Patriot Singers Shine at CMS

This past week I was pleased to present a joint lecture-recital with the Patriot Singers at the College Music Society Southwest Regional Conference in Durant, Oklahoma. Our presentation was entitled, Out of Obscurity: An Artistic and Administrative Case Study in Building a Successful Regional Choral Music Program. This is of course just a fancy way of saying, 'We have grown, and this is how we have done it'!

Aside from some technical difficulties which delayed our start and caused me to speak a bit faster than I had planned, I couldn't have been more pleased with our singers and the responses we received about the program building initiatives I describe in the presentation. One of the telling comments was from an attendee who remarked that it was clear from our musical performance  how well we all get along as a team-- which I think is very true. We also provided a spontaneous performance afterwards during lunch, which was frosting on the cake. (There was in fact, also a very good chocolate cake, with very good frosting).

It takes many steps and consistent efforts to grow a performing arts program, from building your audience to building your musicians. Here are just a few of the things we have found successful at UT Tyler.