From our President

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Dear ACDA Members,

My two years as president of your amazing board draw to a close this month, and I want to reach out and congratulate ALL of you in making it creatively through a year none of us could have imagined. As some of us return to actually hearing/performing music live, we sigh with relief that our singers also persisted through the love of the art and not only retained, but learned new skills during this time. We’ve gained perspective on what is really important, the community of our singers and the joys of process.

You will be in great hands as John Wilson takes over as president in July, and I am so happy to congratulate Libby Gopal as our new president-elect. You will hear more from both of them at the end of the month.

I want to thank Chris Thomas, past president, for his years of service, leadership and mentorship. I also thank Josh Melson for running in our election, and for agreeing to stay on as our most awesome Membership and Communications Chair.

We lost a great teacher and dedicated member of the board this year, Ginny Moravek.  Please read her tribute here.  Donations in her honor can be made to the Mason Gross School of Arts Music Department Scholarship fund at give.rutgers.edu, or to the JPStevens Choir Scholarship Fund, at www.jpschoir.org.

I am excited that NJACDA is co-sponsoring Beyond Song Selection: An Intro to Decolonizing and Antiracist Approaches in the Music Classroom on Tuesday June 29 at 7 pm. (include attached flyer image)

This is a workshop for all teachers of song in all classrooms or choirs, led by Brandi Waller-Pace, Founder and Executive Director of Decolonizing the Music Room.

Choral pedagogy and practice are rooted in the Eurocentric language of 19th century dead white men (and, yes, we can still love them). How can we use a decolonized and culturally responsive approach to engage, empower, and educate without tokenism or cultural appropriation? In this session, attendees will learn vocabulary foundational to decolonizing and antiracist approaches in order to develop common language, as well as explore identity and positionality as it relates to their practice.

Brandi Waller-Pace is the Founder and Executive Director of Decolonizing the Music Room. You can find her full bio, and purchase tickets ($20 per zoom screen) here. http://www.harmonium.org/events/2021/6/29/decolonizing-the-music-classroom

I hope to see you June 29! PD certificates are available upon request. For other anti-racist resources, check out this link on the NJACDA website.

Thanks to those who attended (and contributed to) our Spring “Pop-up PD” sessions. Recordings and Docs from Easy Virtual Choir for Technophobes, What Worked For Me: (Elementary & Middle School Strategies), and Flexibility And The Church Musician are available here.

These sessions REPLACED our summer conference. Get yourselves outside and enjoy friends, family and some well-deserved R & R!

Thank you for the honor of serving you as president. Please reach out to any board member, especially R & R representatives in your fields, and let them know how we can be of help in the future.

Happy Summer! –Dr. Anne Matlack