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.

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Church Choir

K-12 Music in Worship— A New Paradigm

The basics of making a paradigm shift in how we do music in worship are most fascinating. With a philosophical shift in the traditional understanding of working with you that church, in music/arts, one can have a successful music/arts program with as many students as a facility can handle. Recruiting (students and teachers), budget preparation, […]

Kansas City MO.



Worshipful Singing: The Role of Choral Music in Worship

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his little book Life Together (1939) wrote, “It is the voice of the church that is heard in singing together.” Bonhoeffer cited a number of passages from both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures to support his view that the song of a faith community is an indispensable expression of the community’s essence. […]

Chattanooga TN.
Andy Roby



Fifteen+ Pieces for Small Church Choirs

Do you conduct a church choir of less than fifteen people? Do they struggle with basic rhythms, divisi among the vocal parts, and unaccompanied singing? This session will introduce you to over fifteen church anthems that are simple but effective. These pieces will employ quality composition but remain simple enough for small church choirs to […]

Chattanooga TN.
John Martin Petzet



Connections: Ideas for Effective Worship Planning

Those of us leading music in congregations often have the additional responsibility of putting together the flow of the order of worship. This session presents some practical ideas to add some variety to our services and explores ways to tie the service together.

Chattanooga TN.
Eric Nelson



When 12 or 15 Are Gathered Together: Practical Repertoire for the Smaller Church Choir

This session provides repertoire and survival techniques for directors of church choirs with twenty or fewer members. Your two tenors have gone south for the winter? No basses at all? Even when you have all four parts “on the books,” directors of smaller choirs have to be prepared for last-minute changes in repertoire due to […]

Seattle WA.
Vicky Thomas



Creating Singers Who Are Musicians

Choral directors can achieve results in two ways: We can rehearse until we get it “right” and hope that in performance the singers will remember what was rehearsed, or a longer process is to teach core values of musical accuracy and performance practice and then in rehearsal, raise the bar and expect the singer to […]

Sioux Falls SD.
Jerry Rubino