Approved Minutes
NJ ACDA Board Meeting
Westminster Choir College
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Meeting called to order at 10:04 am by Jack Hill.
I. Welcome new members – Hill
Jack introduced Hingrid Kujawinski for Women’s Choirs replacing Barbara Retzko, Jason Tramm for Youth and Student Activities replacing Tom Shelton, and Patrick Gardner replacing Dan Salyerds for Men’s Choirs.
II. Roll Call– Nicosia
Present: Carol Beadle, Fred Ford, Patrick Gardner, Patrick Hatchey, Jack Hill, Al Holcomb, Trish Joyce, Deborah King, Hingrid Kujawinski, Laurie Lausi, Melissa Malvar-Keylock, Anne Matlack, Virginia Moravek, Judith Nicosia, Michael Schmidt, Jennifer Sengin, Helen Stanley, Chris Thomas, Jason Tramm, John Wilson
Absent: Jason Bishop, Lori Lynch, Noel Werner
III. Correction of Minutes for February 1, 2014 – Hill
The following corrections are noted: spelling of Moravek and Lausi; including the Boychoir Festival on Nov. 5; plus other corrections that Jen and Judith will work out. Vote on the minutes was tabled.
IV. Treasurer’s Report – Hatchey
$24,942.54 is the balance in our account. Everything else is in the report circulated by email.
V. Membership Report – Stanley
There are 449 current members. A list of expired members is in everybody’s folder. Jack asked that board members contact those you know and encourage them to renew their membership.
VI. Old Business
A. Website update – Ford
A few members have been on the site and changed things. Fred urges everyone to get on the website: login, go to the upper left hand corner and roll over the logo. Dashboard will appear and that’s how you get into the “back side” of the website. Click on the page you want, edit/add and save as a draft. Fred will review. John Wilson found a spam stopper for the site and Fred was able to delete all of the spam that has appeared.
Anyone can now see job opportunities postings. Jack reiterated that R&S chairs must maintain their own pages on the website. We need to get the word out to our membership to register on the website. Jen asked if we needed an incentive to register. Jack replied that one cannot register for events without logging on to the website which uses very different information from what people use to register for events on Rick Retzko’s registration site. They do need to register with information that Fred can recognize. Extensive discussion ensued.
Jack asked if we are interested in having Dave Adams run another training session for the board. Next logical time would be the board meeting on Sept. 6, extending the meeting to incorporate the training (10 am to 2pm). Jack asked for a show of hands and the majority agreed. Location may be Bridgewater-Raritan H.S. Details will be finalized.
Fred says he is still working on posting to the Concert Calendar and getting the photo album up. Any material from events should be up on the website, such as photos, even after the fact. The list of the state board is posted under “About Us.” Jack asked everyone to check their contact information.
B. NJ Elementary/Junior High Honor Choir Report – Beadle
The event was last week and went very well. We made over $7000, of which we get half. Ideas for next year: Finances – everything goes through NJMEA and it’s difficult to deal with. We have to have that discussion with NJMEA. Ginny needs a program copy for the archives. This should also be posted on the website. Conductors are needed for 2015: Jr. High is out of state for next year. Elementary conductor suggestions: Tara Postigo and Michelle Moore were suggested. Practice tracks were posted on the website – thanks to Fred. Carol wants to use OPUS for the recordings next year. Could we use this for other events we do? She will use Googleforms next year. Could we get a Westminster student to help with technology? Hopefully that will happen next year. Patrick suggested that perhaps a high school student from Rutgers Prep could use this for community service.
Jen went to the concert. She wants to engage more of this community for this event – something to think about.
Usually the president of the organization is there to introduce and say a few words. Someone from our leadership should represent us who is not the coordinator. Send conductor names to Carol.
C. Multicultural Event Report – Senjin
We are ready to go; 40 registrants thus far. People can still register and Jen is ordering extra music packets. It was suggested we e-blast that we have 10 places left and see what happens. The packet is $55, which includes postage, for those on the board who cannot be there in person.
D. High School Festival Report – King
Not a whole lot to report right now. 29 groups registered from 23 different schools. Ryan Brandau, John Leonard, and Mark Boyle are the adjudicators, with Richard DeRosa doing the sightreading. This is the first year for the option to have certificates rather than plaques, which are expensive. This is King’s 20th year to run the festival. She will not be present on the first day but will be back on Wednesday and Thursday. This will be the first use of the new facilities at Rutgers, which are all connected. Jack said this is model festival.
E. Summer Conference Update – Hill
5 people are registered for the event. Noel needs two presenters: one for the children and youth retention presentation and one for creative and engaging warm-up techniques. Amy volunteered to do it for middle school and in tandem with someone else. Amy pointed out that you can register without paying immediately to hold your spot. Board members should make the effort to be there.
There will be a graduate and undergraduate conducting master class. Chris said there will be 6 students who will conduct 3 pieces, with a critique by a conductor from a different university with a follow-up session of up to 30 minutes in a different room. An email about this will go out next week. This initiative came out of the collegiate summit.
Mike spoke about the composition contest – there are 3 submissions. We made $30.00. We will copy and send the top ones to Steven Sametz. Mike has reading packet suggestions for multicultural, women’s, church, high school, college and middle school. The rest are needed. These will be available for perusal at The Musical Source exhibit. Discussion followed; there should be a variety of difficulty levels chosen.
We will have two student accompanists from WCC. We need student workers, at least 4, also available on Monday afternoon for set-up. Students will get free conference registration, free lunch, and renewal of membership.
VII. New Business – Planned offerings for 2014-2015 – Hill
A. Fall Reading Session – Sept. 13, 2014 at Westminster – Hill
Amanda Quist is the contact person. She has received the feedback that the level of music for last year’s event was too difficult.
B. Boychoir Festival – Malvar-Keylock
Nov. 5, 2015 is the date. Grade range is 3-5. The location is the American Boychoir School and time is 9:00 am to 2:15 pm. No preparation is needed. The cost of $25 per child includes a T-shirt, snack, water and lunch.
C. NJMEA Choral Academy – Lausi
We did not miss having an exhibit table. Feb. 18, 2015 is the date. Chris asked if we could find a decent place with a shell and have more choirs sings. Discussion ensued. Patrick suggested that Shindell Hall at Rutgers be used for this purpose – this could be a concert session sponsored by ACDA. Perhaps the Wenger Company would sponsor this. Chris is happy to help with this and Laurie will talk with Cathy Spadafino. Al will communicate scheduling conflicts from this past year at the upcoming NJMEA meeting.
D. Collegiate Choral Festival – March 28, 2015 at Rutgers University – Gardner
All the major schools have committed. He will know in about 2 weeks whether he has the budget to pay a clinician so ACDA doesn’t bear that expense. Jerry McCoy and Alan Harler have been suggested as possible clinicians.
E. Elementary/Junior High Honor Choir Festival – Beadle
May 2, 2015 is the date.
F. High School Choral Festival – King
May 19-21, 2015 tentative date.
G. Summer Festival 2015 – Schmidt
July 28-29, 2015 it the date. Ysaye Barnwell is on tap for this. Mike needs volunteers for a committee.
H. Additional offerings in 2014-2015 – Hill
A Men’s Choir event is missing for next year. This year’s event didn’t happen due to lack of registration.
NJ Choral Consortium is having a men’s choir event in the near future and is looking for participants. Patrick is happy to sponsor a Men’s Choir event at Rutgers; Chris is happy to sponsor also – the event could rotate between two colleges. Chris and Patrick need to consult with each other. Normally this event happens on a Wednesday. Anne asked that perhaps we could gear this event more toward a church population in the future. Discussion ensued. This could appeal to many levels, children through adult; it could grow beyond where it is.
Mike asked if we should we do the composition competition again next year. The emphasis would be different, both for the parameters of the piece itself and the choir chosen to premiere it. Jen asked if we could open the competition up to non-ACDA members. The board agreed this should be done. If it is an elementary piece, it should be used for the following year’s elementary/junior high honor choir festival. The conductor of the festival would have the right of refusal. Mike would then post the new requirements on the website in August, with a deadline of January 2015.
I. Additional items/concerns – Hill
Jack thinks we need to rethink scheduling, perhaps offer something online as Westminster does. Anne suggested we make presentations available online only for members. Perhaps some kind of presentation/instructional event or an interview (chat) with someone. Al talked about Student Growth Objectives (SGOs) – piloting something to promote engagement with choral activities, such as creating independence, choosing music, composing music, etc. In short, this would be an event incorporating new national standards into the choral classroom. John will work with Al to market a virtual event sometime next year. Patrick volunteered to have this filmed at Rutgers; early fall or late April/early May would be good times to offer this type of event. It could be synchronous and on demand.
Judith offered to do a session online for teachers losing their voices, marketed with New York Singing Teachers Association. Anne will work with her and Jen will be a voice. Fred asked for links for the website.
Ginny volunteered Bob Chilcott as a clinician for some future event.
Patrick H. asked for budgets for all events. He will send the template to each board member; it must be returned by the end of June.
Ginny asked for copies of any program people did, for the archives and for the national office.
Jack discussed Rick Retzko’s proposal, which Jack requested, for what he does and how he could be paid. This would be an annual fee of $1000 for 5 events per year that require registration; details are in the proposal (see appendix). Jack recommends we adopt this. Additional events would be considered on a per-event basis. This is a one-year proposal. The number of people who attend is not relevant to the amount of work it takes to get each event up and running.
Motion to approve Rick’s proposal: Matlack Second: Lausi
Yes: 17
No: none
Abstentions: 2
Motion approved.
Motion to adjourn: Schmidt Second: Thomas Motion passed unanimously.
Meeting adjourned at 11:49 am.
Next meeting: Sept. 6, 2014 – 10 am, place TBA
Respectfully Submitted,
Judith Nicosia, Secretary