CUEnotes
YouthCUE's blog on topics of youth choir ministry, leadership and professional well-being
Stories are critical to student choir communities – (Part 2) Shared common narratives
STORIES ARE CRITICAL TO STUDENT CHOIR COMMUNITIES Part 2 of 5 Shared Common Narratives A few months ago, I was visiting with Dr. Randall Bradley, director of the Men's Choir at Baylor University. Looking back over the pandemic years and then coming out of that choral...
Stories Are Critical to Student Choir Communities (Part 1) – Storytelling
STORIES ARE CRITICAL TO STUDENT CHOIR COMMUNITIES Part 1 of 5 Storytelling Just a few years ago – only sixty-two to be exact – when I was in the first grade, all our school’s elementary teachers held regular events called “Storytelling.” Short, simple group training...
Tuned In for a Game of Football, We All Re-Learned Powerful Lessons
I don't often watch Monday Night Football, but I did on January 2. I found myself magnetized to the game because it involved the Cincinnati Bengals, for whom YouthCUE alumnus Evan McPhearson is the place kicker. In the opening minutes of the game, Evan, one of Roger...
Unpacking 2022’s CCA Irish Cathedral Tour
Although the CUE Choral Ambassadors have now arrived back in the States, none of us are yet home … not for a few more hours. We are currently at O’Hare Airport, Chicago, awaiting our domestic flights, the group gradually dissipating before our very eyes. This has been...
CUE Choral Ambassadors Arrive in Ireland
Behind this door is the CCA rehearsal space for the next four days This amazing chamber choir, the 2022 CUE Choral Ambassadors, JUST arrived in Dublin, had lunch in the Temple Bar District, then stopped for this photo before going into our first-ever rehearsal. O my...
You Will Need Your Anger Now
“Joy is the gift of love, grief is the price of love, and rage is that which protects what is loved.” I keep repeating these words of Valarie Kaur, an activist and spiritual teacher, over and over today. Joy—so easily stolen. Grief—so unnecessary. Rage—so inescapable....
Uvalde
Uvalde, Texas, a city of 16,000, sits 79 miles due west of the office in which I sit writing this newsletter. At this precise moment, Uvalde is the scene of the latest mass shooting, the second worst school massacre in US history. I feel darkly certain, however, that...
Where Does the World Go from Here?
The first weeks of the war in Ukraine have been horrible. From the safety of our homes and media devices, we in North America have watched in stunned disbelief as evil acts are brutally inflicted upon those who simply seek freedom from aggression and peace from...
Strong Leadership
Churches face crises. Communities of faith find ourselves at the crossroads of many issues over time, and occasionally a dilemma digs so deeply that a good outcome – either way we go – does not seem possible. It was in the midst of one of those corporate conundrums a...
In Student Choirs, Distance Can Be Used to Develop Choral Sound … Part 3
In Student Choirs, Distance Can Be Used to Develop Choral Sound Part 3 As we return to our choirs and some form of normality this fall, I urge all youth choir directors to consider remaining aware of distances between singers in rehearsals, performances, and...
