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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. 

Filed Under: Others Tagged With: ACDA, composers, Composition Initiatives, Genesis Prize

End-of-the-Year Activities in the Music Classroom

March 30, 2020 by Amanda Bumgarner Leave a Comment

ChorTeach is ACDA’s quarterly publication for choral conductors and teachers at all levels. It is published online, and each issue contains four practical articles. If you are not already a member of ACDA, you can join and receive access to ChorTeach online. Below is an excerpt from an article written by Andrew Bruhn in the Spring 2017 issue.
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You have finished the last concert of the year and are left with one or more class periods before summer hits. If you happen to teach middle school like I do, the thought of all that “free time” is enough to cause panic attacks and sleepless nights! There is nothing more dreadful than a room full of middle schoolers with no structure!

Here are ideas that worked for me to keep the end of the year positive and successful both for my middle and high school students. I have found it helpful to have a change of pace after a concert and a busy year, so I try many different activities that keep things fun but also remain musically focused.

• Movie: Everyone loves a good movie, and luckily there are many that relate to music. They can be musicals (Sound of Music; Annie; Hello, Dolly; etc.), dramas (Mr. Holland’s Opus, Music of the Heart, etc.), or something like Fantasia! You will score extra points with the students if you provide snacks.

• Solos/Ensembles: Have a day during which students perform for the class. It’s a great way for them to perform music they want to perform and a chance to see and hear some students who might surprise you with their talent! I always celebrate their efforts because a student is incredibly vulnerable when making music in front of his or her peers.

• Awards: I and/or my students construct a ballot consisting of fun, serious, and ridiculous awards. We vote on them, and I make up awards and present them during class.

• Games: Divide the class into two teams and go head-to-head with a music theory challenge. Identify note names, rhythms, rests, solfege, terms, etc. I have a small dry erase board on which I write and then turn it around quickly so they can answer, or I ask a question verbally if no drawing is necessary. Someone tallies the scores, and the winning team gets candy!

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Read more in the Spring 2017 issue at acda.org/chorteach.

Filed Under: ChorTeach Tagged With: ACDA, ACDA Membership Benefits, ACDA Publications, ChorTeach, Classroom

March Choral Journal Preview

February 10, 2020 by Amanda Bumgarner Leave a Comment

The newest issue of Choral Journal is available online. Following is a list of the articles 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.
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People and the Land: A Theme of Our Time by Christine Argyle

“With verdure clad”: The Creation in Colonial New Zealand by Peter Walls

These Watershed Times: Confluence and Collaboration in the New Zealand Choral Context by Karen Grylls

The Big Sing: New Zealand Youth Choral Phenomenon by Peter Watts

Te Matatini: The Many Faces of Kapa Haka by Keriata Royal-Taeao

Language Preservation and Māori: A Musical Perspective by Robert Wiremu

Edwin R. Fissinger (1920-1990): 100th Birthday Memorial Tribute by P. Bradley Logan

Choral Conversations–An Interview with Rosephanye Powell by Shekela Wanyama

Choral Reviews

Book Reviews

Filed Under: Choral Journal Tagged With: ACDA, ACDA Publications, Choral Journal, Choral Journal Preview

Happy Holidays from the ACDA National Office

December 25, 2017 by Amanda Bumgarner Leave a Comment

Don’t miss the latest edition of Sharp Notes! The staff at the ACDA National Office send their season’s greetings to you and your family this holiday season.

Filed Under: Others Tagged With: ACDA, Sharp Notes

Oratorium Nativitatis by Damijan Močnik

December 6, 2017 by ACDA Leave a Comment

Host Stan Schmidt invites you to hear the U.S. broadcast premiere of Oratorium Nativitatis by Slovenian composer Damijan Močnik. This Going Beyond Words premiere is heard now on ACDA Radio and ChoralNet.   Four years ago this talented composer allowed Going Beyond Words to premiere his Passion according to St. John. There are three important CDs to be heard on this broadcast. All contain the music of Damijan Močnik. The S.t Jacobs Kammerkör, guided by Gary Graden, will perform “Acclamatio” for SSAATTBB and “Geburts Nacht” (sung in German), also for SSAATTBB. Gary Graden returns for the third piece, “Christus est natus,” the most familiar as he conducts the World Youth Choir from a 1999 recordings.

The main feature of this program is Oratorium Nativitatis, an oratorio on the birth of Christ.   It is scored for organ, soprano and tenor soloists, chorus and orchestra. The work is about forty minutes in length and features the Slovenian Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra, conducted by Borut Smrekar.   The Oratorium has ten movements sung in Latin and has a structure like many of the cantatas composed by J. S. Bach (i.e., movements one and ten, two and nine, and three and eight reflect each other, and so on.  The ten sections are Prseludium for Organ;  Fear Not;  I Waited Patiently for the Lord; Today Christ is Born; O Admirabile Commericum; Why Do the Heeathen rage?; Sing Praise; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Arise; and Bring an Offering. Because of the importance of this composition, it is being presented on ACDA Radio so choral directors worldwide can experience this meaningful music. Oratorium Nativitatis will also be repeated on ACDA Radio December 6, 2017, during Advent.

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 2345R, where you can visualize the structure of the piece.

https://choralnet.org/wp-content/uploads/going-beyond-words/2345.mp3

 

Filed Under: Going Beyond Words Tagged With: ACDA, ACDA Membership Benefits, ACDA Radio, American Choral Directors Association, Going Beyond Words, Stan Schmidt

Choral Concert Live

October 4, 2017 by ACDA Leave a Comment

Choral Concert Live featuring the Riverside City College Chamber Singers directed by John Byun & The Atlanta Master Chorale guided by Eric Nelson recorded live at the ACDA National Convention March 2017 in Minneapolis.

Stan Schmidt, Host of Going Beyond Words invites Choral Directors to  enjoy two of the Concerts heard at the ACDA National Convention held in Minneapolis, March of 2017.   Recall with him on this ACDA Radio and ChoralNet Broadcast the excitement created by two of the ensembles selected to appear on stage. The first you will hear is the Riverside City College Chamber Singers conducted by John Byun. You will be blessed with compositions by Johannes Brahms, Kelsey Hohnstein, Budi Susanto Yohanes from Java, Eric Whitacre, Ivo Antogini and Jack Runestad. The second half of this Choral Concert Live is filled with glorious singing by The Atlanta Master Choral with conductor Eric Nelson. Creators represented are Howard Hanson, Carol Hall, Sven-Eric Johanson, Stephen Chatman, Josef Rheinberger, Jayne Southwick Cool and Shawn Kirchner. The accompanist is Jonathan Easter and composer Shawn Kirchner makes a guest artist appearance as accompanist on his composition Sweet River.

For a look at the CD’s used and a complete list of the music heard go to the blog of WWW.GOINGBEYONDWORDS.COM website and click on show 3124

https://choralnet.org/wp-content/uploads/going-beyond-words/3124.mp3

 

Filed Under: Going Beyond Words Tagged With: ACDA, ACDA Membership Benefits, ACDA Radio, American Choral Directors Association, Going Beyond Words, Stan Schmidt

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