This session is an open panel discussion relating to issues and challenges that elementary, high school, and college-level directors face while teaching in urban settings. This session will include a short presentation from the “Join Voices, Chicago! 2016-2017” festival, which developed out of a similar panel discussion at the 2016 Central Region Conference. Topics include […]
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Phoning it In: Using Technology for Effective Assessment
In order to allow our choristers to progress musically, we need to have a clear understanding of what they know and what they can do. This session will offer practical, technology-based solutions for individual and group assessment of sight-singing, repertoire, and music theory knowledge that can be used by any choir director during or following […]
Making Musical Theater Musical
There are many instances where the choral director also serves as the music director for musicals in their school of any size and grade level. A how-to for uniting styles, this session will discuss how to use classical vocal training as a basis for teaching healthy vocal techniques required for musical theater, Disney, and other […]
Knowing the Score: Where Pedagogy Becomes Classroom Management
Knowing the choral score creates understanding of the needed vocal pedagogy, a student-focus on the music, and a teacher-focus on choral pedagogy instead of classroom management. An approach to score study, vocal and choral pedagogy for adolescents, and how this focus can guide planning, teaching,and performance will be discussed in this session. Rehearsal strategies and […]
Gospel Music and the Concert Stage: Understanding Style and Stage Presence When Performing Gospel Music
This session will delve into the practical approach of teaching and understanding Gospel Music and its unique styles and characteristics of diction/dialect, timbre, tempo,form, phrasing, instrumentation,and overall stage presence. This session is geared toward conductors and educators who seek to perform gospel music with authenticity. Attendees will be presented with a range of gospel choral […]
Good News from Haiti: The Choral Music of Emile Desamours and Sydney Guillaume
One of the keys to survival in Haiti is developing the ability to assimilate all kinds of seemingly contradictory influences. Haitian music is a prime example of this assimilation, existing in a variety of modes and reflecting a vast array of ancestors but still possessing a distinctive character. The music of Emile Desamours and Sydney […]
