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High Notes Blog

Chorus America's High Notes blog is curated by the Chorus America staff. Here, find articles on what our members are up to, and links to the latest news and commentary on the issues that matter to the choral field. High Notes also includes information about policy issues and advocacy alerts.

Additional Advocacy Information

Chorus America is a member of the Performing Arts Alliance (PAA), a national coalition of nonprofit arts service organizations advocating for federal policies that impact the nonprofit performing arts sector. Membership in Chorus America includes membership in PAA and you can learn more about PAA's policy agenda in the PAA Advocacy Center.

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  • Maine Choir Spotlights the Struggles of Immigration
    by Chorus America Staff

  • Listen to Your iPod Much? You Might Want to Turn Down the Volume
    by Chorus America Staff

    "Today's ubiquitous MP3 players permit users to listen to crystal-clear tunes at high volume for hours on end — a marked improvement on the days of the Walkman. But according to Tel Aviv University research, these advances have also turned personal listening devices into a serious health hazard, with teenagers as the most at-risk group."

  • For Mozart’s 256th Birthday, Let’s Hear K. 256: “Clarice cara mia sposa”
    by Chorus America Staff

  • Is This Really the World’s Ugliest Music?
    by Chorus America Staff

  • NY Phil Concert Stopped for Cell Phone Ring
    by Chorus America Staff

    “The final movement of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony is a slow rumination on mortality, with quiet sections played by strings alone. During the New York Philharmonic’s performance Tuesday night, it was interrupted by an iPhone.

  • Composers and Their Last Pieces: What Do They Mean?
    by Chorus America Staff

    “There is usually something revealing about the music of a composer who feels death at his shoulder. Beethoven’s late music has a distinctive voice. Little of it is tragic and there is no trace of self-pity, even though in his last decade he was deaf and suffering from an endless train of illnesses that included chronic colitis and possibly lead poisoning. In his spiritual life, Beethoven was no churchgoer and not particularly interested in Christ; he preferred to deal with God man to man.”

  • Study Finds Musicians Better at Yet Another Important Mental Task
    by Chorus America Staff

    "Can you mentally rotate a three-dimensional object, getting a clear sense of how it looks it from a variety of angles? It’s a specific cognitive skill that has been the subject of much study in recent years, since it’s a key component of processing spatial information. Professionals ranging from auto mechanics to brain surgeons rely on this ability.

  • Social Media and the Concert Hall
    by Chorus America Staff

    "You can't help but wonder what sort of productions we'll begin seeing as more and more performance venues, theater companies, symphony orchestras, and the like begin experimenting with 'tweet seats,' sections reserved for audience members who just can't tear themselves away from their Twitter feeds.

  • Poll Finds Most People Don't Know Lyrics to Auld Lang Syne
    by Chorus America Staff

    "Three-quarters admit they will mime or make up the words when the clock strikes midnight tomorrow . . . and the time comes for Auld Lang Syne. A poll found that some 37 percent do not know a single line of Robert Burns’s piece, written in 1788."

  • Building the Musical Muscle
    by Chorus America Staff

    Cochlear implants may help restore hearing in those with hearing loss, but they don't give people a full experience of music...yet.

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