By Karen Bruno What is advocacy? Advocacy is an opportunity to share with other people, many of whom are decisionmakers in some way, why choral music matters—to us, to our singers, and to the world. Advocacy should not be a term that frightens us. It should be a term that inspires us to explain to […]
Silver Linings: Three Snapshots from the Past Year
By Carol Earnhardt Virtual Rehearsals, Concert, and After Party Last August, in 2020, the board members of my community choir, the Heart of Triad Choral Society (Kernersville, North Carolina), looked at me like I was crazy when I told them I wanted to have weekly rehearsals on Zoom and give a live “virtual” concert in […]
Alice Parker’s Keynote Address at the 2021 ACDA National Conference
Transcription of the address presented March 19, 2021 Greetings, dear Friends and Colleagues. It’s a pleasure and an honor for me to be with you today. The only thing I wish is that we could be here together and singing. That would be the best. But since that’s denied us for the moment, let me […]
Silver Linings: Resilience and New Beginnings
By Marc Taylor This past year has been difficult for most everybody in one way or another. For music teachers it has been quite challenging. For families that have lost loved ones it has been devastating. Personally, I haven’t had a desire to dwell on or rehash the negative aspects of this period of time. […]
Dr. Anton Armstrong’s Keynote Address at the 2021 ACDA National Conference
I am truly humbled to offer these thoughts today in the context of our national ACDA conference focused on music and diversity. The name of Helen Kemp is known to many of us who have devoted our lives to nurturing and developing the love of singing in children. Helen Kemp was a highly respected vocal […]
Silver Linings: Commitment and Engagement
By David L. Mennicke At Concordia University, St. Paul, we’ve been fortunate to have been able to meet face-to-face, with distancing, masks, and 30-minute rehearsal times. This has led us to working on less literature and more focus on skill-building. Unable to do live concerts, we’ve engaged in sharing recorded videos of our music. The […]