Hello! I am very excited to provide resources for the women’s/treble choirs throughout our state.
Check out this Choralnet blog One from the Folder: Repertoire Thoughts for Women’s/Treble Choirs penned by Dr. Shelbie Wahl-Fouts and occasional guest contributors. The blog includes a review of new, lesser-known, and staple pieces.
Westminster Virtual Concert Hall Lesson Plans
Westminster Choir College has developed a series of lesson plans focusing on a concert featured in Westminster’s Virtual Concert Hall. Each plan is suitable for remote instruction and is appropriate for middle or high school choral ensembles. The lessons focus on the artistic processes of creating, performing, responding and connecting to music, and most can be taught synchronously or asynchronously. Developed by recent Westminster Choir College graduates, each lesson within the unit provides national standards, objectives, essential questions, and assessment strategies.
Westminster is here to help, and we invite teachers to utilize the entire lessons as written or to use them as inspiration. Each piece of music sends an uplifting message for students working in isolation.
All lessons are based in:
Hope in Tomorrow
Westminster Williamson Voices
Grade Level(s): 9-12
Angels and Demons
Westminster Chapel Choir
Grade Level(s): 6-12
Dear Elementary and Junior High Directors,
It is with a heavy heart that we must inform you of the cancelation of the NJACDA 2020 Elementary and Junior High Honor Choir Festival. We really, really hoped a fall performance might be possible, but with so many uncertainties we have decided that at this point it just is not responsible to try to move forward. We certainly wish we could all come together and sing, but the safety of our singers, teachers, and audience members is of most importance. The checks that were submitted for the registration fee ($25 per student) were not cashed. Please let us know if we can shred your check, or if your district requires that it be sent back to the business office by filling out the attached Google Form by May 15th if possible.
That being said, we do wish to honor your accepted students. We will be creating certificates for all of the students who were accepted and we will send those to you when they are finished. We would also like to honor any 6 year members of the choir, so please let us know if you have a student who was a member every year from 4th grade through 9th grade, this year included. We also have thought about creating a video of the directors singing together in virtual choir style, or saying short, uplifting messages to the singers.
We have decided not to do a virtual choir of students. As nice of an idea as it is, we just didn’t want to add the burden to you all to teach the music and collect recordings, when we know that the experience of singing your part by yourself is not nearly as fulfilling as singing together as I group. We have attached a letter that you can send to your students. We would like to encourage you to do some sort of virtual meetup with your accepted students and make a connection with them. Tell them it’s going to be okay, remind them to keep singing, and ensure them that we will all sing again together the second it is safe to do so!
If you have ideas for our director video, please reach out! We will reach out with the certificates as well as more information about the video we would like to create. I’ve included a Google Form where you can indicate your interest in being a part of the video. We certainly don’t wish to overwhelm anyone!
Please stay healthy and try to remain positive. The world will sing together again. I’ve found it helpful to write lists of what I CAN do to keep my program running, rather on focusing on what I CANNOT do.
Musically and with tremendous gratitude,
Kaitlyn Reiser and Pamela Crockett
ELEMENTARY STUDENT LETTER – FESTIVAL CANCELED
JH STUDENT LETTER – FESTIVAL CANCELED
Excerpted from: https://bretzko.wordpress.com
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As teachers, we watched the internet become FLOODED with a bazillion “great” ideas for distance teaching…of course, the biggest question circled around virtual choirs, with folks thinking that you just need to gather the kids on the screen and “POOF”, it’s a well-balanced, beautifully blended choral sound. (It doesn’t happen quite that way…)
The last sentence of this article says it all…
Because choir is greater than the sum of its parts
As always, thanks for reading.
Barbara
Excerpted from: https://bretzko.wordpress.com
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So, as I have in the past, I’ll post some of what I have assigned and some of what I have done and if you can use it, please do. The most fun I’ve had with the kids was this past Monday when my A Cappella Choir “met” at 7p on ZOOM and after we all caught up with one another, I scheduled and IN-HOUSE SCAVENGER HUNT. 4 slides – Simple Rules – Keep the ZOOM on and I heard giggles and laughter and kids being kids again – even if it only lasted about 20 minutes…
As always, thanks for reading.
Barbara
Excerpted from: https://bretzko.wordpress.com
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And this appeared online pretty early on…
https://forms.gle/pGRx3r7bAEfGEtW96
As always, thanks for reading.
Barbara
Dr. Rosephanye Dunn Powell has been hailed as one of America’s premier women composers of choral music. She has an impressive catalogue of works published by some of the nation’s leading publishers, including the Hal Leonard Corporation, the Fred Bock Music Company/Gentry Publications, Oxford University Press, Alliance Music Publications, and Shawnee. Dr. Powell is commissioned yearly to compose for university choruses, professional, community and church choirs, as well as secondary school choruses. Dr. Powell’s works have been conducted and premiered by nationally-renowned choral conductors, including, but not limited to, Anton Armstrong, Philip Brunelle, Bob Chilcott, Rodney Eichenberger, Tom Hall, Albert McNeil, Tim Seelig, and André Thomas. Her work has been auctioned by Chorus America and her compositions are in great demand at choral festivals around the country, frequently appearing on the regional and national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association, as well as Honor Choir festivals. Dr. Powell’s compositions include sacred and secular works for mixed chorus, women’s chorus, men’s chorus, and children’s voices. Dr. Powell serves as Professor of Voice at Auburn University. She holds degrees from The Florida State University (D.M. in vocal performance, University Fellow), Westminster Choir College (M.M. in vocal performance and pedagogy, with distinction), and Alabama State University (B.M.E., summa cum laude). Dr. Powell served on the faculties of Philander Smith College (AR) and Georgia Southern University prior to her arrival at Auburn University in 2001.
Recent commission and premiere highlights include: With What Shall I Come (SATB), composed for the St. Olaf Choir 2015 Winter Tour in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Dr. Anton Armstrong, conductor, and premiered at Carnegie Hall; Why We Sing (TTBB), composed for the 2014-2015 touring season of Cantus Vocal Ensemble; Bright is the Ring of Words (TTBB), composed in celebration of the 125th Anniversary of the University of Pittsburgh Men’s Glee Club, (March, 2015); The Lord Is My Light and My Salvation (SATB), composed for the NCMEA High School Choral Section for the 2014 North Carolina Honors Chorus; The Cry of Jeremiah, a four-movement sacred work for narrator, chorus, organ and orchestra, commissioned by the American Guild of Organists, premiered at the Lincoln Center, NY (May 2014); I Want to Die While You Love Me (SSAA), composed for the 2013 Women’s Choirs Commission Consortium of the American Choral Directors Association; Great is the Lord!, composed for the Downtown Minneapolis Churches for their February 2013 Choral Festival (MN); I Will Sing, commissioned and premiered by the Oxford Civic Chorale, Oxford, MS; Arise Beloved, commissioned by OurSong (Atlanta, GA) one of four works premiered as part of the group’s choral cycle “And Nature Smiled,” performed at the internationally-acclaimed Spivey Hall; Christmas Give, a suite of five songs for SATB and orchestra, composed for the Baltimore Choral Arts Society Christmas CD “Christmas at America’s First Cathedral” released by Gothic Records; and Ev’ry Time I Feel the Spirit, arranged for The Sofia Chamber Choir “Vassil Arnaudov”- Bulgaria, Southeastern Europe.
In 2011, Dr. Powell served as an arranger and co-editor, along with her husband Dr. William C. Powell, for the release of I’m Gonna Sing: Twelve Spirituals for Upper Voices published by Oxford University Press (London). Other recent commissions include, but are not limited to, Christmas Give, a suite of five songs for SATB, composed for the Baltimore Choral Arts Society Christmas CD “Christmas at America’s First Cathedral” released by Gothic Records (2010); Be Glad in the Lord composed for Philip Brunelle and Plymouth Congregational Church (2009); Hope Come True, a suite of five songs for SSAA and SATB composed and arranged for MUSE Cincinnati’s Women’s Choir (OH), and premiered by MUSE and Central State University Chorus; Rejoice!, for chorus, organ, trumpets, and timpani composed for the 50th Anniversary of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Auburn, Alabama; Ev’ry Time I Feel the Spirit, arranged for The Sofia Chamber Choir “Vassil Arnaudov”- Bulgaria, Southeastern Europe. Children of the Rainbow, an original work, composed for the Columbus (OH) Children’s Choir and the 2005 Children’s Choral Festival of African-American Music; Pete, Pete arranged for the Montgomery Academy Middle School Chorus for the 2005 Alabama Music Educators Association State Conference; Sicut Cervus composed for the 25th Anniversary of the Texas Collegiate Women’s Choral Festival; Still I Rise composed for Vox Femina, Los Angeles, CA; and Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child arranged for the 35th anniversary of VocalEssence (Minneapolis, MN, 2003).
An accomplished singer and voice professor, Dr. Powell’s research has focused on the art of the African-American spiritual, the art songs of William Grant Still (dean of African-American composers), and voice care concerns for voice professionals (specifically, music educators, choral directors, and choral singers). She travels the country and internationally presenting lectures, song demonstrations, and serving as a workshop clinician, conductor, and adjudicator for solo vocal competitions/auditions, honor choirs, choral workshops and festivals. Recent commitments include Melbourne International Singers Festival (AUS); the New York State School Music Association (Rochester); the Georgia Music Educators Association Conference (Savannah); Middle Tennessee Vocal Association Treble Honor Choir (Nashville); the World Choir Games (Cincinnati, OH); the Italian Feder Gospel Choirs Workshop (Milan, Italy); Alabama Music Educators Association High School Honor Choir (Montgomery); Samford University (Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and the Arts) (Birmingham, AL); South Carolina Music Educators Association State Conference (Charleston); AGO National Conference (Nashville, TN); Summer Sing Choral Workshop and Tuning at Tahoe Music Directors Workshop (Lake Tahoe, NV); and Capital Area Music Association (Harrisburg, PA).
As a researcher, Dr. Powell’s recent articles include Keeping the “Choir” in Showchoir published in the Amercan Choral Directors Journal; William Grant Still: His Life and His Songs and The African-American Spritual: Preparation and Performance Considerations both published in the prestigious NATS Journal of Singing. She served as the editor and wrote the introduction for William Grant Still: An Art Song Collection which is published by William Grant Still Music.
In 2009, Dr. Powell received the “Living Legend Award” presented by California State University African Diaspora Sacred Music Festival in Los Angeles. She was listed in the first edition of the international publication Who Is Who in Choral Music. And, she has been included in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers and Outstanding Young Women in America in recent years. Dr. Powell is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), the College Music Society (CMS), the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) and the Music Educators National Conference (MENC).
You may or may not know that the murder of transgender women of color is a grossly under-reported epidemic in American society. This commission, through GALA Choruses, will be the first in a series of pieces by two trans women of color: Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi (lyricist) and Mari Esabel Valverde (composer) to bring attention to this important topic. Click here for more information. THE NEW DEADLINE IS MARCH 1st.
Did you know that “The senseless killing of trans women” is a rampant problem in American society? (source: Marsha P. Johnson Institute)
Commissioning choruses pay a sliding fee of $300-750 to support the commission process. Includes score and curriculum for high school singers. This commission is offered free of charge to any trans chorus
To state your commitment to this project, please click here (Google form).
For more information, please email Joshua Palkki at josh.palkki@gmail.com.
Per the recent ACDA National Mailing:
Our fall membership drive was a success! It ended on Nov. 15, and we invite you to join us in congratulating the following states for excellent results:
At least 15 percent growth in Active membership:
At least 10 percent growth in overall membership:
And drumroll: Vermont ACDA won the drawing for the Grand Prize, which is underwriting headliner expenses for their next state conference.
Hello! I am very excited to provide resources for the women’s/treble choirs throughout our state.
Check out this Choralnet blog One from the Folder: Repertoire Thoughts for Women’s/Treble Choirs penned by Dr. Shelbie Wahl-Fouts and occasional guest contributors. The blog includes a review of new, lesser-known, and staple pieces.