by Jonathan Miller, Artistic Director and Co-Founder, Sounds Good Choir | Nov 5, 2024 | Musings
American politics has been a tough business for a long time—ever since George Washington decided not to run for a third term, creating a battle between Vice President John Adams (who won) and Thomas Jefferson in 1796. Music has helped make and break political...
by Elizabeth Taggart | Oct 29, 2024 | Musings
It never fails: I’m lost in the supermarket, searching for turmeric ginger tea, when the benign ocean of muzak that’s been rolling through the store in soft waves suddenly pierces through my consciousness. Just like that I find myself singing under my...
by Jonathan Miller, Artistic Director and Co-Founder, Sounds Good Choir | Oct 22, 2024 | Musings
Halloween turns my thoughts to the spooky, creepy music of the season. In my experience, there are really two types of what one might call spooky music: classical compositions and pop, or even “novelty,” songs. Let me take you down these rabbit holes. Maybe some of...
by Helen Gagel | Oct 7, 2024 | Singer Profile
Singing in Sounds Good’s Good Memories Choir is just one way Elspeth Revere and Bruce Calder continue to expand their skills, interests, and friendships. As some of us age into our seventh and eighth decades, one wish that many of us share is that we’ve done...
by Sandy Siegel Miller | Oct 7, 2024 | Musings
I’m not a person for whom the word “serendipity” yields feelings of excitement and curiosity. I’m a planner: I like to know what’s going to happen next and hold as dear the illusion that I know how things are going to turn out. So, one of the reluctantly learned...
by Jonathan Miller, Artistic Director and Co-Founder, Sounds Good Choir | Oct 1, 2024 | Musings
I turned 62 a few weeks ago. The night before my birthday, while walking the dog, I realized that it has been 45 years—73 percent of my life—since Max Janowski of blessed memory took a chance on a 17-year-old kid and hired me for the bass section at the Central...
by Jonathan Miller, Artistic Director and Co-Founder, Sounds Good Choir | Sep 23, 2024 | Song Spotlight
This is a great tune with a lovely sentiment, in a terrific choral arrangement by a really nice guy. In other words, what’s not to like? This song will be familiar to those of you who sang with us during the Fall 2021 session—that crazy time of lockdown, during which...
by Jonathan Miller, Artistic Director and Co-Founder, Sounds Good Choir | Sep 12, 2024 | Song Spotlight
Now this is a fun tune! Give “African Noel” a listen, and you can hear why Linda and I wanted to program it—the piece is catchy and has great momentum. Its arranger, Victor Johnson, is one of the most prolific and accomplished arrangers working today. He...
by Helen Gagel | Sep 3, 2024 | Singer Profile
Ron Hadsall: Pop culture guru, historian and music collector If all you know about Ron Hadsall is that he sings bass-baritone with the Sounds Good Choir in Arlington Heights and the Skokie Community Choir, you don’t know the half of it. This former math teacher is a...
by Sandy Siegel Miller | Aug 27, 2024 | Musings
Although there’s no confusion, in my mind at least, about the importance of forgiveness, there seems to be quite a bit of confusion about the national acknowledgement of that. My internet search found a “National Forgiveness Week” in June, a “National Forgiveness Day”...
