Reading Time: 7 minutes “See that man?” said the principal during our lunch interview, pointing a few tables down. “He is a good man, a man I admire, because he is a man of God first, a family man second, and one heck of an athlete. Do you understand what I am saying?” I didn’t know at the time that it’s illegal to ask someone their religion in a job interview. This was his way of trying to ensure that I understood what was important to him, and by extension, the school. I needed a job, so I said nothing.
Christopher Clark
Dr. Christopher Clark is director of choirs and lecturer in music education at Case Western Reserve University.
Posted inMusic
Put your mouth where your money is: The real-world ethics of a socialist band
Reading Time: 5 minutes It begins with a strum. A simple strum that could be a guitarist, early to rehearsal, waiting for bandmates to arrive. A nonchalant, off-the-cuff melody of moving octaves around a sustained tone, 30 seconds with no perceivable tempo or direction. Then, a tempo is decided upon, and one by one the other six bandmates join […]
Posted inReproductive rights
‘It’s hard to hear them celebrating’—church musicians after Roe’s demise
Reading Time: 5 minutes On June 26, two days after the ruling by the US Supreme Court on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that effectively overruled Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a purposefully anonymous group member of the I’m a Choir Director Facebook page, posted the following: Is anyone else having a really hard time […]
Posted inMusic
The lived contradiction of atheist choir directors
Reading Time: 6 minutes After I put out a call for atheist public school choir directors to interview for a research article, I received an email from a colleague: “The choral music education program of any school must include music from the masters, which of course will include some sacred music. It is a part of our culture.” I […]