ACDA

Silver Linings: Cross-Country Collaborative Choral Initiatives

March 23, 2021 by ACDA Leave a Comment

By Tracy Wong

“Shared joy is a double joy. Shared sorrow is half a sorrow.” This Swedish proverb rings true as we reach the one-year mark of this pandemic and reflect on how COVID-19 continues to impact the global choral community. In Canada, the changing restrictions for this evolving pandemic have prompted choral leaders to be more creative, flexible, and resourceful when it comes to keeping the choral community active while adhering to health and safety guidelines. Creative collaborations that were launched since the start of the pandemic continue to help organizations to share resources, while contributing towards continued creation of new music and learning experiences. As a choral conductor and composer, I am fortunate to be a part of the creation of Canada’s cross-country collaborative choral initiatives such as the Bridge Choral Collective and Sonic Timelapse Project.

The Bridge Choral Collective (BCC) was co-founded in Summer 2020 by Allison Girvan, Scott Leithead, Katy Luyk, Geung Kroeker-Lee, Matthew Otto, Carrie Tennant, and Tracy Wong. “BCC represents a bold cross-Canada initiative to generate thrilling new music, rooted in justice, in a time of global contemplation. It cements the bonds among some of Canada’s most innovative youth and young adult choirs, and brings them together to explore and create in partnership with guest artists from around the world.” BCC co-founders bring together their respective choirs, also known as Partner Choirs, in shared online workshops with guest artists. These partner choirs are Corazón Vocal Ensemble (Nelson, BC), Grand Philharmonic Youth Choir (Kitchener, ON), Kokopelli Choirs (Edmonton, AB), Prairie Voices (Winnipeg, MB), Toronto Youth Choir (Toronto, ON), and Vancouver Youth Choir (Vancouver, BC).

The global line-up of guest artists that partner choirs have been fortunate to learn from are University of Pretoria Youth Choir, Moira Smiley, Sherryl Sewepagaham, Rajaton, Elise Bradley, Michael McGlynn & Anúna, Jason Max Ferdinand & The Aeolians, Jacob Collier, FreePlay Duo, and Annika McGivern. Upcoming guests are Elise Bradley & Choirs Aotearoa, Mark Anthony Carpio & The Philippine Madrigal Singers, Rajaton, and Lone Larsen & VONO.

BCC also offers the Building Bridges program, providing opportunities for participation for young singers at the high school and post-secondary level as well as professional development workshops for music educators and conductors, all of whom have the opportunity to learn from some of the above guest artists. Patron choirs and donors have been integral in supporting the continued efforts in quality content.

Sonic Timelapse Project (STP) is “a collaborative choral art commissioning project created as a response to the global COVID-19 pandemic with the goal of gathering content from the emotional landscape of choral communities in Canada and beyond. Using an innovative crowdfunding model, this project brings together shared creativity and financial resources in a time of need to fund the creation of 10 new works as well as support online programming for participating choirs. The project was founded by Katerina Gimon, Laura Hawley, and Geung Kroeker-Lee with the support of Prairie Voices Inc.”

The Canadian Partner Composers involved in the creation of new music are Deanna Edwards, Jeff Enns, Katerina Gimon, Laura Hawley, Shane Raman, Marie-Claire Saindon, Ben Sellick, and Tracy Wong. These composers create new choral works inspired by the thoughts and responses of choral conductors, composers, and choristers about the pandemic. Choirs and choral conductors participate in various crowdfunding tiers to co-fund the commission of new pieces that are flexible for online/distanced rehearsals, may be in multiple voicing arrangements, and be featured on a future choral concert program. Participating choirs have access to learning tracks and supporting resources created by each composer. Perusal sheet music and program notes for all new pieces are available on the website.

STP also features a Creative Workshop series where founders lead choristers and classroom students through the creative reflection and composition process as well as provide supplementary resources (recorded videos, lesson plans, Google slides) to continue supporting choral educators and conductors with quality educational content.

At this point of writing, there are a number of events / workshops by BCC and STP that are still available for those who are interested. Bridge Choral Collective’s Building Bridges program is still accepting registrations for upcoming workshops for youth/young adult choirs and music educators featuring Sir Mark Carpio (of The Philippine Madrigal Singers) and Lone Larsen & VONO (Sweden). Sonic Timelapse Project continues to welcome participating choirs and conductors to their crowdfunding community – participants in Tiers 2 and up will have exclusive access to purchase and perform (digitally/live) a number of the new commissions (based on their Tier) during the Exclusivity Period (up until June 1, 2021). Their educational workshops are ongoing. For more information, kindly visit: https://bridgechoralcollective.ca/ and https://www.sonictimelapse.com/

In essence, collaborative creative initiatives like Bridge Choral Collective and Sonic Timelapse Project are one of the many silver linings for the Canadian choral community during this pandemic. As a choral conductor, music educator, and composer, I am in awe of, and inspired by, the vast creation of new initiatives by my resilient colleagues and am constantly energized witnessing the flexibility and positive response of choral singers and choral supporters. To quote Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt, ACDA Interim Executive Director: “Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be bent out of shape.”

Tracy Wong is the Assistant Professor and Choral Director of McMaster University’s School of the Arts, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and conductor of the Grand Philharmonic Youth Choir, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.

A few months ago ACDA began soliciting and sharing “silver lining” reflections from our members. We have enjoyed them so much, we decided to share them in a wider way on ChoralNet. Have you experienced a silver lining during the course of this challenging year? Please email a draft to for consideration in this series.

Silver Linings: Connections in Choir During Hybrid Learning

March 10, 2021 by ACDA Leave a Comment

By Edward Norris

Teaching choral music in a hybrid model: How do I do that? How do I make this work? How will I feel? How will the kids feel? Will we be productive? These are some of the questions that made our hearts race in September when this journey began.

For all of us, the 2020-21 school year will certainly be one to remember. It has been a year filled with struggle, loss, civil and political unrest, depression, anxiety, and uncertainty. Our students’ minds are saturated with images of negativity each and every day due to the current world that we live in. When I stepped back into the choral room at Glen Cove High School in September, I vowed to have our program be a beacon of light in their lives; a place where they could forget what is going on in the world, even if it were only for 45 minutes a day. I let go of a lot that I had focused on in the past musically, and decided that the theme of this year would be connection.

I know that sounds pretty silly since on most days, I have anywhere from two to ten kids in front of me and everyone else on Google Meet, but that was my thought nonetheless. I decided to focus on what we have, as opposed to what we have lost. Yes, we have lost things like in-person rehearsals, lessons, concerts and trips, but we still have the ability to connect through music and make a difference in each other’s lives.

For much of my career, my students have talked about how our choir family has made a difference in their lives. I would beam with pride knowing that our group gave them a safe space to be who they are while appreciating some of the world’s finest choral music. I’ve always known how much I adore my students, but it wasn’t until March of 2020 that I truly learned what the choir meant to both myself and to them! During quarantine I realized that this upcoming year would be about fostering and maintaining the connections we have to one another within our choir family.

This year I have talked to my students about “stopping to smell the musical roses.” Yes, we still rehearse choral music, we still sight-read, we still learn good choral and vocal technique, but without the pressure of preparing for performances. I am able to dive very deep into things that I normally wouldn’t have as much time to do. For example, we have been talking a lot about music theory in choir. I often talk about theory during my rehearsals but this year I am really able to go into great depth about the chord structure of a piece or phrase or, perhaps, how the alto II’s have the 9th of the chord, which has to be treated differently. This has given the singers a greater understanding of the music that we sing. Another thing that I have been able to do is work quite a bit on text analysis whether it be poetry or the text to a piece of music. We have taken text and really gotten into the meaning of each section and, once again, it has given the singers great comprehension of how to interpret . . . we have to tell the story! Spending the extra time with this aspect of music making will surely pay dividends for years to come.

I know what you are thinking. Where is the “connection” piece you were talking about? All of the “stopping to smell the musical roses” is great, but how do we connect over Google Meet? How do we connect the kids who are in person to the kids who are at home? For me, the answer has been simple; just talk to them, have a conversation. Take the time to find out how they are, how they are handling all of this, and let them know that you will be there for them every step of the way. Early on in the school year I showed my choirs a video of my dear friend Dr. Jason Max Ferdinand and the Aeolians of Oakwood University doing a virtual performance of Robert T. Gibson’s “We Shall Overcome.” The in-person students cried, the virtual students cried, I cried. It was a moment. We were connected! We were apart, but we were doing the same thing and feeling the same feelings at the same time.

My colleague at Glen Cove and I work very closely with one another and a mission that we take on each and every day is to connect to every single student, be it in-person or online and we have noticed that it makes a difference. Maybe it’s a little story, a comment on their dog that’s on their lap, a comment about their LED lights on their ceiling (boy am I tired of seeing LED lights), a comment about their favorite sports team, a comment about how great that student did in their virtual lesson. With each comment comes a smile or a wave from them. So many of them tell us that it makes a difference to them, and equally as important; it makes a difference to us! It makes us feel closer to them!

A few weeks ago, I was taking virtual attendance and said “Hey Kevin, it is so great to see you with us today!” He unmuted and responded “Hey Mr. Norris, thank you for being so cheery today. I need it because I am having a really tough time mentally and emotionally.” I couldn’t let that comment go. I had to talk to him, but I couldn’t pull him into the hallway, as he was a virtual student. So, I talked to Kevin and the entire class about how it’s okay to feel these feelings and the best thing that you can do is talk about it. We talked about how the choir is a safe space and that’s why Kevin chose to say what he said. With Kevin and the group, I shared some of my personal struggles since the pandemic started, as well as with the civil unrest that has been happening. The chat was filled with comments to pick Kevin up, as well as students saying how grateful they were to be in class that day to hear what they heard. I received several emails from students (and their parents) about how that particular session struck a chord and made a difference with themselves or with their child.

This year, it’s not about perfect intonation and phrasing. It is not about having a fantastic concert. For me and for my students it is about connecting with one another and doing our very best to impact each other’s lives. It is about continuing to learn great choral music, but taking time to smile and laugh each day. I would like to leave you with this video: it is the BYU singers directed by Andrew Crane performing Elaine Hagenberg’s “Alleluia.” Together with our students, we can stay connected and make music in the midst of all of this.

Stay safe my friends.

Edward Norris is the director of choral music at Glen Cove High School (Glen Cove, New York) where he conducts the 75-voice mixed chorus and the 40-voice Select Chorale. He also teaches music theory and AP music theory. Outside of Glen Cove, he is an adjunct professor at Long Island University Post Campus and at the Aaron Copland School of Music (Queens College). Ed serves as the Division V Choral Vice President for the Nassau Music Educators Association and is a proud member of the New York State School Music Association and the American Choral Directors Association. Lastly, Ed was a contributing author of Dr. Jason Max Ferdinand’s book Teaching with Heart.

Silver Linings: Purpose and Service

March 9, 2021 by ACDA 1 Comment

By Lulu Mwangi Mupfumbu

2020 was destined to be one of the best years for our music department yet. We busied ourselves with preparations for performances at the ACDA Eastern Region Conference, Carnegie Hall, and a summer tour to France/Belgium for the World Choir Games! However, COVID-19 happened and we went into a lockdown. Our spirits were crushed . . . and we were suddenly thrown into a world of virtual learning. How could there possibly be a silver lining in this?

In search of meaning and coping mechanisms for the sudden loss that came with our new reality, the students turned to what they know and do often. Service. The music department accepted the call to start a campaign to raise funds for an impoverished community in Diepsloot, South Africa, that we had formed bonds with when we visited in 2018. The funds raised enabled several individuals to receive a month’s worth of groceries at a time when their community was a COVID hotspot.

Another service opportunity came in the fall when we were able to participate in a virtual choir collaboration with bass-baritone Wintley Phipps and his foundation, the U.S. Dream Academy, an entity that provides enrichment programs for at risk youth. For the last five years we have held a music mentorship program at Takoma Academy for the Dream Academy students, in which our students have served as music mentors to the Dream Academy students and ultimately perform side by side at their annual gala. The students of both institutions were pleased to be able to collaborate even in a virtual space. These activities gave our music students a sense of purpose and relevance in the absence of live experiences.

Despite being fully virtual, we have 63 of our 200 students enrolled in choir. This is significant win because initially there was a very real fear of students not enrolling in virtual music classes. With the pressure of preparing two to three performances a month off the table this year, we have taken time to dig deeper into aspects like sight reading, proper singing/playing technique, and collaborations with other institutions. Virtual performance has provided an opportunity for students to be able to better self-assess, work for individual mastery of technique and repertoire, and build confidence. The students have taken a more intentional approach to practicing and learning music. This has been true of both new and experienced singers alike and will certainly be a benefit to hang on to when we are able to perform together again.

The strength, resilience, and adaptability of the human spirit is evident in how our students have taken on this new normal. Not every day is perfect, but we press on, one day at a time. We are choosing progress over perfection, process over product. We are focused on grace, kindness, and the other virtues that will help to preserve a genuine love for music and hope for a better tomorrow.

Lulu Mwangi Mupfumbu is a Maryland ACDA member and serves as Fine Arts Department Chair & Director of Choirs and Orchestra at the Takoma Academy (Takoma Park, Maryland).

The Impact of ACDA’s Genesis Prize Continues

February 9, 2021 by ACDA Leave a Comment

By Dan Forrest

The COVID pandemic has deeply affected composers of choral music. Our normal revenue streams have diminished or dried up, and the collaborative opportunities that normally provide encouragement, affirmation, and inspiration have been put on hold. Our national ACDA Composition Initiatives Committee met in mid-2020 to discuss ways to support choral composers through this time, and one of the initiatives that emerged from this meeting was the Genesis Prize: commissions for two composer-poet pairs to create new music that responds to times of crisis and suffering, and to fill some of the void left by the pause in our choral singing.

By the time the entry deadline arrived a couple months later, we were thrilled to have received 65 applications of astounding breadth and depth, along with many notes of gratitude from the choral community for our efforts to keep new music alive and visible. The judging was extremely difficult, and our judges eventually chose not only two winners, but also four ranked runners-up and seven other finalists. We then listed all of these names and proposed works in our press release and on the ACDA website to encourage choirs, conductors, and patrons to consider sponsoring them, thereby broadening the scope and impact of our mission.

To date, at least two of the runners-up and finalists have received funding for their projects, and we look forward to seeing many more of the finalists and runners-up receive funding so their pieces can come to life. The full list of composers, poets, and proposed works is posted at https://acda.org/about-us/awards-competitions/acda-genesis-prize/; if you would be interested in sponsoring or co-sponsoring one of these works, please contact the composers at the links provided there.

Meanwhile, the two winning composers and lyricists have completed their proposed works. Carlos Cordero and Julie Flanders collaborated to create Holding Our Breath, a vivid and dramatic response to the threats posed to our breath, our music, and our lives, both by the COVID pandemic as well as racial injustice. Kyle Pederson and Brian Newhouse collaborated to create Call Across, for SATB choir with piano, djembe, and optional handpan, presenting three voices from around the world, each seeking to break out of isolation by calling out, “what beauty might we make if our voices join?”

These works were completed in mid-January, which left us wrestling with how we might premiere these pieces to the choral community for our national conference. We wanted to share premiere performances, not just scores, but participating choirs already had settled their programming, and delaying premieres until regional conferences in 2022 would lose urgency and impact. However, in a testament to the relationships that sustain and inspire our choral community, poet Julie Flanders reached out to Craig Hella Johnson and Conspirare with October Project producer Marina Belica. The conversation soon blossomed into a collaboration among ACDA, Conspirare, and the October Project to bring these works to life as virtual choir videos in conjunction with our ACDA national conference. Needless to say, the Genesis Prize-winning composers and poets (as well as our entire committee and ACDA leadership) are thrilled and deeply grateful for this gesture, and we look forward to sharing their performances of their new music in mid-March! Look for more press from ACDA and from Conspirare in the weeks to come, and look for the two performance videos, which will be posted at the top of the Composers Virtual Exhibition Hall throughout the entire national conference.

Our entire committee, including Susan LaBarr, Nancy Menk, Brandon Boyd, Andrew Crane, and Dominick DiOrio (past chair) hopes that this prize, and the wonderful music-making resulting from it, will shine as an example and a light of hope – that new music is alive and well, and that the choral community supports the choral composers and poets who continue to create it!

Dr. Dan Forrest serves as chair of the ACDA Composition Initiatives Committee. A composer, collaborative pianist, and educator, he publishes his concert music with The Music of Dan Forrest, and his church anthems with Beckenhorst Press (where he also serves as co-editor). Contact Dan at or www.danforrest.com.

Decision Time

January 27, 2021 by ACDA Leave a Comment

By Hilary Apfelstadt, ACDA Interim Executive Director

More Zooming? Do I really want to go to a virtual conference? Should I go to a virtual conference? Those two questions might have different answers: perhaps you think you cannot stand another virtual event of any kind, but should you? That is another matter.

ACDA’s live conferences are events that literally change people’s lives; members go to one and never miss another. Part of the reason for that is that we share time and space with hundreds of colleagues and the excitement generated by that opportunity is priceless. We cannot meet in person this time, but the quality of the offerings will still be first-rate: excellent performances, informative interest sessions, helpful roundtable forums and useful reading sessions; exhibits open throughout the entire conference; inspiring headliners; a unique leadership element for high school students … the list goes on. In addition, you have the luxury of spreading out your Zoom experiences as the conference is available online through December 2021. You will have materials to use in your teaching; you will find inspiring reference materials to revisit in the future.

The financial benefit is huge: no travel costs, no hotel to pay for, no meals to buy. Registration costs alone are considerably lower this year than usual. Even if you miss the pre-registration deadline January 27 at midnight CST), Active members will pay only $40 more to sign up ($219 instead of $179) and Students and Retired members will pay only $20 more. Just for reference, the pre-registration cost for the last national conference was $334. You can register now online at www.acda.org and if you run into trouble, contact our staff and they will help you with the process.

Your colleagues have worked through multiple challenges to prepare conference elements – performances, presentations, and reading sessions, among others. The national office staff and the conference steering committee (the latter who volunteer their time) have invested themselves fully in producing this event. To support them, in addition to all the participants, please join us at the ACDA national conference. If you haven’t yet registered, you may do that until midnight CST tonight and take advantage of the best prices. “See” you at conference!

Beginning the 26th Year: It’s All in the Words

September 11, 2019 by ACDA Leave a Comment

This week on GBW and ACDA Radio/ChoralNet host Stan Schmidt takes a moment to tell you how Going Beyond Words got started and how he goes about putting each show together. He then gives you an opportunity to listen to “A Song of Praise” by Beethoven conducted by Robert Shaw; “A Prayer by Padre Pio” sung by The Sixteen with Harry Christophers; “A Song of Praise for Female Voices and Bells” by Samuel Adler; then the “Magnificat in D Major” by Johann Sebastian Bach; concluding with the Gloria Patri from “Dixit Dominus” by Georg Friedrich Händel with the Chor des Bayerischen and Concerto Köln.

First of all I appreciate all of you that take the time to listen. When I first began Going Beyond Words in 1993 it was because of a call from the program director from KVNO FM, a 24 hour classical station in Omaha. He noted that the city had nine choirs but that fact was unexpressed on local radio and asked if I would develop a show.

Well, I did and over the past 25 years have gathered tremendous knowledge in programming by watching out for key duplication, speed, voicing, and language, with various composers from different countries and style. I was directing a chamber choir in Omaha and had shared with my singers our theme for the year, which was Going Beyond Words. Ten years earlier my wife and I began sharing our time with Collegium U.S.A. and John Rutter. We went to all of the national and some regional ACDA conferences. It was a time of developing a network of friends who sent recordings to our home and today there is a collection of some 500 LPs and 18,000 CDs from which to choose for each show. If you examine the programs you will find that by reading the titles as a list, they usually tell a story. So for this program it is all about feeling being thankful for how this life as a choral director developed. Hope you enjoy this one.

For a look at the CDs used and a complete list of the music heard, go to the blog of WWW.GOINGBEYONDWORDS.COM website and click on show 2501.