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AMERICAN
CHORAL 
DIRECTORS
ASSOCIATION OF
PENNSYLVANIA

Dear ACDA-PA Members,

Happy New Year! I hope you enjoyed a restful holiday filled with joy and music!

As we look ahead to 2020, the Eastern Division Conference is right around the corner. This year’s event promises to be extraordinary, with special guests Bobby McFerrin, The American Spiritual Ensemble, and Voices 21C! It is my hope that we will have a strong representation from Pennsylvania are the event. Here is the link to register: 

Save the date for ACDA-PA’s summer conference: Sunday, August 2 - Tuesday, August 4 at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, PA! In 2020, we welcome two critically-acclaimed choral leaders as guest clinicians, Rosephayne Powell and Andrew Clark! Look for more details in the February ACDA-PA email.

Stay warm, everyone, and all the best as the New Year begins!

Caron Daley

ACDA-PA President

Repertoire & Resources Spotlight

Kevin Dibble, Encompassing Genres Repertoire and Resource Coordinator, ACDA-PA
 
You may have noticed that ACDA-PA no longer has a Repertoire and Resource position titled Ethnic and Multicultural Music. As the former holder of this position, I wanted to begin this “Choral Insight” by explaining this decision to you all. Historically, this position provided (and in other state and regional chapters still provides) members with a targeted view of choral compositions but underrepresented people groups. Creating this position was an essential step in the effort to expose the American choral community to music from non-western traditions. Having said that, this step was the first step in what our current leadership views as a sequenced approach to inclusion and diversity in our choral landscape. As we move forward, we now want to encourage all Repertoire Chairpersons and all ensembles to, as much as possible, make the incorporation of non-western choral music a regular part of the process. Rather than having one person or small group of individuals leading the charge, we now want to challenge all of our members to embrace music of all genres and styles. 
 
With this in mind, I wanted to provide you with a couple of specific resources that you can make use of in this effort. It can sometimes be difficult to sift through the mountain of music find non-western music. With that in mind, there are publishers and resources that are outstanding sources of non-western musical options. While there is not room to list all of them in this brief article, some great options are included below: 

There are many additional wonderful resources, and many publishers include ethnic and multicultural repertoire sections, but I hope that these targeted websites serve as a beneficial starting point for you! 

New Members Only Area

In the coming months, we hope to utilize our website in more interactive ways with the statewide membership.  We also want there to be a benefit to being a member of ACDA, so we plan to post some articles, webinars, and other content behind a password-protected member area of the website.  

Knowing that not everyone will want to remember yet another password or may not be interested in accessing this content, we are making the log-in area voluntary by allowing members to sign up for the member area using their own selected log-in information.  Click on the Log-in/Register button at acdapa.org to register a user name and password.  Once your membership has been verified, your account will be approved, giving you access to the members-only content (which is not there yet!).  Please allow a week for accounts to be approved as someone has to physically look at the account and verify membership before clicking "approve."

2019-20 ACDA-PA Awards

Do you know a choral colleague who is doing exemplary work? Consider nominating this conductor for one of ACDA-PA’s special awards. We offer three awards, the Elaine Brown Award for Choral Excellence, the Outstanding Young Conductor Award, and the Eileen M. Hower Memorial Award. Please send a letter of nomination describing the candidate’s qualifications and why you feel they are deserving of the award to Susan Medley at vicepresident@acdapa.org by March 31, 2020.  Awards will be presented at the 2020 Summer Conference.

See information about each award, visit https://www.acdapa.org/awards.html

Choral Composition Contest

ACDA-PA annually sponsors a choral composition contest, featuring original works for choir written by Pennsylvania composers.  This year's focus is a Student Composer Competition with a $500.00 prize for the winning choral composition.  Current undergraduate student composers who either reside or study in Pennsylvania are eligible to submit original compositions, not arrangements of pre-existing works, for the competition via the ACDA-PA website.  The compositions must be 3-5 minutes in length, unaccompanied or piano accompaniment, and for SATB voices, divisi is acceptable. See the ACDA PA website for official guidelines and requirements. Deadline for submission is March 15, 2020.

For the complete rules, information, and online application, go to:
https://www.acdapa.org/composition-contest.html

Upcoming Events

Don't forget that you can submit your performances, workshops, and other special events on the "Choral Events Around PA" calendar on the website.  Just click on "open full calendar" at the bottom of the event list to add a new event.  Within a week, the event will be approved and appear on the calendar for the state-wide membership to see.

Duquesne University Choral Kaleidoscope
2020 Sat Jan 11th 9:00am - 4:30pm
Student Union Ballroom, 1000 Locust St, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, USA 

choral_kaleidoscope
Clinicians:

Dr. Caron Daley, Assistant Professor and Director of Choral Activities, Duquesne University
Dr. David Frego, Professor and Director of the School of Music, Pennsylvania State University
Dr. Gregory Marchetti, Associate Professor of Physical Therapy, Duquesne University

Workshop Description:

This one-day event is designed to celebrate the multi-faceted work of choral practitioners. Join guest clinicians Dr. David Frego and Dr. Gergory Marchetti, along with host Dr. Caron Daley for inspiring sessions on choral technique, repertoire, Dalcroze Eurhythmics, a conducting master class with the Duquesne University Pappert Chorale, and more.

Choir-in-Residence:

Duquesne University Pappert Chorale

Schedule:

8:30–9:00 - Registration and Coffee
9:00–10:00 - Optimizing the Choir: Vocal Resonance and Singer Formation (Daley)
10:15–11:00 - Conductor Health: Essential Body Alignment Exercises and Stretches for the Conductor (Daley and Marchetti)
11:00–12:00 - Your Body-the First Instrument: Introduction to Dalcroze Eurhythmics (Frego)
12:00–1:00 - Lunch (not included)
1:00–2:00 - Music Literacy through Movement: Using Dalcroze Solfege in Choral Repertoire (Frego)
2:15–4:30 - Conducting master class with the DU Pappert Chorale (Daley)

Registration Fee

$50 online (After December 1, $60; on-site $70)

Register Now

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