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Interest Sessions

2009 ACDA National Conference - March 4-7, 2009 - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Current members of ACDA may view handouts and video podcasts from selected sessions by clicking here.  

Interest Session One

  • Singing with Your Very Young Choir presented by Grace Schwanda - Explore the young child’s voice (kindergarten - second grade) and how to make beautiful sound with our youngest choir members.
  • Think Growth: Practical Strategies for Developing Your Community Chorus on a Budget  presented by Sam P.  Vladovich - Learn effective techniques to start and build a volunteer community choir within the framework of a budget.
  • The Relationship Between Composer, Poet, and Painter in Brahms’s Nanie, op. 82 presented by James A. John - This session is intended for conductors of college and university choirs, community choruses, oratorio societies and those who wish to broaden their understanding of Brahms’ choral music.
  • Let Freedom Ring - Songs of Civil Rights presented by Joseph Nadeau with the Heartland Men’s Chorus - This session explores the rich diversity of songs connected to the quest for civil rights in America for over a century.  Join us as we look at some of the people, places, and events that shaped our American social and political landscape through a musical perspective.
  • Male Choir Directors: Working with and Relating to Beginning Women’s Choirs presented by Ryan W. Holder with Edmond Memorial High School Advanced Women’s Chorus - Together we will address the special challenges faced by male choir directors when working with a women’s choir.
  • Vela Vela: Authentic Performance of Black South African Choral Music presented by Mollie Stone - This session teaches black South African choral music in the oral tradition, using recorded media to show movements, vocal tone, and pronunciation from native speakers to create more authentic performances.

Interest Session Two

  • Horace, Morris, Dolores, and Chorus: Implementing Group Audition Procedures presented by James F. Daugherty - Recent research suggest that data obtained from exclusively solo choir auditions may be neither valid nor reliable for making decisions about choral singing ability.  In this hands-on session, attendees become choir aspirants.  Participants learn how to do choir auditions in a group setting that may take less time and yield more reliable data.
  • Benefits of Barbershop in the Choral Classroom presented by Rick Spencer - The characteristics of barbershop harmony will be defined and demonstrated in this session. It will focus significantly on the many benefits of including barbershop music in the classroom as well as techniques to do so.
  • From Zero to Sixty: Recruiting and Revitalizing in the Two-Year College presented by Jeffrey Kitson - This presentation will focus on the building of a two-year college choral program that started with 16 students and ended up with 50 students just one year later.   Applicable to schools and community groups across the choral spectrum, the session will include strategies for recruiting and building a choral program under sometimes less than ideal circumstances.
  • Tension in the Balance and Common Voice Science Issues for the Choral Conductor presented by Duane Cottrell and Brian Galante - This session will summarize and highlight recent scientific research findings in the area of voice science and pedagogy as they apply to choral conductors.  The topics include such areas as nasal/mask resonance, vibrato and singer health, choral acoustics, onset techniques, and choral breathing.  The session will be both practical and applicable as all research findings will be applied to real-life choral rehearsal situations and best practices will be suggested.
  • Syzygy: How to Turn the World Around at the Middle Level presented by Sandra Brown Williams - There is a decisive moment, a crucial time in which a young person decides whether or not to be a singer.  This decisive moment is the crisis, produced by a conjunction of dramatic events.  The point of this conjunction is Syzygy.  This session will present specific ideas in how the teacher can ensure that students make this decision to sing a reality.
  • Choral Music of Venezuela and South America presented by Maria Guinand - Explore the rich history and beautiful choral traditions of Venezuela and South America with Maria Guinand and the Cantoria Alberto Grau.
  • Cenotaph - The Development of the 2009 ACDA Brock Memorial Commission presented by Dominick Argento - Composer Dominick Argento discusses the process of creating a new choral works from the inception, through development, revision and the first performance.  Learn how to best work with a composer to commission a work for your own ensemble.

Interest Session Three

  • Introduction to Korean Choral Music - Conductor Hak Won Yoon will introduce you to important Korean choral composers and the Incheon City Chorale will demonstrate examples of their work.
  • Sight Reading and Ear Training in the Choral Rehearsal presented by Will Breytspraak - Learn a broad gamut of engaging techniques for teaching sight-reading in the choral rehearsal that work in tandem with the methods or melodic material you already use.  Attend this session to experience games such as Backward Reading of Melodies, Staccato Pulse Singing, The Singing Snake, Name the Tune and more.
  • Music and the Reformation: Origins of the English Choral Tradition presented by David Skinner with Alamire - This interactive interest session examines early English church music and performance practice with demonstrations by Alamire and practical examples for conductors and choirs.
  • Technology for the 21st Century Choir presented by Philip Copeland and the ACDA Technology Committee - Bring your laptop to this session and learn how to use the Internet, blogs, podcasts and today’s technology with your choir.  Join the Technology Committee in the exhibit hall Internet Cafe following the session for personal training and guidance.
  • Rachmaninoff’s All Night Vigil presented by Dennis Schrock - A discussion of Rachmaninoff’s masterpiece, with a focus on historical factors of composition, liturgical associations, musical style, and other relevant facts. Included in the presentation will be primary source references, descriptions of salient musical characteristics, and examples of iconography.  Conspirare will perform the All Night Vigil during the conference.
  • Taking Joy in the Imperfect Rehearsal presented by Timothy Seelig - Does a “perfect” rehearsal even exist? The exciting tips Seelig will share with you will move you closer to that elusive perfect rehearsal with organizational skills and fresh inspiration.  Attendees will leave this session with new knowledge about ways to maximize rehearsal time to the fullest that lead to more efficient, effective, productive rehearsals... and to a better choir.  Seelig will take you on an entertaining journey through the ins and outs of rehearsing your chorus after which you will never look at rehearsals the same way again.
  • Writing in the Choral Journal presented by Carroll Gonzo and the Editorial Board - Participants are invited to bring an article idea, thesis statement, or work-in-progress and work directly with members of the Editorial Board toward advancing promising ideas into articles for possible publication.

Interest Session Four

  • Real Men Sing presented by Mark Lucas - More than 700 young men and their teachers have attended the University of Oklahoma’s Young Men’s Vocal Workshop.  This event provides young men the opportunity to experience singing at a high level with other young men.  This session will illustrate how the Young Men’s Vocal Workshop is organized and will explore reasons why some adolescent males participate in choir and others do not.  A portion of the session will outline strategies for promoting a higher level of participation in vocal music by these very talented and often misunderstood young men.
  • Bach’s Cantatas in Context presented by Melvin Unger and Mary Greer - Drawing on their own performance experience, Unger and Greer will demonstrate ways in which Bach’s sacred cantatas can be presented in context - ranging from recreation of a Leipzig liturgy to concert featuring cantatas written for the same liturgical occasion and therefore linked by theme.  Their suggestions and resource materials for recreating aspects of these works’ original religious, literary, and dramatic context should prove stimulating to conductors who want to bring these works alive for the modern listener.
  • Choral Music Advocacy: Strategies for Action at the Local and State Level - Americans for the Arts will provide practical and effective strategies that everyone can employ at home to significantly impact and improve choral music including ways to increase awareness, resources, standard letters and action items.
  • From the True North, Strong and Free: Canadian Choral Music presented by Diane Loomer with Chor Leoni - Join Diane Loomer and her power-point, Chor Leoni, as they explore traditions, sounds, music-makers and story tellers of the rich treasury of the folk songs of Canada.
  • Just a Click Away: Public Domain Choral Music at the Library of Congress presented by William Belan and John Silantien (Research & Publications Committee) - Explore an exciting new web site hosted by the Library of Congress in collaboration with ACDA featuring public domain choral works by American composers active between 1870 and 1923.  These include spirituals, humorous works for children, simple church anthems, and works by the leading composers of the day, including several by women.  Web site users can download and print choral octavos and historical information about the composers and pieces.  The interest session will show participants how to navigate the site, give an overview of the content, and provide a live performance of works selected from the site.

Interest Session Five

  • Stating the Case: Mission Statements for Choir and Choral Programs presented by Jeffrey R. Carter - In a world where every entity seems to be led by a mission statement, choirs and choral programs will be able to state their case more clearly with a concise mission statement.  This session examines elements of an effective arts-related mission statement, and then engages participants in exercises that will provide appropriate guidance in stating their own case through a mission statement.  The end result is stronger advocacy, more effective cooperation with administrators and boards, and empowerment for the members of the ensemble.
  • Making Waves presented by Bob Chilcott - Bob Chilcott will present his Upper Voice music and discuss the motivation and creative processes behind his compositions.  Chilcott will workshop some of his own repertoire and explore how best to bring his music to life.
  • French Connections: An Examination of Six Motets by Duruflé, Messiaen, Poulenc, and Villette presented by Sean Burton - This session synthesizes settings of three familiar texts by celebrated composers.  The six works chosen are eminently practical for conductors working with professional, educational, church, and community choirs in a variety of circumstances.
  • Strategies for Tone Building in the Vocal Jazz Ensemble presented by Leila Heil - What is proper vocal jazz tone?  This session offers strategies for teaching healthy vocal production in both jazz and concert choir settings, including warm-up and developmental exercises that focus specifically on jazz singing techniques.  Similarities and differences in vocal jazz tone and choral tone will be demonstrated.
  • The Fully Expressive Choir: A State of the Art Approach presented by Tom Carter and the University of Nebraska Lincoln Varsity Men's Chorus, Peter Eklund - Through a series of exercises, we explore the interrelationships between singers’ thoughts and their facial expressions, their whole body involvements, their choral sound, and their impact on the audience.  Participants then learn specific mental and physical techniques that empower singers to connect passionately to the music.
  • Warm Ups with Style presented by Jason Paulk with the Eastern New Mexico University Chamber Singers - This workshop will focus on at least one musical example from each historical era, involving specific discussion about ideals of vocal production as enumerated in primary sources, as well as in-depth discussion for how to create warm-ups to achieve these vocal ideals.

Additional Sessions

  • Multicultural Resource Room presented by Sharon Gratto - The Multicultural Resource Room will feature information about human, print, media and Internet resources for many languages of the world.
  • Research Poster Session presented by the Research and Publications Committee - Choral conductors share their research interests through posters displaying information about their topics and spoken presentations.  Attendees will be able to interact with the presenters individually and to obtain abstracts of their work.  A wide range of topics and research methods is anticipated.  The Research and Publications Committee present this session.  Oral presentations will be held on Wednesday only