ChoralNet's Webmaster) and it's only a small portion of his duties. Similarly, I'm the only person working on the Choirs area (choir website dire... |
| Comment: Re: Courts second-guessing choir membership decisions | David Topping | February 26, 2012 |
|
Thanks for providing those additional details, Marie. It goes to show that there's usually "more to the story" and that initial impressions, based upon just a few details/highlights of any story, are often under-informed or even wrong. This is what really bugs me about media "talkers" (on radio an... |
| Comment: Re: Changing a word | David Topping | February 11, 2012 |
|
Good point, Phil. Changing words isn't a "black and white" issue. We have both the freedom and the responsibility to make informed artistic choices as we perform music and texts, some which our singers might not be entirely comfortable with. As a general rule, I think it's better to leave the orig... |
| New recordings: Northern Lights: Choral works by Ola Gjeilo recorded by Charles Bruffy and the Phoenix Chorale | David Topping | February 7, 2012 |
|
An album of choral music by Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo ("yay-lo") featuring the Grammy-winning Phoenix Chorale, conducted by Charles Bruffy, is being released by Chandos Records (http://www.chandos.net/details06.asp?CNumber=CHSA%205100). The recording is titled "Northern Lights," and features f... |
| Comment: Re: How's your low range? | David Topping | February 6, 2012 |
|
I think my bottom "Vodka-assisted" note is about a low A or Ab (below low C), but then, I'm not a profundo. I am, however, one of the low basses on the recording of Grechaninov's "Passion Week" made by the Kansas City Chorale and the Phoenix Bach Choir (now the Phoenix Chorale) found on Amazon her... |
| Comment: Re: Choralnet crashes Firefox | David Topping | February 6, 2012 |
|
Allen Simon (ChoralNet's Webmaster) is working on this issue.
|
| Comment: Re: Choralnet crashes Firefox | David Topping | February 3, 2012 |
|
Yes, I have seen this happen when leaving a Firebox tab containing ChoralNet (among many other tabs--usually around 25-30) open, but not displayed overnight. I come back to the PC in the morning, and I've got this error displayed:
Sometimes, it does behave as if it has "crashed Firefox,"... |
| Comment: Re: ACDA 4 U: North Central Preview: Kansas City Chorale | David Topping | January 24, 2012 |
|
Those with discerning ears will notice that the recording embedded in this ChoralBuzz post (not an officially-sanctioned--or legal--upload to YouTube, BTW) is of more than 24 voices, the number of singers in the Kansas City Chorale. The young fan who ripped the audio off the CD failed to mention i... |
| Comment: Re: Name of a patriotic school choral program in 1976? | David Topping | January 22, 2012 |
|
I graduated from high school in 1976, and I think most of the school choir programs in the USA received "The Bicentennial Musical Celebration: Music for Chorus-A Gift from JCPenney," which came in box. I just found one of the books on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Bicentennial-Musical-Celebrat... |
| Comment: Re: Copyright and classroom projectors | David Topping | January 16, 2012 |
|
I have never heard of the "same room as the screen" distinction, but here on ChoralNet, we have had discussions about the legality and ethics of projecting materials in the classroom, including this one:
http://www.choralnet.org/view/215392
In that discussion, it was brought out that... |
| Comment: Re: NPR suggests a cappella music as antidote to primary season blues | David Topping | January 13, 2012 |
|
Hurray for NPR! I heard the story while I was driving, and almost crashed when I heard him playing a Guillaume de Machaut sound clip! ;-)
|
| Comment: Re: Paypal destroys violins! | David Topping | January 13, 2012 |
|
Well, the law *may* be clear but this is total bull excrement. I have been on the losing end of a PayPal dispute recently, involving online registration for a state ACDA chapter workshop. The person who purchased the ticket (and who attended the full conference) decided they had some problems with... |
| Comment: Re: Stifled by block scheduling | David Topping | January 7, 2012 |
|
We have a number of posts here on ChoralNet (dating almost all the way back to the beginning of Choralist) mentioning and discussing block and modified block schduling. A "pure" block, with only 4 classes per term does seem pretty hazardous to music programs, IMO, as I've always advocated for more... |
| Comment: Re: Anúna @ Fukushima | David Topping | December 29, 2011 |
|
Thank you Michael and Philip for sharing this with us. I'm proud to say that I sing in the Phoenix Chorale with one of the two Americans Michael mentioned, Kira Rugen. She took a brief leave of absence from the Phoenix Chorale to be a part of Anúna's recent tour to Japan and we were all excited f... |
| Comment: Re: Creative Videos of Choral Music | David Topping | December 26, 2011 |
|
The YouTube channel named "carosaxone" is owned by Armando Casarini, who sings tenor in the "Coro Luigi Gazzotti" of Modena, Italy. Armando has a number of other YouTube channels as well, and is a user here on ChoralNet (but hasn't posted anything recently). Perhaps if he notices that his videos a... |
| Comment: Re: Nine Hundred Real Men Sing | David Topping | December 17, 2011 |
|
Arizona has had something similar to this for a number of years each fall, titled "Boys to Men," which involves local male-voice ensembles of all types, and young men from junior and senior high programs attend with their teachers and participate in a mass-choir performance at the end. The goal of... |
| News: San Francisco Girls Chorus Board Dumps Successful Director | David Topping | December 16, 2011 |
|
Branding the San Francisco Girls Chorus
By Mark MacNamara
Last July, after the board of the San Francisco Girls Chorus announced that the contract of the artistic director, Susan McMane, would not be renewed, a great brouhaha arose. Many of the girls wept. Parents threw up their ... |
| Comment: Re: Choir Risers Collapse | David Topping | December 15, 2011 |
|
The "full story" has expired (it's been archived), so here's a "happy ending" story from a local news channel, including an interview of the choir director:
http://www.wday.com/event/article/id/55623/
And here's another YouTube clip of the incident, but it also includes the choir act... |
| Comment: Re: Is .00029 cents really money? | David Topping | December 9, 2011 |
|
No, .00029 cents most certainly isn't "money" and this is perhaps one of the reasons that many artists and labels are not as thrilled with Spotify as are the people who use the service to avoid purchasing music (disclaimer: I downloaded Spotify and have used it a little, mostly researching what's ... |
| Comment: Re: New ChoralNet Community features | David Topping | December 5, 2011 |
|
Nice job, Allen, and thanks for the good explanation. I'm hopeful that people will explore, join, and use the Communities more as they continue to be enhanced by ChoralNet. I don't think I see mention anywhere of a significant new feature--the ability to embed a Google calendar as a page of a Comm... |
| News: 54th Annual GRAMMY nominations featuring choral ensembles | David Topping | December 1, 2011 |
|
The nominations for the 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards® were announed in Los Angeles last night, with the following five choral CDs nominated for "Best Choral Performance" -BEYOND ALL MORTAL DREAMS - AMERICAN A CAPPELLA
Stephen Layton, conductor (Choir Of Trinity College Cambridge)BRAHMS: EIN DEUTSCH... |
| Choir: Ars Nova Copenhagen (Denmark) | David Topping | December 1, 2011 |
|
| Choir: Eric Whitacre Singers (England, United Kingdom) | David Topping | December 1, 2011 |
|
| Comment: Re: pronounciation of "Jubilate Deo" by the Brits | David Topping | November 29, 2011 |
|
The "Jesu" in "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" is *not* Latin, but rather a special grammatical treatment of "Jesus" (the vocative) in English, so the Americans who pronounce it as "yay-zoo" are apparently (and incorrectly) thinking that it's a borrowed Latin word--it's not. Therefore, it's not parti... |
| Comment: Re: Use ChoralNet wrong, go to jail | David Topping | November 20, 2011 |
|
Upon first seeing the title of this post, I thought you were calling attention to the misguided SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) legislation (WaPo article link), but instead, this issue appears to involve an amendment to the Privacy Act Modernization for the Information Age (PAMIA) Act of 2011. After... |
| Comment: Re: Copyright issues for rehearsal CD's | David Topping | November 17, 2011 |
|
While there is indeed *some* movement in this area, the underlying laws haven't yet been changed, so IMO (and IANAL), if the "practice track" licensing solutioins already posted here don't work for a particular situation, the *next* best thing to do is to send people links (to YouTube, Spotify, or... |
| Comment: Re: Commercialization of ChoralNet | David Topping | November 10, 2011 |
|
I'm sure that a LOT of users would agree with Julia. There's already "monetization" options for ChoralNet/ACDA in advertising, sponsorship/partnerships, etc. As the ACDA web content is incorporated here, I think that care must be taken to clarify the "whys and wherefores" of restricting content (a... |
| Comment: Re: Banning Sinful Lifestyles from the workplace | David Topping | November 10, 2011 |
|
Something very similar took place at the almost-defunct "Crystal Cathedral" in Garden Grove, California, where last May, the choir members were all asked to sign a "Worship Choir and Worship Team Covenant" that sounds like Shorter's "lifestyle pledge" (link: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/17... |
| Community Forum Post: Welcome, Arizona choral music community | David Topping | November 3, 2011 |
|
In addition to the official AzACDA website, http://azacda.org, this ChoralNet Community has been created as an additional communications tool to serve the needs of Arizona's choral community. While it primarily involves the activities of the Arizona chapter of ACDA, we welcome other communications... |
| Comment: Re: Messiah-Vowel on "Purify" | David Topping | October 25, 2011 |
|
Another factor at play here might be an attempted correction for regional American English accents, as Brandon is apparently in South Carolina. However, my wife, whose ancestors come from that area, didn't think that likely for this particular syllable (and we even speculated that the relaxed fina... |
| Comment: Re: Ads that MOVE | David Topping | October 16, 2011 |
|
I'm OK with the various animations/changing elements that bother you, Julia, and I'm a ChoralNet volunteer, but my "work area" is the directory of choirs, so I'm not directly involved in the features of the site (other than to do a little informal testing of things). The "Who's online?" feature ca... |
| Comment: Re: Big Voice - A Documentary about Choral Directors | David Topping | October 16, 2011 |
|
Yes, Scott D "Buzzed" about this over a week ago, here on ChoralNet: http://www.choralnet.org/view/296900
The video link above is to their "Kickstarter" fund-drive, which ended successfully almost a week ago, thanks in part to the promotion it received here on ChoralNet (and to those of us who s... |
| Comment: Re: Ads that MOVE | David Topping | October 15, 2011 |
|
Julia - I'm guessing that one of the targets of your complaint is the "toaster popup animation" of the six little ChoralNet partner ads at the "footer" of each ChoralNet page. If so, every registered ChoralNet user has the ability to permanently disable that animation by a checkbox on their user p... |
| Comment: Re: As seen on ChoralBuzz - support the new choral music documentary! | David Topping | October 9, 2011 |
|
Thanks, Jena--I did the same. As I write this, they've got just a little over 24 hours left in this fund-drive, and they're still almost $9,000 short, so I hope that our choral colleagues take a look at this ASAP (I realize that many have church responsibilities today).
|
| Comment: Re: As seen on ChoralBuzz - support the new choral music documentary! | David Topping | October 7, 2011 |
|
BTW, I know my initial post looks like an "Announcememt," but my intention (not very obvious) was to also have some discussion ensue. So, if you've watched the trailer for this project, what do you think? Do you agree that it has potential to further promote our art? Do you think it might be a lit... |
| Forum message: As seen on ChoralBuzz - support the new choral music documentary! | David Topping | October 7, 2011 |
|
In the most recent post to ChoralBuzz (ChoralBuzz is found on ChoralNet's Home page, or here: http://www.choralnet.org/list/choralbuzz), Scott Dorsey encourages us to take a "leap of faith to support the choral art on film" by donating whatever we can to the "KickStarter" fund-raiser for a new doc... |
| Comment: Re: This is NOT Glee. It's BETTER | David Topping | October 7, 2011 |
|
Thanks for posting this, Scott. It looks like a high-quality production with some great potential, so I kicked in some $$ and am doing what I can to spread the word.
Peace,
David T
(dispclaimer: former high school choir director who knows some alumni from the wonderful choral program fe... |
| Comment: Re: A few words from the server room | David Topping | October 7, 2011 |
|
Thanks for all the hard work on this, Martin! I know more than a little bit about the difficulties of making sure that (almost) everyone receives the email they're supposed to, and even though the younger generations appear to be eschewing email in favor of texts and tweets, we "old farts" appreci... |
| Comment: Re: Contacting the Publishers Directly about YouTube | David Topping | October 6, 2011 |
|
Accepted without hesitation, Philip, although the possibility of a "Freudian slip" does come to mind, given my past involvement in the copyright discussions. :-)
|
| Comment: Re: Contacting the Publishers Directly about YouTube | David Topping | October 6, 2011 |
|
I have enjoyed watching the elementary-school choir videos in Jack Senzig's "joinchoir" YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/joinchoir#g/u), and am impressed that those videos have received over 2 million views (with over 1 million for "Still Alive"). I appreciate his pioneering work in co... |
| Comment: Re: Missing your ChoralNet Mail? Have too much? | David Topping | September 24, 2011 |
|
It turns out that the address at which I receive the nightly messages (Daily and subscriptions digest) somehow got set to "bouncing" by ChoralNet, so I clicked the link to reset it. That address has never been flagged as "bouncing" before, so I'm hoping this didn't happen to a lot of other people ... |
| Comment: Re: Stick Time: Three (only three?) Lessons From Chanticleer | David Topping | September 23, 2011 |
|
John - adding a note to the "administrative side" in a comment to a Buzz post isn't really the best strategy. Far better to utilize the existing venue for that, the "Website Suggestions" forum: http://www.choralnet.org/list/forum/256
After discovering the various e-mail problems yesterday, ... |
| Comment: Re: Missing your ChoralNet Mail? Have too much? | David Topping | September 23, 2011 |
|
Actually, I didn't receive *either* the Digest *or* my Daily messages overnight, and I'm not at AOL or Yahoo. ChoralNet's new IP doesn't appear to be on any global blacklists (which is good) and there are no spam complaints in the SpamCop database, and the SenderBase "reputation" of the IP is list... |
| Comment: Re: Why ChoralNet is not "taking off" | David Topping | September 15, 2011 |
|
Isabel, have you heard of the MUSICA International project - http://www.musicanet.org ? It has many of the features you describe on your wish list. There's also a new project called "CORO" that incorporates MUSICA, but with some additional goals, here: http://www.coroonline.org
|
