Choralosophy

Welcome to a special joint-presentation episode where cross-continental perspective meets the art of the choral conversation! Today, I get to welcome another new choir podcaster, with London-based conductor Russell Scott, host of the new show, The Choir Director Podcast, to bridge the gap across the Atlantic. In this episode, we pull back the curtain on what it really takes to lead an ensemble today. How do we thread the needle when it comes to inclusivity? Often, the flat, platitude rich online conversation of ensemble inclusivity misses the reality.

We tackle the massive balancing act every director faces: what happens when we want to aggressively raise our musical standards without accidentally driving our singers out the back door. And the flip side: do we loose people when the environment is not rigorous enough? Plus, we dive into the psychology of choral communities, the modern pitfalls of academic self-censorship, and why the lasting bonds of a choir are ultimately forged in the shared vulnerability of the breath—not just the social hour. Whether you lead a school program or a community-based ensemble touring international stages, this unscripted conversation is a refreshing, honest look into the heart of the choral craft.

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

For future rehearsal clips, find me on TikTok, Insta and FB!

Russell Scott is an internationally recognised musical director, producer and conductor, with over 45 years’ experience across the music industry. A professionally trained singer, he has sold over 100,000 records across his solo releases and recording projects, and is known for his work across choral, musical theatre and large-scale performance.

Russell has conducted extensively across the UK, Europe and North America, including a landmark Christmas Concert at the Berlin Philharmonie in 2025. His international conducting work includes appearances with the Vancouver Pops Orchestra, alongside numerous performances with choirs and orchestras. He is particularly respected for his ability to create engaging, high-quality performances that connect strongly with both performers and audiences.

In musical theatre, Russell has conducted in London’s West End and worked alongside leading industry figures including Tim Rice, Don Black, Stephen Schwartz and Leslie Bricusse. His production credits include a major UK tour of Godspell following a sell-out West End performance, alongside a wide range of concerts and large-scale productions.

He is the founder of the World Voices Festival (formerly the UK Choir Festival), established in 2016, which has grown into a major international event bringing together thousands of singers and choir leaders for workshops and performances. As Musical Director of Next Stage Choir, which he founded in 2010, Russell leads a large, thriving multi-location choir and regularly tours internationally with its members.

Russell has also recorded at Abbey Road Studios on multiple occasions, further reflecting the breadth of his work across performance and production.

Alongside his conducting and production work, he is a highly sought-after vocal coach and mentor, working with performers from amateur level through to those preparing for drama school and professional auditions.

Russell Scott continues to inspire singers and audiences alike through his leadership, experience and commitment to musical excellence. He also hosts The Choir Director Podcast.

@russellscottofficial

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In many educational settings, choral music exists as a unique loophole where students can easily secure an “A” simply through passive compliance—showing up, sitting down, and miming the words. This issue persists because directors often avoid assessing individual skills, hiding behind the excuse of protecting students from the anxiety of solo singing when, in reality, it is a form of structural laziness. Camouflaging individual deficiencies within a collective wall of sound is not true teaching; if a student cannot demonstrate a musical skill independently, they may not have not actually learned it. And you wouldn’t know.

Find the WHOLE series here.

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

7 Years of Choralosophy: The View from the Other Side of the Mic by Chris Munce

Seven years ago, Choralosophy was an experiment. Today, it’s a career. It is a job, no different than your job, albeit a bit more public? Today is the show’s 7th birthday. Here is what I’ve learned:

For future rehearsal clips, find me on TikTok, Insta and Facebook

Choralosophy Podcast (@choralosophy) • Instagram photos and videos

This week’s guest dropped a concept that completely shifted how I view my rehearsals: when we make music, we are operating in the exact part of our brain that recognizes our deepest vulnerabilities. Specifically, we are cross wired with the part of us that notices our own nakedness. It’s intense, it’s raw, and it explains why singing can feel downright terrifying for our students. Joining me is the brilliant Allison Wilkinson to talk about why music is the ultimate “bravery workout,” as well as the most “AI-proof” subject in schools today. We discuss how navigating that musical discomfort builds literal neural pathways for resilience that serve kids in the boardroom and beyond. Whether you’re a teacher balancing hundreds of students a week or a parent wanting the best for your child’s cognitive health, you don’t want to miss this one. Let’s jump into the conversation.

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

For future rehearsal clips, find me on TikTok, Insta and FB!

Allison Wilkinson is the author of Making Musicians and the Executive Director of the I Am Music Foundation. Each year, she teaches the tools of Applied Music Psychology through the I Am Academy to music educators from around the world, from Australia to Zimbabwe and everywhere in between. Find the book on GIA!

https://www.instagram.com/making_musicians

https://www.facebook.com/makingmusicians/

Choralosophy Podcast (@choralosophy) • Instagram photos and videos

Choir directors absolutely should study voice, take lessons, sing and perform. It is crucial for us to know as much about the voice as voice teachers do. But…how we apply that knowledge and convey it to students is very different. In this episode, we will break down classroom procedures and priorities that can allow us and our students make the most of our time together.

Find the WHOLE series here.

After all, in group instruction its about a LOT more than Vocal Ped nerdery. It’s also psychology. We have to create the right “mood” in the room that is conducive to vocal freedom and a true “Sound Laboratory” where beginning and advancing singers feel safe to sing in front of each other, get feedback, and take multiple “practice swings.”

And just like in part 4, the secret is the sequence, the repetition and the QUESTIONS! The ones we ask, and eventually the ones they learn to ask. Here, you will also get vocal wisdom from Ken Bozeman, Jami Rhodes and Beth Munce.

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

7 Years of Choralosophy: The View from the Other Side of the Mic by Chris Munce

Seven years ago, Choralosophy was an experiment. Today, it’s a career. It is a job, no different than your job, albeit a bit more public? Today is the show’s 7th birthday. Here is what I’ve learned:

For future rehearsal clips, find me on TikTok, Insta and Facebook

Choralosophy Podcast (@choralosophy) • Instagram photos and videos

Today, we are diving headfirst into a hot-button topic that recently blew up on Facebook: what is the true purpose of an All-State choir? Is it a reward reserved strictly for the pinnacle of high school choral achievement, or is it a spark meant to transform smaller music programs from the bottom up? Joining me to parse out this classic debate is Dave Richard, a choral and drama director at a school in Marshall County, Alabama.

From growing up as a missionary kid in Papua New Guinea to navigating a 6th–12th grade schedule, Dave brings a unique perspective centered on student access. This perspective bumps up against mine in some friendly back and forth. He recently went public with his concerns over the Alabama Vocal Association’s plan to add a required sight-reading component to auditions, arguing that it creates massive equity issues for rural programs where students receive zero elementary music education. I, of course, hold a different view also citing equity concerns, setting the stage for an incredibly honest, constructive clash over the fine line between defending musical excellence and accidental gatekeeping.

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

For future rehearsal clips, find me on TikTok, Insta and FB!

David Ritschard (pronounced Richard), or “Mr. Ritz” as his students know him, is a 6–12 choral and drama teacher in Douglas, Alabama. After completing his first year teaching, he has become passionate about building choir programs in rural communities and creating meaningful musical experiences that inspire students to stay involved in music for life.

Dave grew up in Papua New Guinea, where his family served as missionaries, and is a graduate of Jacksonville State University with a degree in Choral Music Education. As both a choir and drama teacher, he is particularly interested in music literacy, accessibility, student participation, and the role of honor choirs in music education.

Find Dave on TikTok and Instagram at @mr.ritzchoir

Choralosophy Podcast (@choralosophy) • Instagram photos and videos

Enjoy this short, bonus episode where I was able to squeeze in a short discussion on choral programming with the two guest clinicians at the Kantorei KC Summer Choral Institute. Dr. Clelyn Chapin and Dr. Chantae Pittman have both been guests on the show before, but this time, they were my houseguests and here in town to work with the students of the KC area in our summer program.

The three of us each shared details about the program we chose this week, and why. But, we also compared notes on programming philosophies in other contexts as well.

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

7 Years of Choralosophy: The View from the Other Side of the Mic by Chris Munce

Seven years ago, Choralosophy was an experiment. Today, it’s a career. It is a job, no different than your job, albeit a bit more public? Today is the show’s 7th birthday. Here is what I’ve learned:

For future rehearsal clips, find me on TikTok, Insta and Facebook

Choralosophy Podcast (@choralosophy) • Instagram photos and videos

We often talk about wanting music classes to be treated with the same respect as core academic subjects, but are we holding ourselves to that same curricular standard?

Joining me today is Ryan Lindley, an outstanding middle school director who found himself asking that exact question after finishing his eighth year in the classroom. Ryan realized his grading structure only measured one standard: performance. He set out to rewrite his entire curriculum to focus on deep, sequential music literacy, proving that middle schoolers are never “too young” for high expectations. We talk about the logistics of individual testing, building student autonomy, and modeling growth in real time.

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

For future rehearsal clips, find me on TikTok, Insta and FB!

Ryan Lindley is a music educator, conductor, and clinician based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He currently teaches fourth through eighth-grade chorus for the Oshkosh Area School District, serving students at Perry Tipler Middle School and the Advanced Learning Program charter school. His teaching emphasizes project-based learning, social-emotional learning, and the creation of inclusive, student-centered music spaces.

Mr. Lindley holds a Master of Music in Music Education from Boston University and a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh. In addition to his school teaching, he is the Music Director of Badger State Youth Choir: Oshkosh and serves as President of the Oshkosh Chamber Singers. He is actively involved in professional leadership as the Middle Level Repertoire & Resources Chair for the Midwestern Region of the American Choral Directors Association and as the Middle Level All-State Coordinator for the Wisconsin Choral Directors Association.

An accomplished musician, Mr. Lindley is a frequent clinician and presenter, with professional interests that include middle level choral pedagogy, SEL-informed rehearsal practices, and curriculum design. Outside of music, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Madeline, and their two children, Isaiah and Eleanor.

Choralosophy Podcast (@choralosophy) • Instagram photos and videos

In this episode, I’m sitting down once again with Gary Seighman, choir director and Chair of the Music Department at Trinity University. Gary is out with a fascinating new book published by Meredith Music and GIA called The Choir Playbook.

We dive deep into the striking parallels between athletic coaching and choral rehearsing, exploring how over-analyzing mechanics can completely paralyze execution—whether a kid is at the plate or a conductor is on the podium. Gary shares how moving past surface-level band-aids allows us to build adaptive, high-performing musical environments.

If you are tired of shallow fixes and want to understand the deep neurological and physiological mechanics of what actually happens when humans make music together, you are not going to want to miss this conversation.

Grab your notebook, clip board and whistle and stick around

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

For future rehearsal clips, find me on TikTok, Insta and FB!

Gary Seighman is Professor, Director of Choral Activities, and Chair of the Music Department at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, one of the nation’s top private liberal arts universities. He is the recipient of several teaching awards, including the Most Innovative Programming Award from the Texas Choral Directors Association. His choirs have performed for the National Collegiate Choral Organization, the Texas Music Educators Association, and the 2026 Southwest ACDA conference. He is a regular guest artist with Worldstrides Performance for their Carnegie Hall festivals and has conducted across the world with multiple European tours, and 6 trips to East Asia conducting the Peking University Summer Opera Program, and performances throughout Taiwan and Japan.

His book, The Choir Playbook: Tools for the Imaginative Conductor, was recently published by Meredith Music and GIA. His degrees are from is from Westminster Choir College, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Maryland. Seighman enjoys other creative outlets including signed as a model and actor with Avant Agency, where he has appeared in print, online, billboards, radio, and television. He also loves coaching soccer, softball, and baseball for his 9 and 11-year-old children.

Find Gary on Social Media:

https://www.instagram.com/gary_seighman?igsh=MTJncjhqcGdpNW15Mw==

https://www.facebook.com/gary.seighman

Choralosophy Podcast (@choralosophy) • Instagram photos and videos

Today I am joined by Beth Philemon, and we are diving headfirst into a topic that makes a lot of people in the arts deeply uncomfortable: artificial intelligence. I know the immediate reaction for many of you is absolute frustration or exhaustion. You see AI and you think about copyright theft, corporations exploiting artists’ hard work without consent, and the massive environmental footprint of these data centers. Those are incredibly valid, serious concerns, and we are not here to gloss over them or pretend they don’t matter.

So if you are aggressively anti-AI, I want you to stick around for this exact conversation. Beth and I spend a good chunk of this episode wrestling with those ethical minefields, the realities of intellectual property, and what this technological shift means for the future of composing. But we also look at a very practical paradox: how keeping a human firmly in the loop of these tools might actually protect our time. We discuss how automation can handle the brutal administrative and data tasks that burn teachers out, ultimately freeing us up to spend more time focused on the embodiment of our art form—real human connection and real singing. It’s a nuanced look at a messy topic, and you won’t want to miss it. Let’s jump in.

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

For future rehearsal clips, find me on TikTok, Insta and FB!

Beth Philemon is a choral conductor and AI strategist based out of Raleigh, NC. She consults on enterprise AI transformation and data strategy for organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to performing arts institutions, translating fluently between corporate strategy and artistic leadership. With more than fifteen years on the podium across K–12, collegiate, church, and community ensembles – and ongoing work as a guest clinician and conductor – she works at an intersection most people are told to choose between: artistry and strategy. She holds an MM in Choral Conducting from Northern Arizona University and an MBA from North Carolina State University. She founded Choir Baton in 2017 to grow the choral community via social media. Today Choir Baton provides online education for new, emerging, and returning community singers via the CB Academy and for choir teacher-conductors via CB Institute, in addition to the Choir Baton Podcast. Her mission is #MorePeopleSinging for lifelong musicianship. For more information visit ChoirBaton.com or BethPhilemon.com

Choralosophy Podcast (@choralosophy) • Instagram photos and videos

Today’s conversation hits incredibly close to home as we pull back the curtain on power dynamics, public perception, and the hidden structures that dictate taste and legitimacy in choral music.

Joining the show is Dr. Samuel Grace, a conductor and music director from Minnesota whose recent doctoral dissertation directly explores the theoretical models of network gatekeeping in our field. He breaks down the multi-layered pipeline of how music gets created, how publishers and professional organizations decide what gets heavily marketed, and how peer conversations ultimately influence what you choose to put on your concert programs.

While contemporary popular culture tends to use “gatekeeping” strictly as a pejorative term for exclusion, we look at it through a rigorous academic lens—as an unavoidable, organic force that manages information overload and shapes cultural value.

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

For future rehearsal clips, find me on TikTok, Insta and FB!

Samuel Grace is a Twin Cities-based conductor known for his thirst for new music and creative collaborations. Samuel serves as Director of Music Ministry at St. Philip the Deacon Lutheran Church where he oversees four choirs. He is also Founding Artistic Director of MPLS (imPulse). Now in its 12th season, MPLS (imPulse) builds choral communities by performing living music, embracing the singer experience, and fostering novel collaborations. In his free time, Samuel can often be found riding his bike or cooking with his family. Samuel holds degrees from Gustavus Adolphus College (B.A.), The University of Minnesota (M.M.), and Indiana University (D.M.).

www.mplsimpulse.org

Choralosophy Podcast (@choralosophy) • Instagram photos and videos