Fisher Mann Podcasts

14/07/2021

Check out our feature by the National Museum of American Jewish History (Link in first comment) Critics are calling The Last Boy "a triumph!" NYC, live theatre, and the BOYS are waiting to break, mend and lift your heart to new heights! Hurry! Limited seating for Covid-safety. DON'T WAIT FOR BROADWAY! You'll be able to say you saw the ORIGINAL production!

26/06/2021

It might not seem natural that a play about the Holocaust could be uplifting, hopeful and inspiring, but that’s exactly the goal of a new off-Broadway play, "The Last Boy," open in a few weeks.

13/06/2021

14/03/2021

If you're a choral nerd, get ready to nerd OUT with Episode 50 (!) of Corona Choir...what choral folks NEED to know. Hang out with The Crossing's two-time Grammy Award winner Donald Nally! One of the remarkable things about Donald is that his immense talent does not stop him from being vulnerable. In fact, I'm sure his openness and humility, along with his singular goal of choral honesty, are the reasons why he enjoys such success. So give a listen and discover what professional endeavor Donald avoids because he says he's a "disaster" at it. What it was like to meet Mick Jagger and perform with the The Rolling Stones. Why The Crossing has performed with the LA Phil and the New York Philharmonic but never The Philadelphia Orchestra. How Donald feels about Zoom. And what it really feels like to win not one, but TWO Grammys. And you'll hear Donald's answer to the question of what the "secret formula" is to winning a Grammy. Obviously, he's figured it out. Or has he? This is an engaging conversation, with the inimitable singing of The Crossing threaded throughout. If you don't already, you'll understand just why this ensemble has won two Grammys. But that's decidedly not why Donald does what he does. You'll find out what drives him in this very special episode. Our two-part conversation begins with something I found rather curious in his bio on The Crossing website. It ends with an excerpt from The Crossing's recording of Jim Primosch's Carthage, which has earned Nally and the ensemble its 6th Grammy nomination and maybe its 3rd Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance. Break a vocal fold Donald! Every piece that is highlighted in this episode, along with a link to buy it so you can know this incredible artistry and support The Crossing and the composers it champions, can be found on my website's blog at stevefisher.info. Or you can go to their website at crossingchoir.org. (Donald Nally's Photo Credit: Beck Oehlers)

Shout outs, in no particular order, to Katy Avery, Nathaniel Barnett, Jessica Beebe, Kelly Ann Bixby, Elijah Blaisdell, Karen Blanchard, Steven Bradshaw, Colin Dill, Micah Dingler, Ryan Fleming, Joanna Gates, Dimitri German, Steven Hyder, Michael Jones, Lauren Kelly, Anika Kildegaard, Heidi Kurtz, Maren Montalbano, Rebecca Myers, Daniel O'Dea, Rebecca Oehlers, James Reese, Kyle Sackett, Daniel Schwartz, Rebecca Siler, Tiana Sorenson, Daniel Spratlan, Elisa Sutherland, Daniel Taylor, Jason Weisinger, Jackson Williams, Shari Alise Wilson, John Grecia, John Luther Adams, John and Lois Dinsmore, Michael Gordon, Julia Wolfe, David Lang, Ted Hearne, Gavin Bryars, Lansing McLoskey, Tom Lloyd, Kile Smith, Paul Vazquez, Joel Puckett, Greg Spear, James Primosch, Kevin Vondrak, Kyle Sackett, Amy Nolen, Terry Nolen, Michael Gilbertson, Lisa Fischer, Tod Machover, Eriks Esenvalds, Francisco Nunzes, Aaron Helgeson, Kim Shiley, Toivo Tulev, Lansing McLoskey, Benjamin C.S. Boyle, Calvin Wamser,Toivo Tulev, Mütter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia Arden, National Sawdust, Recording Academy / GRAMMYs Pulitzer-Prize, The Recording Academy, American Composers Forum, Big Ears Festival, Rollingstones,, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Park Avenue Armory, Metmuseum.org, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Music at Trinity Wall Street, Bang on a Can, Alliance Artist Management, The Crossing, Northwestern University, Bienen School of Music, Bienen School of Music, Young People’s Chorus of New York City, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Keystone State Boychoir, Pennsylvania Girlchoir, New Jersey Boychoir, Garden State Girlchoir, Chorus America, Welsh National-Opera, Opera Philly, Chicago BachProject, Spoleto Festival Dei 2 Mondi.

29/01/2021

GREAT, POIGNANT, FUN conversation with Frank J. Van Atta at Germantown Friends School with his three TERIFFIC young singers Graham, Zack, and Amelia. Shout outs to Lori Flynn, Peter Kohn, Taia Harlos Anne Hess, Allen Drew, Deb Stahl (not Deb Kayshaffer, but she's been amazing too!), Mary Ann Case, Brimmer and May School, Singing City Choir, Larry Hoenig, Max Hoenig, Lauren Hallquist Anderson, Paul Rardin, Rebecca Thornburgh, Temple University - Esther Boyer College of Music, Sarah McMenamin Keystone State Boychoir Pennsylvania Girlchoir, Garden State Girlchoir, Julie Donahue, Michael Idinopulos, Germantown Friends School, Brimmer and May Alumni, Matthew Flynn, Linda Samost Elizabeth Parker, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, The Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh Sorry if I left anyone out! Commonwealth Youthchoirs loves you and thanks you GFS.

Choirs warm up so they SING well. Choral Directors, Corona Choir is your daily warm up to LEAD well. Choristers, Parents of young Singers, Friends, Supporters and Audience Members of choral music, get ready to be informed and inspired. Join host Steve Fisher, or Fish the Choir Guy as his South Afric...

26/01/2021

Teachers know...

25/01/2021

Every Conductor...

Part 1: Every choir conductor

21/01/2021

Another lovely day for Commonwealth Youthchoirs. Singing transcends politics. Thanks Paul! (Link to video in first comment)

08/12/2020

"Sing like a South African" FREE virtual workshop. 1/3/21 1pm EST. FREE arrangement, drawing for FREE online course for choirs and FREE trip to South Africa. Must request invite: singlikeasouthafrican.com

Steve FISHer will literally transport you to the township to spend time with his friend and colleague Thabang. Together, they will show you how to sing South African songs authentically!

02/12/2020

CHOIR DIECTORS...here comes the sun! Starting January 3rd with a free workshop and unveiling of a new online experience for your choirs. It'll be better than alright. It'll be YEBO!

Steve FISHer will literally transport you to the township to spend time with his friend and colleague Thabang. Together, they will show you how to sing South African songs authentically!

26/11/2020

On my podcast this week, Dr. Srebric and I talked about the 3rd report of the Colorado aerosol study citing the fact that the trombone is THEE super spreader instrument. THIS is why numbers are rising. THIS is incredibly dangerous. THIS is what happens when science is ignored. Stay home. Stay safe. You do not want this virus. It's not simply whether you survive it, which most people will.

fishtheaddstorytellingchoirguy • Original Audio

24/11/2020

fishtheaddchoirguy • Original Audio

11/11/2020

CORONA CHOIR podcast will now be published weekly. There will be LIVE (!) video episode on facebook each week, and then it will be available the following morning on your favorite podcast platform, as well as on Youtube. See you this Sunday, 11-15-20 at 8:30pm for the inaugural LIVE video episode.

08/11/2020

Sorry, we need to reschedule the reunion with Doros. Technical difficulties. They'll get you every time.

05/11/2020

The pandemic WILL end and our choirs WILL tour again. Steve's prediction is that, by this summer, it will be safe to tour. For those choirs that have a touring tradition, offering a tour is your best retention tool post pandemic. For those that don't have a tradition, start one. But you need to start planning now. Steve provides a list of countries that are admitting tourists without a quarantine. He also shares a great idea on how your choir can sing with a host choir any where in the world right now!

04/11/2020

WARNING: This is disturbing

Horrors • Eerie Sounds

03/11/2020

It's "Greatest Director" Tuesday with a final conversation with Jenny Hutton of Boyer College of Music and Dance - Temple University and Cheltenham School District. And a special shout out to the supremely awesome Dr. Donald Dumpson. Dr. Dumpson comes up in one of Steve's "Confessions of a Choir Director." Even when we're making real, significant, noble efforts to rid ourselves and our choral communities of internal, societal and/or institutional racism, bias can be present. The future Dr. Hutton and Steve talk about how we all tend to put choir directors in a box - including ourselves. They wrap up talking about choral leaders having time for singers, truly partnering with them to build true relationships, and honoring what they already bring of value to the music making from their own musical and life experiences independent of us leaders. It's a realm that is of particular interest to Jenny as a doctoral candidate, educator and human. Choral leaders need to do themselves what they tell their singers is the most important thing of all...listen. Venerated choir director Eph Ehly likes to say that we choir directors and our choir are alone in a very tiny, little corner of this planet called Earth. Therefore each of us are the greatest choir director and our choir is the greatest choir in the world. Through that lens, we are actually very BIG. Jenny Hutton you are indeed the greatest choir director. You too Dr. Dumpson. I look forward to having you on the podcast soon!

02/11/2020

When Corona Choir is gone, Cultural Appropriation concerns will still be with us. Veteran high school choir director and Temple University at Boyer College of Music and Dance - Temple University doctoral candidate Jenny Hutton and Steven Fisher take on this topic, and the need to balance honoring the music without resulting in paralysis by analysis. Jenny talks about her opportunity to work with the fabulous Rollo Dilworth and his approach to the subject. (Say no to “happy clappy”) Jenny cites a specific challenge she faced with an Aruban harvest piece and how she handled it. What a music educator!

31/10/2020

Adam Burdick, my colleague and now friend who lost two Skagit Valley Chorale Singers to the pandemic, wrote this in response to my conversation with Jenny Hutton of Cheltenham High School Choirs, and Boyer College of Music and Dance - Temple University: "Thank you, Steve and Jenny, for this conversation about questions of gender, and of tolerance, and so much more. I'm so glad to be a part of it and to feel that each conversation like this one helps us learn together." Thanks Jenny and profound thanks Adam.

30/10/2020

Cheltenham High and Cheltenham School District, and Boyer College of Music and Dance - Temple University's Jenny Hutton, today's special guest on CORONA CHOIR...what choral folks NEED to know!

30/10/2020

Veteran high school choir director and Boyer College of Music and Dance - Temple University doctoral candidate Jenny Hutton and Steve pick up where Micah Hendler and Steve left off in dialoging about challenges in choral communities around gender. We tend to think of gender issues as being solely trans issues. But there is a spectrum. CORONA CHOIR's recent guest, Skagit Valley Chorale's Adam Burdick, is gender fluid. He, in his own words, "may never fully transition." Recently, Steve encountered in his program, a very young boy who began presenting as gender fluid. When his group began performing a piece that referenced "boys," the singer informed Steve that he could not sing the song since he was not identifying as a boy "at that moment." What to do? Steve and Jenny discuss, and it leads to a larger discussion about repertoire choices for boys, and the important opportunity boys singing together provides for male esteem and bonding.

26/10/2020

In Part 3 of 7 of Steve's dialogue with Micah Hendler, Founder and Artistic Director of the The Jerusalem Youth Chorus, he raises the sensitive topic of gender inclusivity and choirs. In particular, they talk about the challenges that boychoirs and girlchoirs face as gender specific ensembles. Micah talks about his groundbreaking approach to handle such challenges, and also talks about struggles with different viewpoints in organizations he strongly believes in, like Braver Angels. It’s all about justice and dialogue. Also, if you don’t know about Justice Choir, check it out. . Check out Micah jamming out in a new exclusive clip of the post concert jam session that took place in the lobby of the The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts after our joint concert in June of 2015. It was an amazing evening, which included Albustan

26/10/2020

Jerusalem Youth Chorus, Pennsylvania Girlchoir, Keystone State Boychoir and special guests Al Bustan performed a joint concert in Perelman Theatre in June of 2015. This is the post concert, sponteanous jam session!

22/10/2020

Steve's very special guest today, tomorrow and next week is Micah Hendler, the Founder and Artistic Director of the extraordinary Jerusalem Youth Chorus (JYC). If you know this ensemble, you love and are inspired by it. If you don't know the Jerusalem Youth Chorus, YOU NEED TO.

.sings.alot

21/10/2020

If you need ideas on how to make your Zoom Choir rehearsals more successful, Victoria Hopkins and Christine Mulgrew have some! They are the founders of Total Choir Resources, a training and information platform that helps choir leaders all over the world to build and run successful community choirs. They well know that many choirs, especially community choirs, are still unable to meet. With cases rising across the world, it may be months before we can resume in-person rehearsals. Over the months since March, they've learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t on Zoom. Oh and they talk about dogs vs. cats and use fun Brit words like "brilliant," "jolly," and "blub," a word used by Brits when they are moved by some virtual choir happening (like in the video below). They also use J.W. Pepper Sheet Music! Who knew? Visit the SHOW NOTES for links related to this episode. You can also visit coronachoir.org for more resources. There you can join the email list and be automatically entered into a drawing to tour South Africa with me and make music with my South African friends - all expenses paid. Listeners on the email list also get exclusive access to the official CORONA CHOIR "Links Hub," which includes all the links from all episodes organized by category.

21/10/2020

90 of Steve's singers wishing Holocaust survivor Michael Gruenbaum a virtual happy 90th birthday when his party got cancelled.