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ACDA National Conference

Dr. Anton Armstrong’s Keynote Address at the 2021 ACDA National Conference

April 6, 2021 by ACDA Leave a Comment

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 music educator and church musician who served as a musical ambassador for our sister organization, Chorister’s Guild, and later as professor of voice in church music at Westminster Choir College. She was a deeply beloved mentor to me and thousands of others who carry on the belief of her mantra “Body, mind, spirit, voice. It takes the whole person to sing and rejoice.” As Helen Kemp reminded us in her presentation at an earlier ACDA conference, we are imprinting musical memories for the soul and a lifetime, for in this high-tech world, the music we sing with children, with all people, makes us responsible for what we put into their hearts, minds, and souls. Then Dr. Kemp would quote the words of respected news journalist Tom Brokaw, “It is not enough to wire the world if you short-circuit the soul.”

During this time of COVID-19 pandemic, we have had to embrace drastic measures to keep choral singing alive. Without virtual choral singing many of us would have had our choral music programs eliminated in school and community settings. I applaud organizations like Chor Amor that came to the rescue of so many choral music educators in using virtual choral experiences as a way of keeping our choral programs active and engaging our singers. It has had much success and has given us useful ideas about how such technology might have positive employment in a post-pandemic world. However, it is not a long-term substitution for making music in person and together.

Making music together is not just about the music. The real impact of choral singing in person is that we are doing this to delve into the souls of each singer. That is so we feel connected to one another and to build community. Colleagues, our choral art may be one of the last social platforms where people can still come together, put aside those differences that so much of society uses to create barriers to divide people, and that we seek to build bridges to bring people together into community. 

I believe our choral organizations can and must seek to be safe spaces for all. As I reflected upon my own work in life at St. Olaf College, I know I have a wide array of diverse thoughts and beliefs among the students I serve, especially in the St. Olaf Choir. I felt it was incumbent upon me to take care of my own house before I try to solve the problems of others.

I’m very proud of the wonderful artistry and the musical legacy of excellence of the St. Olaf Choir. Yet we, like other organizations, are not exempt from behaviors that can cause pain to members of our own ensemble. To that end, I posed the question to the student leaders and members of this year’s St. Olaf Choir of how we could be better versions of ourselves this year and as we proceed into the future. The result was that the entire choir membership had challenging and vulnerable conversations about how they were thriving and, more importantly, not thriving in the St. Olaf Choir. I especially appreciate the over one dozen BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and people of color] students that are current members of the St. Olaf Choir honestly sharing about the joys and struggles of being a member of the ensemble. While the discussions initially stemmed from concerns addressing anti-racism, we also had to address microaggressions and other negative behaviors relating to issues regarding gender identity, politics, religious thought, and socioeconomic differences that have come up in recent years. My students are not alone in dealing with these issues, yet I am grateful that they wanted to take responsibility for their behaviors and make concrete changes in how we would live with respect and care as a choral community based on a model suggested by one of the student officers, which he had encountered in another situation. 

They have created a social contract that all members and I have signed onto to guide our working lives together as part of the St. Olaf Choir. This is a living document that will need to be recrafted each year as membership changes and behaviors are reviewed.

I believe we are creative people who must continue to aspire to a better world for each of us, and the organizations and the people we shepherd. For me, the words of immortal African American writer and poet Langston Hughes ring ever true as written in his poem “I Dream a World.” For this time, when Hughes uses the word man, it meant an inclusive all.

I dream a world where man
No other man will scorn,
Where love will bless the earth
And peace its paths adorn
I dream a world where all
Will know sweet freedom’s way,
Where greed no longer saps the soul
Nor avarice blights our day.
A world I dream where black or white,
Whatever race you be,
Will share the bounties of the earth
And every man is free,
Where wretchedness will hang its head
And joy, like a pearl,
Attends the needs of all mankind-
Of such I dream, my world!

My colleagues, I keep returning to the belief that we are called to be pastoral servant leaders, in our music making and leadership. I truly believe we as choral musicians are both priests and prophets. We are so often called upon to provide comfort, compassion, and healing through our music. Yet, we often have to be the prophetic voice, leading the cries for care of our neighbor, care of our planet, and demanding justice for all. I have long believed that our art must be relational and transformative. 

In my own life, while I have continually have striven for musical excellence in all I do, music for me is but a means of grace, to reach people’s souls, both the performer and the listener. Our art must be in service to others. It calls us to be humble and vulnerable in the sharing of our gifts. Our call, avocare, is to become servant leaders, using our choral art to nurture and nourishing whole people, in breaking down the walls from within and outside that enslave us. Hear me well when I say I am not advocating throwing out the baby with the bathwater. In my own programming, I still continue to program music from the Western canon. However, it is incumbent upon me to make that music of the Western canon relevant to the lives of the singers that I ask to sing these compositions.

Throughout my career I have tried to reflect a global or multicultural perspective in the choral programs I have designed for the various ensembles I have conducted. However, I have pledged to myself that I will be even more intentional in programming works from women, BIPOC, and other marginalized people. This is not to check of some type of politically correct list, but to better reflect the realities, history, and ideas of people who have been for too long silenced and ignored. I call upon all of you out there to do the same. This my friends is low hanging fruit that is very possible to achieve. But it will demand greater research, sincere commitment by each artistic leader, and respect by the ensembles that will perform these works.

I truly believe it takes love, not hate, to make the dream of what Langston Hughes aspired to in his epic poem a reality. However, to achieve that love, it requires respect for one another to be the strong foundation. We may not always agree, but can we strive to better respect our differences and not let those differences lead to further division among us? Secondly, if we can establish true respect, then this can lead us to develop trust, something so sorely missing in today’s world. Without trust, in and between each other, we will be unable to reach a third and important step to transformational change, namely love. True love can, and must not only, acknowledge where we have fallen short in the care of our neighbor and creation, but also give us the vision to actually seek justice for all people in all we say, and more importantly, all we do in the choral art. These conversations and this work will not be easy. Indeed, it may cause great consternation and yes, guilt, in some cases for acts of commission and omission. But, it is only in this honest and difficult self-assessment of ourselves and our work and our organizations can we refocus the work and mission of our ensembles to achieve justice for all. Yet, it ultimately requires from each and every one of us respect, trust, and love.

Colleagues and friends, I wish each of you the very best and conclude my thoughts with the stirring words of James Weldon Johnson, 

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march on till victory is won.

Keynote presented on March 19, 2021, at the ACDA national virtual conference, Diversity in Music. A video of the address can be viewed here.

Anton Armstrong, Tosdal Professor of Music at St. Olaf College, became the fourth conductor of the St. Olaf Choir in 1990 after ten years in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he served on the faculty of Calvin College and led the Calvin College Alumni Choir, the Calvin College Campus Choir he Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus and the St. Cecilia Youth Chorale. He is a graduate of St. Olaf College and earned advanced degrees at the University of Illinois (MM) and Michigan State University (DMA). He is editor of a multicultural choral series for Earthsongs Publications and co-editor (with John Ferguson) of the revised St. Olaf Choral Series for Augsburg Fortress Publishers. In June 1998, he began his tenure as founding conductor of the Oregon Bach Festival Stangeland Family Youth Choral Academy. Active as a guest conductor and lecturer in the United States and abroad, Dr. Armstrong has conducted All-State choirs and choral festivals in nearly all 50 states, as well as guest conducting such luminary ensembles as the World Youth Choir, the Indonesia Youth Choir, the Ansan City Choir (South Korea), the Formosa Singers (Taiwan), the Houston Chamber Choir, the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati, the Phoenix Chorale, the Westminster Choir and the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square.

Filed Under: Others Tagged With: ACDA National Conference, Anton Armstrong, Diversity, Leadership

ACDA 2021 National Conference Program Book

February 1, 2021 by Amanda Bumgarner Leave a Comment

The newest issue of Choral Journal is available online! This issue is a full program book for the 2021 Virtual National Conference. You can still register for the conference, taking place March 18-20. If you cannot attend in real time, all sessions and performances will be available to watch through the end of the year!

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 find in this issue. If you are not already a member of ACDA, join today to start receiving your monthly Choral Journal! Associate members can join for only $45 a year.
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Filed Under: Choral Journal Tagged With: ACDA Membership Benefits, ACDA National Conference, ACDA Publications, Choral Journal

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!

Filed Under: Others Tagged With: ACDA National Conference

An Interview with Bob Chilcott

December 14, 2020 by Amanda Bumgarner Leave a Comment

The January issue of Choral Journal is online and features an interview article with Bob Chilcott and Tim Sharp. You can read it in its entirety online at acda.org/choraljournal. Following is a portion of the interview.

___________________

As a composer, conductor, and singer, Bob Chilcott has enjoyed a lifelong association with choral music, first as a chorister and choral scholar in the choir of King’s College, Cambridge, and for twelve years as a member of the King’s Singers. He became a full-time composer in 1997 and has produced a large catalogue of music for all types of choirs, which is published by Oxford University Press.

His music has been widely recorded by leading British choirs and groups including The King’s Singers, King’s College, Cambridge, Wells Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, The Sixteen, Tenebrae, The BBC Singers, The Bach Choir, Commotio, and Ora. In 2016 he enjoyed a collaboration with the celebrated singer Katie Melua.

Sharp: What are your primary influences and inspirations for your choral compositions?

Chilcott: I have very broad musical tastes, and I think most of them are reflected in the music I write. As someone who has been a singer, I find the influence of music I have sung, particularly English Church Music, never goes away.

Jazz has also played a big part in my musical life. I love the voice. I love singers, predominantly singers of songs—Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Fritz Wunderlich, Joni Mitchell, Rosa Passos, Alison Kraus, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Randy Newman, and if you’re my age (or any age, for that matter!) The Beatles and early Elton John. I also love words. The power that songs and words have is their ability to conjure up whole worlds or stories, or glimpses of shared experiences, feelings, and senses in a brief moment of time. To try and distil these thoughts into a musical shape is something that really motivates my composing energy.


I am also by nature a melody writer. I like to shape phrases that I think people might enjoy singing. The connection a composer has with the singing voice is a very complex one, because singers are not only motivated by shapes that allow the voice and the breath to flow, but also by the visceral sound and meaning of words, and also the drama and the gesture of the piece that allows the singer the freedom to become the advocate of the song.

Sharp: How much time do you dedicate to composition? Tell us a little about “a day in the life of Bob Chilcott” and your way of working.

Chilcott: I have always been quite a disciplined composer. You have to be when you are working from home. I think it’s important to commit to deadlines and have a strong writing regime. The teapot, the telephone, and the television are never far away, and they all have to be resisted! I work office hours, normally between 9am and 6pm. An hour a day longer than Dolly Parton. I never work in the evenings or late at night.

View this full article (and more!) in the January 2020 issue of Choral Journal, available online at acda.org.

Filed Under: Choral Journal Tagged With: ACDA Membership Benefits, ACDA National Conference, ACDA Publications, Choral Journal, Interview

January Choral Journal Preview

December 7, 2020 by Amanda Bumgarner Leave a Comment

The newest issue of Choral Journal is available online. Following is a list of the content you will find in this issue.

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 find in this issue. If you are not already a member of ACDA, join today to start receiving your monthly Choral Journal! Associate members can join for only $45 a year.
_______________________

An Interview with Bob Chilcott: 2021 Raymond Brock Memorial Commissioned Composer
by Tim Sharp

Conference Schedule of Events

Alphabetical List of Interest Sessions

Alphabetical List of Performers

Concert Events and Performers Bios/Photos

Interest Sessions Descriptions/Bios

Keynote Speakers

Reading Sessions and Forums

Filed Under: Choral Journal Tagged With: ACDA National Conference, Choral Journal, Choral Journal Preview

Is Imposter Syndrome Keeping You Away from ACDA Conferences?

February 8, 2020 by From Our Readers Leave a Comment

By Brenda Winkle

Brenda Winkle

Do you sometimes feel that no matter your experience, your educational achievements, and your work ethic, you continue to hope no one finds out that you are, in fact, an imposter? That’s imposter syndrome. Before we go any further, let’s clear up one thing: if you are taking your career seriously enough to be reading articles from your professional organizations, you are not an imposter.

I have experience at all levels and in different kinds of positions. I’ve struggled with imposter syndrome at all of them, except my current position(s). I’ll tell you why in a bit but here is a teaser: it has nothing to do with my jobs. To better explain this, I will share some of my teaching background.

My first year, I taught K-12 vocal/instrumental music along with speech and drama in rural Colorado. The next three years found me in Sturgis, South Dakota, as the director of choral activities at the local high school and I became the South Dakota ACDA state choral chair.

Following my tenure there, I moved to Kansas City. I taught 3rd-8th grade music and choir at a private school for 2 years before I had my daughter. This is where I had the opportunity to teach Eph Ehly’s grandson and meet Eph. A long commute led me closer to home and I accepted a position at what used to be known as Ervin Junior High in Hickman Mills School District in southern Kansas City, where I was the 6th-8th grade choir director.

A family work change moved us to Boise, Idaho. I was planning to be a stay-at-home mom, but I couldn’t give up choirs (and wasn’t very good at being an at-home mom). To keep myself involved in choirs, I volunteered for a local Catholic parish’s children’s chorus while I was between teaching jobs.

A divorce led me back into the job market in a town (Boise) where I knew very few people, and no one in the music or education worlds. Remembering back to the private school in Kansas City, I relied on a letter of recommendation written by Eph Ehly to get a job in the Boise School District, where I’ve spent the last twelve years.

In Boise, I’ve taught high school choir, junior high choir, leadership class, piano class, elementary choir, and all elementary music classes. Most currently, I serve as an elementary music specialist and choir director at an elementary school.

Three years ago, I became the Opera Idaho Children’s Choruses (OICC) director. OICC serves singers ages 3-18 and has three choirs. We have one chorus for kids ages 3 to 1st grade, one chorus for kids in grades 2-5 and an older chorus of singers in grades 6-12. This is a tuition-based community youth chorus program.

The combination of these positions has finally resolved the imposter syndrome I felt. Here’s why.

I was very active in my professional organizations as a high school and junior high choral person. When I moved to the elementary level after becoming a single parent, somehow I felt almost guilty attending ACDA.

I loved my job and working with the little ones, but I worried there wasn’t relevant content for me as an elementary person at ACDA. I had never met an elementary person at ACDA but didn’t know if it was because they weren’t there, because they weren’t openly elementary teachers or if it was because I had been so focused on getting my students situated in their honor choirs I only had the opportunity to focus on other secondary directors. The longer I was away from ACDA, the harder it got to go back.

When I took the job with Opera Idaho, somehow that felt like permission to re-join ACDA. And instantly, I fell back into the fold, even in a different state than where I was before!

Here’s what I know about the people who are part of ACDA. They are teachers who love what they do. ACDA members universally want to help others in this profession. Sometimes this means being a listening ear or even a shoulder to cry on. We protect each other and protect the profession of choral music education. Professionally, the techniques we learn are applicable to any age group. Only the way we describe things changes between the ages. This means the content is ALWAYS relevant no matter what level you teach or where you teach.

In ADCA we build each other up and share our tools. We want to be resources to each other. People LOVE to share ideas, especially teachers. An ACDA conference is a great place to share and acquire new ideas, tips, and tricks. An ACDA conference is a safe place to say, “This isn’t working in my choir. What ideas do you have?”

Worried about making new friends or going alone? I had THE BEST time at ACDA’s national conference! It gave me time to connect with my Idaho ACDA colleagues and friends, meet several of the Northwest Region ACDA members, and I made friends from all over the country. I came home from the conference with new ideas, new friends, new perspectives, and a ton of new music. Most importantly, I came back re-inspired and re-energized to do this important work.

Having taught at all public school levels, I can say with complete confidence, what you do is important and matters. No matter what you teach, your job is challenging. What you do is important. Working in small or large schools, private teacher, not-sure-you-want-to-teach, community or church choirs, all levels, you are welcome at an ACDA conference.

Looking to meet a new friend? Come find me. I feel new to Northwest ACDA and would really like to meet you! I promise you there are other people looking to find a new friend and colleague just like you.

Brenda Winkle is music specialist at White Pine Elementary School, director of Opera Idaho Children’s Choruses, and serves as R&R chair for children’s and community youth choirs for Idaho ACDA and ACDA Northwestern Region.

Filed Under: From Our Readers Tagged With: ACDA National Conference, Choir Directors, educators, Leadership

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