The Choralist Method ยท CHOIRBATON ยท Beth Philemon More
People
Singing. A structured framework for adult choral singers and choir directors โ€” built on three trainable pillars that take the full complexity of choral life seriously.
I'm a Singer I'm a Director
3 Pillars
2 Learning Paths
80+ Podcast Episodes
The Framework

What the Choralist
Method Is.

Most choral education treats technique as the whole job. It isn't. What actually keeps singers in ensembles, growing and contributing year after year, is a combination of skills that have rarely been taught together โ€” until now.

The Choralist Method organizes the full choral experience into three trainable pillars: Musicianship, Mindset, and Culture. These aren't three separate courses. They're three lenses on the same ensemble experience โ€” and they're most powerful when developed in parallel.

The Method applies in two directions. For adult singers, it's a structured path to real musicianship growth โ€” warm, rigorous, and designed for the actual adult learner rather than the conservatory student. For choir directors and music educators, it's a pedagogical framework they can adopt in their own teaching, alongside practical tools for the modern rehearsal room.

The Three Pillars

Built on Three
Trainable Areas.

The Choralist Method rests on a single argument: the skills that make choral life sustainable โ€” technically, psychologically, and communally โ€” can be taught. All three. Together.

Musicianship The technical and interpretive craft of choral singing. Pitch, rhythm, phrasing, vocal technique, score reading, ensemble listening โ€” the skills that make a singer a reliable, musical contributor in any choral context. Musicianship is the foundation, but the Choralist Method doesn't pretend it's the entire building. It's the first pillar because without it, the other two have nothing to build on.
Mindset The inner game of being an adult learner and performer. Handling fear, plateau, self-criticism, comparison, and the sustained identity work of claiming oneself as a musician. The Choralist Method draws on contemplative traditions, practical psychology, and performance research to give singers and directors honest, concrete tools for the parts of choral life that have nothing to do with notes on a page โ€” and everything to do with whether someone keeps showing up.
Culture The communal and relational dimension of choral life. Belonging, contribution, care for fellow singers, and the shared norms that allow ensembles to do difficult work together without losing people along the way. Culture is not a bonus feature in the Choralist Method. It is a trainable skill โ€” as structured and learnable as sight-reading. Because choir is inherently communal, and a framework that ignores that is building on sand.
Two Paths. One Method.

The Method in
Your Hands.

The Choralist Method reaches singers and directors through two distinct properties โ€” each designed for its audience, each grounded in the same three-pillar framework, each living inside the larger Choir Baton ecosystem.

For Adult Singers Choir Baton Academy New ยท Emerging ยท Returning Singers The Academy exists because adult choral singers have been underserved by the market. Too much choral education is built for conservatory students or children, leaving the serious amateur โ€” the person who shows up every Tuesday for rehearsal and genuinely wants to grow โ€” without a rigorous, warm path forward. The flagship course, Choralist Foundations, introduces adult singers to all three pillars through structured video lessons, practical workbooks, and a learning community that treats belonging as part of the curriculum โ€” not an amenity.
  • Foundational musicianship skills that transfer immediately to their ensemble
  • Language and tools for the psychological side of adult learning
  • A community that understands the specific experience of the adult choral singer
  • A structured path โ€” not a playlist, not a video library, but a sequenced curriculum
Explore the Academy โ†’
For Choir Directors & Educators Choir Baton Institute Kโ€“12 ยท Church ยท Community ยท Collegiate Directors The Institute serves working choir directors who are overworked, skeptical of hype, and hungry for practical tools from someone who has actually stood on the same podium. The method here is the same three pillars โ€” but the application is toward teaching, not toward singing. The flagship course, Basic to Breakthroughs: AI for Choir Teachers, walks directors from foundational AI literacy to real classroom and rehearsal applications. No hype. No shortcuts. Confidence that is earned, not performed.
  • The Choralist Method as a teaching framework they can use immediately
  • Pedagogical assets including the Rhythm Level One Interactive Workbook
  • AI strategy tools built specifically for the rehearsal room and music classroom
  • A peer community of working educators who take the craft seriously
Explore the Institute โ†’
The Connector

The Podcast That
Holds It All Together.

The Choir Baton Podcast is where the Choralist Method lives in public โ€” where ideas get tested, guests get challenged, and listeners from every corner of choral life find their way into the Choir Baton ecosystem.

With more than 80 episodes published, the podcast reaches choir directors, music educators, adult singers, deans, arts administrators, and conductors who are all working through some version of the same question: how do you lead a choral community โ€” an ensemble, a program, a school, a lifetime of musical growth โ€” with both rigor and warmth?

Every episode develops the ideas that become courses, frameworks, and consulting engagements. It's the place where Academy students discover the Institute, where directors find the Academy, and where the entire Choir Baton community โ€” singers and leaders alike โ€” has a shared space for substantive, respectful dialogue about what it means to do this work.

The podcast doesn't silo its audiences. It unites them under the one thing they all share: the belief that #MorePeopleSinging makes everything better.

Choir Baton Podcast Thought Leadership for Choral Life
80+ Episodes
2 Audiences Served
Hosted by Beth Philemon โ€” conductor, educator, and founder of Choir Baton LLC. Covers conducting craft, choral pedagogy, AI in music education, adult learning, community building, and the philosophy behind the Choralist Method. Top-of-funnel for Academy, Institute, and Conduct Consulting. A community, not just a content channel.
#MorePeopleSinging This Is What We're
Building Toward. A choral world where every adult who wants to sing has a warm, rigorous path to real musicianship growth โ€” and where every choir director has the pedagogical and technological fluency to lead their ensemble into the future without sacrificing what makes choral life irreplaceable.
I Want to Sing Better I Teach Choir
Built by a Practitioner

The Method Comes
From the Rehearsal Room.

The Choralist Method wasn't designed in a vacuum. It was built out of 15 years of standing on a podium, watching real people grow and plateau and sometimes walk away โ€” and asking what a framework would look like if it took all three dimensions of that experience seriously at once.

Beth Philemon holds an MM in Choral Conducting and an MBA from NC State. That pairing is intentional. The Choralist Method is the product of someone who is equally fluent in breath support and business design, equally at home in a score study session and a curriculum meeting. It is rigorous because the work demands rigor. It is warm because the people doing the work deserve warmth.

Choir Baton operates across three properties โ€” Academy, Institute, and Podcast โ€” all grounded in the same framework. The mission is simple and non-negotiable: more people singing. The path there is specific, structured, and genuinely warm.