American Choral Directors Association
The mission of ACDA is to inspire excellence and nurture lifelong involvement in choral music for everyone through education, performance, composition and advocacy.
A melody-based curriculum will connect the student’s prior experience with the world of theory, providing a sound beginning for performers, teachers, students, and listeners. The “singing classroom” begins with folk tunes of many kinds, performing them well, and discussing what makes them memorable. Upon progressing to group improvisation and writing, the class learns theoretical practice […]
Salt Lake City UT.The resurgence of a cappella music in today’s society brings us back to the roots of close harmony in the United States. This session will discuss the recreational harmonizing tradition that arose in the nineteenth century, especially as practiced within the African American culture in barbershops, bars, street corners, and other gathering places. These spontaneous […]
Salt Lake City UT.The choral canon offers a seemingly small amount of Renaissance music originally written for women’s voices. However, a surge in musicological research over the last thirty years provides evidence that women in the Renaissance were engaged in active musical expression and reveals a wealth of repertoire that was performed by women’s ensembles in the sixteenth […]
Salt Lake City UT.This session will provide a brief overview/history of the Psalms and their devotional centrality, discuss various methods of singing them, suggest ways the choir can engage a congregation’s intellect and imagination, and propose how a specific worshiping community can develop their own distinct methods of Psalm-singing based on local context. Additionally, participants will discuss the […]
Salt Lake City UT.Using a groundbreaking combination of Laban Movement, Laban Movement Analysis, Harmonic Rhythm, and Body mapping, this session will detail a new pedagogical path for the development of meaningful expressive gesture. Session attendees will gain a working and practical knowledge and application of Laban Movement applied to conducting and revolutionary etudes for the development of conducting […]
Salt Lake City UT.Four experts in choral music pedagogy will lead this session. Each will present views of current issues in choral music education, with emphasis on how collegiate methods courses can be revised to foster the needed changes. Specific recommendations will be offered with regard to methods course curricula, instruction, assessment (edTPA, etc.),and increasingly rigorous requirements for […]
Salt Lake City UT.
