To Chicago and Beyond

Next week, American Choral Directors will hold our 2011 Biennial National Conference in Chicago. If you are attending, I look forward to seeing you there. If you are not attending, this posting is for you.

First of all, there is still time to plan on attending, but that is not my main point. ACDA Conferences are long events; so attending even one-half of the Conference will be extremely valuable to you. But my primary message here is intended to give a glimpse of not only what will be presented and learned in Chicago next week, but what you can expect to see on the ACDA website in terms of future content as a result of the presentations next week. Many of our ACDA Interest Sessions and Concerts will be video recorded for future postings and viewing on the ACDA members website, and our Choral Music Reading Sessions will all be available online immediately after the Conference.

For all of us involved and interested in technology, the following sessions will push us forward: It's a Good Thing! Embracing Technology in the Choral Classroom (Marie Palmer, presenter); Implementing a SMART Choral Rehearsal: Enhancing Instruction Using SMART Technology (Ryan Fisher, presenter); The ACDA International Archives for Choral Music: A Dynamic Choral Research Resource (Marvin Latimer and Christina Prucha, presenters); and, Hear Ye: Announcing a National Symposium on American Choral Music Washington, D.C., 2012 (John Silantien, presenter).

To help in our classroom and rehearsal room pedagogy, consider these presentations: Jazz Styles and Improvisation for Choirs! (Russell Robinson, presenter); Breaking the Code: Small Ensemble Rehearsal Techniques for Choirs of All Sizes (Simon Carrington, presenter); Transforming Conducting: Conducting for Transformation (Weston Noble and Geoffrey Boers, presenters); Beyond Singing: Blueprint for the Exceptional Choral Program (Stan McGill, presenter); Boys' Changing Voice: Tips and Techniques (Dan Davison, presenter); Teaching Through Repertoire: A Choral Conductor's Guide (Heather J. Buchanan and Matthew W. Mehaffey, presenters); Conducting Technique, Breath and Center as Rehearsal Technique (James Jordan, presenter); Nutrition for the Voice and Soul (Timothy Seelig, presenter); Revitalizing Middle School Choral Programs (Judy Bowers, presenter); Reconsidering Too Old To Sing: Can Singing Skills Be Revived? (Michael Kemp, presenter); Singing with Intention: Bringing Vitality and Beauty to Choral Tone (Sandra Snow, presenter); Comprehensive Choral Musicianship (David Conte, presenter); and from our NATS colleagues, Choral Directors are from Mars and Voice Teachers are from Venus: Sing from the Diaphragm and other Vocal Misstructions (Allen Henderson, Sharon Hansen, Brenda Smith, Donald Simonson, and Scott McCoy, presenters).

And for our ever-expanding understanding of multiple cultures and world choral literature, we will explore the following: Explore the Chinese Cultural Treasures Through Choral Music: Chinese Choral Repertoire and Interpretation (Karl Chang and Jenny Chiang, presenters); Expanding the Repertoire: Uncovering a Neglected American Music Genre Black Composers Writing for Women's Voices (Mary Hopper, presenter); The Interpretation of Latin American Music (Oscar Escalada, presenter); and Resources for Choral Directors at the Center for Black Music Research (Sharon Gratto and Suzanne Flandreau, presenters).

This is only a partial listing, and there is similarly rich content for those interested in research and writing, music in worship, performance practice, and more. I offer this to you not as a frustration if you won't be with us, but rather, as an encouragement to look to the ACDA website in the months following next week's Conference as we create ways to distribute this rich body of information throughout the choral teaching and performance community.