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Seattle in 2012- NW ACDA Conference Information - March 15-18 |
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Building Voices Through Collaboration: Insights from a Studio Voice Teacher and Choral Conductor Collaboration between voice teachers and choral conductors is one of the best ways to develop a choral sound. A successful university team will lead you through an investigation of new ways to affect change by first applying studio approaches to technical issues and then addressing their application in a choral setting. You will learn by personally applying pedagogical suggestions to your own voice and observing the changes in tone through a quasi-master class session. Come prepared to sing! |
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| Presenters: Kirk Marcy, Frank DeMiero, Jack Brown, Jill Dewey, Stan Harris, Jason Heald, Kim Lorengo, Kristine Ploeger, Sandy Steele and Quinn VanPaepeghen. |
Jazz Choir Round Table-We have the questions, you bring the answers! With Kirk Marcy, our National R&S Chair, Frank DeMiero our NW Jazz Choir Chair and our state R&S Jazz Choir folks Four topics to be discussed, include: What is a Jazz Choir Chart, The Balanced Choral Program, Improvisation/Scatting in The Classroom, and the Rhythm Section and why I am scared that I will not be able to teach them and my Jazz Choir, too.. |
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Considered one of the first published composers/arrangers of vocal jazz, Ken Kraintz has taught all levels from grade school through university. His jazz choir from Cascade High School (Everett, WA) performed at the IAJE International Conference in 1974. Guest conductor for honor groups throughout the United States and Canada, he received his BA in Education and Masters in Composition from Central Washington University. Ken is assistant director and performs with the Seattle Jazz Singers, is in demand as an adjudicator and clinician, and is co-founder of Sound Music Publications. |
Jazz Choir Reading Session: The Charts that make the program! Frank DeMiero and Ken Kraintz, Presenters Presentation of Jazz Choir literature for all levels and voicings. Styles will include: Latin, Swing, Be-Bop, Blues, Ballads-both a cappella and accompanied, Funk, Jazz waltzes, and more… |
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| Stan Harris A Band Director, Choir Director, Orchestra Director at Palmer High School, Palmer, Alaska. Stan Harris has consistently produce outstanding music groups in a most remote area of the world, Palmer, Alaska. Besides being a professional fisherman, Stan has is considered a trued educator teaching by example. Stan attends workshops on the “outside” and continues to learn and grow and an educator and as a musician. His music program is highly respected. This exemplary choral programs exists an extreme weather areas of the world, in one of the most difficult locations, just outside of Anchorage. | Creating music in Alaska,
Developing a choral program in a remote area of the world!
Individual student instruction, ensemble focus, literature, concert programming and concert presentations will be covered specifically accented for the small, remote school program. |
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An avid arranger of vocal jazz and choral music, Jeff is published through Sound Music Publications. In demand as a clinician and adjudicator at choral and jazz festivals, Jeff also performs with his contemporary vocal ensemble, Groove For Thought. Jeff lives in Everett, Washington with his wife Maren and son Henry. |
Putting It All Together - Getting the Most Out Of Your Singers and Rhythm Section
Jeff will do a session using his Jazz Choir, Impressions, for demonstration. Developing a “total” ensemble will be the focus of this session. Materials and information will be demonstrated and explained. Vocalists and well as instrumentalists will work together to create a balanced presentation. |
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She enjoys work as a presenter and clinician and is a regularly commissioned, and ASCAP award-winning composer. Engagements for 2011-2012 include presentations at the 7th Annual International Symposium on Sociology in Music Education, Central, Southern and Northwestern division ACDA conferences, as well as conducting appearances with the Louisiana All-State Men’s Chorus, and the Missouri All-State 7-8 Grade Honor Choir. For further inquiries, please visit: www.andrearamsey.com |
Choir is_______. The Meanings of the Choral Experience, grades 7-12 Andrea Ramsey, Presenter The purpose of this session is to empower those who work with students in grades 7-12 with an understanding of what students discover and come to value in the artistic choral experience. Over 200 responses were collected from singers. These findings have practical application and relevance for educators as they plan for instruction and shape their rehearsal environment. Through an engaging presentation utilizing the students’ own words, this session will speak most directly to current and future 7-12 grade choral music educators. |
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 With a Bachelor of Arts in Music Ed degree from Western Washington University and a Master of Science in Education degree from Portland State University, Natalie Wilson has taught in the Camas School District for 27 years.
Natalie taught grades 6-12 choir and vocal jazz for 18 years where she conducted award winning choirs at both levels. As an elementary teacher since 2001, she has directed jazz choir in grades 3-4 and 5-6. Currently, Natalie is teaching grades K-5 elementary music appreciation and grades 3-5 Grass Valley Vocal Jazz. Her ensemble, previously named JDZ JAZZ!!, performed at the 2006 IAJE NY Conference, the 2006 NW ACDA Conference as a demonstration group and at the 2006 WMEA Conference. Natalie is active as an adjudicator and clinician at Choral and Vocal Jazz Festivals around the Pacific Northwest and has been published in the Jazz Education Journal and The Choral Journal. She also writes arrangements and original songs that are available through Sound Music Publications – SMP Jazz. |
Elementary Vocal Jazz Concepts
Participants in this interactive session will learn vocal jazz styling, how to work with an elementary rhythm section and improvisation skills. Exciting handouts and resources for literature will be provided. |
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 A native of Richmond, Missouri, Dr. Cameron F. LaBarr is assistant professor of choral music at Lee University, where he conducts the Lee University Choral Union and teaches courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels including conducting, choral literature, and choral techniques. Formerly, he served as conductor of the University of North Texas Men’s Chorus and taught undergraduate conducting at UNT as a doctoral teaching fellow. He holds a BM from Missouri State University, where he studied with Dr. Guy B. Webb, and a Master of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of North Texas, where he studied choral conducting with Dr. Jerry McCoy and orchestral conducting with Maestro David Itkin. Dr. LaBarr has worked as a guest conductor and clinician for various schools and festivals across the midwestern and southern United States. In 2012-2013, Dr. LaBarr will guest conduct festival choirs in Texas, Tennessee, and Missouri. |
Expanding the Repertoire:
A Fresh Look at Programming and Literature for Male Chorus
This session will discuss programming and repertoire ideas for male chorus that may
typically be overlooked. The following questions will be answered:
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 Dr. Graeme Langager is Director of Choral Activities at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. He was previously head of the choral programs at the University of Arkansas, and at Cuesta College. Graeme attended the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music (DMA), California State University, Long Beach (MM), and Capilano University (BMus). His conducting teachers include Earl Rivers, Stephen Coker, Lynn Bielefelt, and Marc Hafso; masterclass conductors include Helmut Rilling and Anton Armstrong. Graeme has served on the state boards of ACDA in Arkansas and California as R&S Chair, and on the national board of NCCO as Representative for Arkansas. |
Chasing Phrases! -- Moving Away from the Note-Chasing Paradigm in your Choral Rehearsal
This interest session proposes to offer some creative rehearsal strategies based on the concept that composers often leave “musical clues” in their scores for us to discover and help bring the music to life. These clues -- found in text-settings, melodic shapes, harmonies, rhythms, and even the printed expressive markings (dynamics, articulations etc.) -- can be the sources that inform and inspire us to implement new strategies in our rehearsals. All of the ideas presented in this session are universal, and can be modified and applied across all levels of choirs. Choristers from 5 to 85 years old can latch on to these concepts and enjoy making them a part of their choral experience. |
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Making the Text Move: Exploring Various Kinesthetic Diction Tools for the Choral Rehearsal and Voice Studio Teaching the sounds of language is often daunting for the choral music educator. Though the application of rote repetition and IPA may be sufficient for some students’ learning, there are a many students for whom this tool is less than ideal. By supplementing the use of the IPA with a kinesthetic tool for modeling foreign language sounds, choral music educators may be able to reach additional students and more successfully empower students to recall and execute the sounds of languages used in sung music. There are several functional gestural systems that are already in use in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing communities, including Cued Speech, Visual Phonics, the French Borel-Maisonny method, and the German Phonembestimmte Manual system. These systems all aim to communicate the sounds of language through a series of hand gestures. Though typically used by and among people with a variety of language and hearing needs, a composite system—derived in part from the existing systems listed above—will in fact be equally valuable in the music classroom or voice studio. By adapting these tools for choral rehearsals and incrementally expanding the gestural lexicon to include all the sounds of language, music educators may more easily program repertoire with challenging foreign language texts that would otherwise be unrealistic to introduce to student musicians due to the amount of time it takes to teach the sounds of foreign languages in rehearsal. In this presentation, Dr. Emilie Amrein will speak to the efficacy of this hybrid phonetic gesture system in choral rehearsals and studio teaching. |
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Valérie Nicolet-Anderson is an Assistant Professor for Fuller Seminary Northwest in Seattle, WA, where she teaches New Testament. She is particularly interested in Pauline studies and in recent approaches that focus on the political circumstances of the apostle’s mission. Her publications include an article on this thematic: “Becoming a Subject: The Case of Michel Foucault and Paul,” in Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory vol. 11 no. 1 (Winter 2010): 127-141. |
Surveying the Wondrous Cross:
Christ’s Atonement Through the Eyes of Hymnody and Historical Choral Music Dr. Valérie Nicolet-Anderson and Jeshua Franklin, Presenters Led by New Testament scholar Valérie Nicolet-Anderson and choral conductor and doctoral student Jeshua Franklin, this session will briefly highlight historically understood atonement theories, consider the drama of various passion oriented texts, and delve into the interpretational effects of diverse musical settings. Participants will also be encouraged to consider these sometimes conflicting elements in the planning of worship for Lent, Holy Week, and Easter. |
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Lindsey Wilkerson just finished her fifth year of teaching and her second year as choral director at CCDHS. She has a degree in music education from the University of Montana and has participated in Rodney Eichenberger’s summer conducting workshop five times, conducting once on the master class. She also has been fortunate to attend the VoiceCare Network’s IMPACT course. |
It’s Not Magic: Simple, Effective Strategies for Building Full, Energized Tone in Middle and High School Choirs This workshop is meant to share one strategy that has worked well for two choir directors. Annalora has developed a series of warm-ups which were incredibly effective for him in building mature, full, energized tone. There were no tricks or complicated steps. He employed this series of exercises daily and held students accountable for doing them well. A former student, Wilkerson, has experimented with other warm-ups and found that these simply produced the desired results unlike others. This session is incredibly practical and will show participants how to make these exercises effective for their own ensembles, in addition to showing audiovisual evidence as to the effect they have on the Miles City ensembles from the first day of school to early spring. |
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 Kurt McKee has taught Choral Music for the last 20 years in Washington Public Schools and abroad. “Recruiting has always been a passion for me—because of this, I have tried just about every idea under the sun to recruit and maintain singers. I have also taught with some degree of success at every level, from elementary through senior citizens. In recent years with the horrible economy, I have seen programs struggle, get cut, or lose significant funding. I have been able to build a program wherever I go, in whatever environment. I hope this session can help both newer and seasoned teachers find ways to thrive, even in tough budget times.“
He has been an active ACDA member for the past 20 years, serving as NW division Male Choir and Multicultural R&S Chairs, as well as twice serving as General Organizing Chair for NW division Honor Choirs. |
Recruiting and Retaining Singers: Making a Plan That Maintains or Grows Your Program—Even in Tough Economic Times Maintaining your program from year to year and recruiting for future success with practical applications in the high school choral classroom. |
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Dr. McClung's professional experience includes teaching and conducting at all levels. His college choirs’ performances include MENC Conferences and the ACDA-Southern Division Convention. He has conducted a variety of state and region honor choirs and served as guest conductor for the award winning Landesjungenchor from Koblenz, Germany. An active member of ACDA and MENC, he has served as a national delegate to ACDA's International Conductor Exchange with Germany and Sweden. A distinguished choral music educator, he is invited frequently to present at state, divisional, and national music conferences. He is author of Movable Tonic: A Sequenced Sight-Singing Method, a 2008 G.I.A. publication, and director of the Cambiata Institute of America for Early Adolescent Vocal Music, established on the campus of the UNT in 2009. |
Teaching Sight-Singing Successfully To teach sight-singing successfully, teachers must place their pedagogical skills in an appropriate order, identify the necessary tools, and isolate the sequential strategies. Using a movable tonic format, McClung will help participants discover the steps and techniques required to teach pitch development skills and notation reading skills. Echo-sing, hand signs, audiation, modified staff, dictation, and composition are fundamental techniques. Transfer strategies to all major, natural minor, and chromatic scales will be included. |
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 John Baker, Choral Director, graduated from Oregon College of Education in 1979, and became choir director at Rex Putnam High School in Milwaukie, Oregon in 1980. Mr. Baker received his MME from Western Oregon State College. He is a frequent clinician, adjudicator and choir retreat specialist around the Pacific Northwest.
In the fall of 2008 he was festival clinician at the Bangkok International Choir Festival held in Bangkok, Thailand. He has a Sight-reading/Theory program which is used at many high school and middle schools throughout the Northwest. Developing complete musicians is his passion. The Rex Putnam A Cappella Choir and Choralaires have performed at state and regional ACDA Conventions as well as MENC state conventions. The A Cappella Choir was truly honored to perform at the 2011 ACDA National Convention in Chicago, Ill. After thirty one plus years at Rex Putnam High School, Mr. Baker retired in the spring of 2011. |
Should I Take My Choir on a Retreat? John Baker, Presenter A retreat can have the activities necessary to bring a group together socially, emotionally and musically. Retreats are also helpful any time of the year. Organization is of utmost importance. I will present in lecture form and conclude with Q & A. A DVD will be available to the first 150 in attendance. The DVD will include taped examples from Rex Putnam retreats 2007-08. |
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 Brian Tate is a well known Vancouver choral director and composer/arranger. He is music director of the City Soul Choir in Vancouver and the Island Soul Choir in Parksville, BC, each with over 100 voices. As an arranger and percussionist, Brian has had a lifelong interest in music of the African Diaspora, and has toured and studied in Cuba and West Africa. He frequently gives choir workshops and clinics internationally, and many of his choral works are published. |
Choral Roots and Rhythms: From Africa to Gospel The choral community has shown a tremendous interest in world music, particularly music with rhythmic roots. This session is designed to give participants an experience of singing choral music from African and Gospel roots. Participants will become the ‘demo’ choir in order to explore characteristics such as improvisation, spontaneous part-singing, flexible forms, and more. Performance techniques will include tonal color, scooping, ‘blue’ notes, groove, soloing, clapping, the gospel choir ‘sway,’ modified vowels and use of diphthong, and more. |
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Kristi Galante holds Master of Music (Choral Conducting) and Bachelor of Music Education degrees from Louisiana State University. After teaching middle school and high school choral music and singing in professional choral ensembles for several years, she has recently found a new passion in teaching group exercise classes and private Pilates sessions. In 2011, Mrs. Galante completed her certification in BASI (Body Arts and Sciences International) Pilates. |
Strength, Balance, Core: The Benefit of Pilates for the Choral Conductor Brian and Kristi Galante, Presenters Even the most innately musical conductors sometimes struggle with the transfer of musical expression into physical movement. Effective gestural communication requires the utmost in body awareness, subtlety of movement, balance, posture and strength. It should come as no surprise, then, that conductors often develop postural deficiencies and shoulder issues. In this session, presenters Brian and Kristi Galante will introduce conditioning exercises expressly indicated for the choral conductor. Exercises will address strengthening the core and lower back for better balance and stability, strengthening and coordinating the muscles of the upper back and chest to protect the shoulders, and developing a regimen of “preventative maintenance” to assist a lifetime of healthy conducting. |
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 Paul W. Schultz has accrued a distinguished career as a teacher and conductor. He received a BME and MA from Central Michigan University, a PhD in music education from Michigan State University, and has studied conducting with Helmuth Rilling at the Internationale Bachakademie in Stuttgart. He founded the Northwest Repertory Singers in 2001. His choral ensembles have consistently received acclaim for their standards in repertoire, interpretation, and musicianship.
Dr. Schultz taught in the public schools of Michigan and served on the faculties of Tacoma School of the Arts, Michigan State University, and the University of Puget Sound. A life member of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) and a member of Chorus America, he received a Lifetime Achievement and Leadership award from the ACDA Northwestern Division in 2004. An active guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator throughout the United States, Dr. Schultz resides in Gig Harbor with his wife, composer Donna Gartman Schultz. |
Interpretation: From Score Marking to Performance Paul W. Schultz, Presenter This session will offer conductors some of the key techniques for studying and marking scores including phrasing, breathing schemes, dynamics, tempos changes, rubato considerations, etc. These techniques will lead to expressive interpretation based on the elements of music and text, resulting in precise and expressive conducting techniques and a more rewarding performance for both ensemble and audience. |
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Creative Classroom Management: Stop Disciplining and Start Teaching! Lauren Whitham, Presenter Managing a classroom is about communicating clear and consistent expectations. With fewer resources, less support from parents and administrators, and more pressure on recruiting, the success of music programs depends on classroom management more than ever. Through creative lesson planning, a high level of student responsibility and an insistence on excellence every day, the classroom will become a healthy, safe environment for musical exploration. This workshop will provide techniques to help organize, and streamline management. These time-saving tools may be tailored to each unique situation and instructor. Learn to take the focus away from discipline and put it back on teaching. This workshop will provide ten guidelines to help teachers formulate their own personalized classroom management plan. |
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Dr. Lori Wiest, Director of Choral Activities at Washington State University, conducts the WSU Concert Choir and Madrigal/Chamber Singers as well as teaches undergraduate and graduate choral conducting. Receiving the DMA from University of Arizona in Choral Conducting and Music Theory, the MM from Arizona State University in Choral Music and the Bachelor of Science in Music Education from North Dakota State University, she has studied conducting with Maurice Skones, Douglas McEwen and Edwin Fissinger while continuing studies in voice and vocal pedagogy. An active member of ACDA, she serves as president of Washington ACDA and is the Associate Dean of the Graduate School at WSU.
Dr. Julie Anne Wieck, Associate Professor of Music at Washington State University, teaches studio voice, diction, and vocal literature, while also directing the opera and musical theatre productions. She received her BME at University of South Dakota-Vermillion, taught public school for two years and then completed both a Masters and a Doctorate in Vocal Performance at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Dr. Wieck, performing in opera and musical theatre, and as a soloist with orchestras, has traveled internationally, performing in Canada, Russia, Ukraine, Austria, Czech Republic and Hungary. Julie is an active recitalist, adjudicator and clinician and member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and National Association for Music Education.
Jeff Horenstein is in his tenth year of teaching, currently serving as the choir director at Meadowdale High School in the Edmonds School District. Jeff earned both his B.M. in Music Education and his M.M. in Choral Conducting from Central Washington University.
Andrea Ramsey is currently a Ph.D. student in choral music education at Michigan State University. A native Arkansan, Andrea has eleven years of teaching experience including work with children’s, junior high/middle school, and university choruses. 
Emilie Amrein is Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Lake Forest College and Artistic Director of the Chicago Choral Artists. She holds degrees from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University (B.S. in Music and Italian), the University of Arizona (M.M. in Choral Conducting), and the University of Minnesota (D.M.A. in Conducting). Dr. Amrein is the founding director of The Alchemy Project, a Minnesota non-profit organization that promotes community engagement through high-quality, interdisciplinary arts events.
Alan C. McClung is a member of the University of North Texas College of Music faculty, where he conducts UNT’s Concert Choir, teaches undergraduate choral conducting, secondary choral methods, and supervises student teachers. He holds a BMED from West Virginia University, a MM in Choral Conducting from the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign; and a PHD in Music Ed from Florida State University.
