“I wanted to get kids to work more collaboratively. We say we’re a collaborative group, but the conductor is behind the piano teaching the choir parts rather than saying, ‘here's the part I want you to learn. Go learn it. Here are the expectations and come back and self-assess yourself.’ So, I designed performance tasks. I'll work on as a group first, so they have some capacity for it. Then I'll have them break into sectionals and go reinforce it.”

William Gunn is the director of music at Plymouth Regional High School where he conducts the Concert Band, Jazz Ensemble, Concert Choir, Chamber Singers, and teaches a year long guitar elective. He is also the music director of the Pemigewasset Choral Society in Plymouth, NH, and a teaching lecturer in music education at Plymouth State University. Mr. Gunn received his bachelor of music in music education from Ithaca College and his masters of music in conducting from Colorado State University. Mr. Gunn has studied conducting with Wes Kenney, Dwight Bigler, Steve Peterson, and Eric Hammer. Mr. Gunn is the immediate past president of New Hampshire ACDA and serves as the Treble Choir Chair for the NHMEA All-State Festival.

To get in touch with Will, you can find him on Instagram @willdotg or email him at wgunn@pemibaker.org.

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“At the end of that first year, I did a pops concert. I developed the formula that I use now, which is to make it sound a lot like the actual songs. You give a lot of soloists opportunities to sing solos, especially in the verses which are harder because of the syncopation. We had a band that we hired: some horns, a rhythm section. The kids loved it, and we had 750 people come watch it.”

J.D. Frizzell is the Director of Fine Arts and Director of Vocal Music at Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis, TN. He earned his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Choral Conducting from The University of Kentucky. Dr. Frizzell earned the double Master's in Music Theory/Composition and Conducting from The University of Southern Mississippi, where he also earned the bachelor's degree in Music History and Literature.

In 2024, Frizzell was named a national finalist for the GRAMMY Music Educator Award. Frizzell was chosen by the Tennessee Music Educators Association as the 2011 Outstanding Young Music Educator. Additionally, he was awarded the Dr. Clair E. Cox Award for Teaching Excellence in both 2011 and again in 2023.

As the Director of Fine Arts at Briarcrest, Dr. Frizzell leads a faculty of twelve full time faculty-artists and is responsible for coordinating curriculum, instruction, and budgets for all of the fine arts programs (K2-12th grade). He also serves as an advocate and school liaison for all of the visual art, instrumental music, vocal music, dance, theatre, and technical production programs. As the Director of Vocal Music, he teaches the Men’s Choir, Advanced Women’s Choir, and OneVoice.

A leader in the contemporary a cappella movement, he is the co-founder and President of The A Cappella Education Association, a nonprofit dedicated to helping groups around the world. He also founded the National A Cappella and Choral Convention. His high school a cappella group, OneVoice, is a SONY Recording Artist. They were the winners of the Macy’s A Cappella Challenge judged by Pentatonix, contestants on America’s Got Talent, performers at The Emmys, and collaborators with Foreigner and The Swingles. Their music has been streamed, downloaded, and viewed over 120 million times. Dr. Frizzell co-authored the books “A Cappella Warm Ups for Pop and Jazz Choirs” and “Teaching Music Through Performance in Contemporary A Cappella”.

Dr. Frizzell is active as a presenter, adjudicator, clinician, and guest conductor. As an active member of TNMEA, NATS, ACDA, and WTVMEA, he has served in multiple volunteer capacities. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation named him one of “Memphis’ Finest” for his philanthropic efforts. He is also a professional member of the Recording Academy. He lives in Memphis, TN with his wife, Emily and sons Henry and Elliott.

For commission, conducting, workshop, or other booking information, please visit www.jdfrizzell.net.

To get in touch with J.D., you can visit his website or find him on Facebook (@jdfrizzellmusic) or Instagram (@jdfrizzell1983).

Choir Fam wants to hear from you! Check out the Minisode Intro Part 3 episode from February 16, 2024, to hear how to share your story with us.

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“Uniformity is a two-edged sword, isn't it? Within a choir you need uniformity or you're not going to get a good blend, but within that uniformity, I want as much individuality as possible. I do a lot of 16th-Century music, early 17th-Century music, which has very, very high, passionate stakes. The individual has to come through. That's what makes it interesting.”

Robert Hollingworth was a chorister at Hereford Cathedral, set up his first solo-voice ensemble at the age of 16 and read music at New College, Oxford, followed by a year at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In place of a conventional academic career he has spent 40 years directing vocal groups, notably I Fagiolini, which he founded at university in 1986.

Nearly 30 CDs and DVDs have included first recordings of works and collections by Byrd, Croce, Tomkins, Andrea Gabrieli and more. Recent releases include the multi-award winning Striggio 40-part mass, 'Amuse-Bouche' (French 20th century music including premiers of Francaix and Milhaud), and in 2017 'Monteverdi - The Other Vespers' which also featured the University of York’s music department's choir, The 24.

Winning the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Ensemble Award, Gramophone Awards and the Diapason D'Or de l'Annee, the group is 'In Association' at the University of York Music Department where, as well as teaching Undergraduate projects, Robert runs the MA in solo-voice ensemble singing.

As a freelancer conductor, Robert has directed the English Concert, Academy of Ancient Music and the BBC Concert Orchestra; among European choirs, Accentus (France), NDR Chor and RIAS Kammerchor (Germany), National Chamber Choir of Ireland, Voces8, BBC Singers and the National Youth Choir of Great Britain. He writes and presents programmes for Radio 3 including The Early Music Show and Discovering Music. During lockdown, he created and presented a new youtube series for choral music enthusiasts called 'SingTheScore'.

He is the newly appointed director of Stour Music, taking over after 65 years from Alfred and Mark Deller.

He founded and presents the UK's top choral music podcast 'Choral Chihuahua' with Eamonn Dougan and Nicholas Mulroy.

To get in touch with Robert, look for I Fagiolini on YouTube (@ifagiolini), Facebook (@ifagiolini), Instagram (@i_fagiolini), or their website, ifagiolini.com.

Choir Fam wants to hear from you! Check out the Minisode Intro Part 3 episode from February 16, 2024, to hear how to share your story with us.

Email choirfampodcast@gmail.com to contact our hosts.

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Photo in episode artwork by Trace Hudson