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.
Men’s and women’s choirs are often considered beginner ensembles in major choral programs across the country. As a result, singers placed in these groups may view themselves as inferior. Such a perception can be detrimental to the success of these ensembles and should be avoided from the very beginning. This session will explore different approaches […]
Kansas City MO.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.With the increased popularity from movies like Pitch Perfect, ensembles such as Pentatonix, and TV’s The Sing-Off; the contemporary unaccompanied ensemble has an opportunity to augment participation, patronage, and education in vocal/choral music. This session will present many of the major factors of establishing or maintaining these ensembles. Topics will include: repertoire, voicing, vocal percussion, […]
Kansas City MO.This session will explore the factors that impact balance and blend and illustrate principles to improve these aspects of choral performances. Topics to be discussed include standing formations, voicing the choir, stylistic issues, registers and balance, vowel modification, intonation and unity, vibrato, and repertoire choices. Session participants will be led through many rehearsal tools and […]
Kansas City MO.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.Kevin Fenton will describe an approach to the rehearsal process that emphasizes the creation of a collective story that is related to music being prepared specifically and related to the identity of the group generally. Those in attendance will work as members of the choir to develop behaviors of a storyteller and a sense of […]
Chattanooga TN.
