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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Dynamic Score Study: A Model for Teaching and Learning from the Art Museum

Score study can seem a daunting or tedious subject to beginning conductors and overly formulaic to those with experience. This session suggests a lively approach from the world of the visual arts that keeps the process intriguing and provides a clear step-by-step method that leads the conductor quickly beyond the skills of merely navigating the […]

CSI: CHORAL Looking for the Musical Clues to Inspire Efficiency in Rehearsal, and Beauty in Performance

This session proposes to offer some creative rehearsal strategies based upon the concept that composers often leave “musical clues” in their scores for us to discover and help bring the music to life. These clues—found in text-settings, melodic shapes, harmonies, rhythms, and even the printed expressive markings (dynamics, articulations etc.)—can be the sources that inform […]

Crossing the Bridge: Female Conductors of Male Choirs

This panel session will explore many aspects of the art of female leadership of an all-male ensemble. Noted and established choral professionals will share experiences and ideas from the female perspective about rehearsal technique, the male psyche, successful repertoire, concert programming, uniforms, recruiting, retention, vocal technique, professionalism, auditions, and student leadership duties and structures. The […]

Critical Thinking in the Choral Rehearsal

This session will explore methods for incorporating critical thinking skills into the choral rehearsal. Many choral directors feel intense performance pressures and assessing students in a meaningful way is not often a priority. Often, choral directors simply do not have sufficient strategies for how to make critical thinking a seamless integration into their instruction. In […]

Conducting Women’s Choirs: Strategies for Success

This session will be of interest to conductors of high school, collegiate, and adult women’s choirs and fits the themes of Advocate and Teach. The session will feature a panel of conductor/authors who have contributed chapters to a newly published book: Conducting Women’s Choirs: Strategies for Success, Debra Spurgeon, editor, GIA Publications. Each author will […]