Latest Blog Posts

When our students hear the words MUSIC APPRECIATION they most likely think “what a snore”. They most often will think this means listening to a lot of lectures and a lot of music they have never heard or will hear again. After all, who wants to sit and listen to someone talk about music of dead composers? Of course, as teachers we believe that just as current events are relevant to us so is the past as it has been part of the evolution that has made us who we are.

This blog post was contributed by the staff at Edco, one of ACDA’s partners in online fundraising. In it they share information about their product. Profile of a choir director: This year I need to scrape together over $20,000 for travel expenses, new music, and uniforms/risers/music folders and I know about half of that is […]

Your weakest sight-singers may be keeping a “secret” from you. Once we become detectives and uncover their “secret”, they will have the ability to become great sight-singers. Find out: The “Secret” Your Weakest Sight-Singers May Be Hiding

Week 29: Friday, October 5, 2018
“The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by Eleanor Daley
Text by W. B. Yeats
SSA, piano

“Tough times don’t last, tough people do, remember?” Gregory Peck This week we begin a series for the month of October called “When Times are Tough.” I like doing series because I am able to expand on our theme and need not get everything I think is important together in one post. As always, I […]

This week Going Beyond Words and ACDA Radio/ChoralNet host Stan Schmidt encourages you to visit the music of Antonin Dvořák, György Legiti, Owain Park, and three folk songs, one each from Bulgaria, Ukraine, and America.  You will recall Legiti’s “Morning” with the vocal cries of the rooster and turn right around with the beautiful American […]

by Developing Voices contributing author Jennifer Berroth ~ You’re a month into teaching your choir students.  You have established your classroom routine and are in the thick of learning concert music.  You are encouraged by their progress, but you sense that your students are about to hit a late-September wall.  So how do you keep […]

The latest issue of Choral Journal is a Focus on Composition Today, guest edited by Dominick DiOrio and the members of ACDA’s standing committee for Composition Initiatives. ACDA members can log in with their username and password to view and download the newest edition. You can also read our electronic version. Below is a preview of the articles you will […]

The job of a choral music educator, while rewarding, is a complex one. Sometimes it seems that managing the choral music program has very little to do with music making and more to do with paperwork, parents, and politics. For many, time actually spent practicing the artistry of conducting represents a small percentage comparatively to […]

When voicing a choir, it’s important to be fast and efficient.  It’s also important that all singers feel good about where they are placed and that they are actually placed in the correct section. This blog will provide a free spreadsheetalong with the tools to effectively and efficiently place your singers in the right section.  Find out: How […]