The biannual ACDA 2019 National Conference starts tonight in Kansas City. Although I won’t be attending this year, I have many friends and colleagues who are, so I’m sharing some previews.
I’ve prepared a cheat sheet of conference offerings that appeal to my particular interests: Vocal Jazz, TTBB Choirs, and Composing/Arranging. I’ll offer separate posts with each area, as well as a general set of don’t-miss sessions.
In this post: Don’t Miss This!
Everyone’s got their own short list titled “You can miss anything else, but don’t miss this! Assuming the concert sessions form the core of many attendees’ agenda, I’ve skipped those – here are a few Interest Sessions that top my list.
Wednesday
10:00 AM & 11:00 AM What A Coach Can Teach A Conductor: The Work of Master Teacher John Wooden (Interest Session) Richard Sparks has done deep thinking about the powerful work of legendary basketball coach John Wooden. I’d love to hear his take on how to apply Wooden’s concepts to choral music (especially since I wrote my own series contemplating those ideas, adding two habits I think Wooden overlooked).
Thursday
10:00 AM & 11:00 AM What Is Really Important? (Interest Session) I would listen to Eph Ehly talk about watching paint dry, and I would think this session reflecting on ACDA and a career in music will be beautiful, powerful, and standing-room-only.
Friday
Everything on my list for Friday I’ve covered in one of my other posts.
Saturday
8:00 AM & 9:00 AM Dallas Street Choir: The Impact of Communal Singing on Those Experiencing Homelessness (Interest Session) Jonathan Palant has done truly remarkable work with the Dallas Street Choir, and I think this session will be incredibly powerful for those in the audience.
9:00 AM A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: Building our Choral Communities in the Image of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood (Interest Session) I think we need more Mister Rogers in the world, and I’ll take any chance I can find to get some. Hearing about the applicability of Fred Rogers’ ideas and lessons to the choral world will be a meaningful way to spend an hour.
What are you going to attend besides these sessions? The good news is, there’s so much to take in, including TTBB Choirs, Vocal Jazz, composing/arranging, and much more.