July 15, 2020

The 2020 ACDA Southern Region Junior High Honor Choir (7th-9th grade), conducted by Tesfa Wondemagegnehu, performs "Be the Change" (Marc Kaplan & Colin Britt / Creative Commons; from the "Justice Choir Songbook, Vol. 1"). Tyler Merideth, collaborative pianist.

CHORAL RESOURCES FOR THESE TIMES Round 1 preliminary results of the Performing Arts Aerosol Study that ACDA is helping to support are making the rounds - a first communication that is even pre-preliminary findings. It is from the first week of exploratory testing and has not been peer reviewed. Preliminary results for singing and theater are expected by July 25, with guidance expected by the last week of July. The Western ACDA Task Force for Innovation recently released their report Choral Music in the Time of COVID-19. It is presented in the form of a multi-folder document, with separate resources for different areas (e.g., Advocacy, Elementary, Worship, and many more). There are also video discussions and how-to's. The technology team produced a side-by-side comparison of platforms and software that is highly useful. Learn more. Hawai'i ACDA has posted a video recording of their webinar on Music and Worship, Interim Guidance: Navigating Music and Worship Safely. Links to these resources are included on a webpage ACDA is maintaining, which is updated daily: Resources for Choral Professionals During the Pandemic .

ONLINE LEARNING & SUPPORT ACDA Connecting with the World A playlist of recordings of the International Activities Standing Committee's five-part webinar series ACDA Connecting with the World, with choral professionals from Cuba, Sweden, South Korea, China, and Kenya, has just been published on ACDA's YouTube channel. ACDA Mentoring Program Looking for thoughts and guidance in the virtual world? The ACDA Mentoring Program has just added two new options. Mentees - search by Educational and Career Interests>> "Surviving/thriving in the online/virtual choral world," as well as under "Styles/Areas of Music >> "Virtual Choirs."  Potential mentors - select "Surviving/thriving in the online/virtual choral world" as an interest, or "Virtual Choirs" as an area of experience if you have something to offer in one or both (be generous with yourself!).  Get started by visiting mentoring.acda.org  and register as a mentee or mentor. Are you already in the mentor pool? Log-in and edit your profile to include these interests/options if you can.

STATE ONLINE OFFERINGS Many state chapters are offering virtual conferences and other events that are open to members in other states. Some are free; some are lower cost than in-person events. We encourage you to take advantage of any or all - remembering that your state's financial health may depend on revenue generated by a conference, and registration fees will support your state chapter and its future activities. VIrtual Conferences Jul. 18 - Hawai'i ACDA's Professional Development Day. Participation free. Click here for more information and to register. Jul. 20-21 - Colorado ACDA's 2020 CoACDA Virtual Summer Conference: Choir in a COVID Era. Registration: $10 ACDA members, $25 nonmembers. Click here for more information and to register. Jul. 20-22 - Arkansas ACDA's 2020: Perfect Vision - All Virtual Conference. Registration: $79. Click here for more information and to register. Jul. 20-24 - North Carolina ACDA's Equip, a Week-long Virtual Choir Boot Camp, with Laura Sam. Participation free. Click here for more information and to register. Jul. 22-23 - Washington ACDA's WA ACDA Summer Institute. Participation free. Click here for more information and to register. Jul. 23-25 - Texas CDA's Texas Choral Directors Association's Annual Summer Convention. Registration: $120 Active, $50 Retired, $35 Student. Click here for more information and to register. Jul. 25 - North Carolina ACDA's Virtual Conference Series Kick Off, with a Boot Camp Recap by Laura Sam (session 1). Registration: $30 ACDA members, $40 nonmembers, $10 students for entire 4-part series. Click here for more information and to register. Jul. 26-28 - California CDA's Summer Choral Summit. Registration: $25 pre-registration; $30 late registration. Click here for more information and to register. Jul. 29-30 - South Dakota ACDA's Envision, Create, Inspire Virtual Conference. Registration: $25 Early Bird, $30 after Jul. 15. Click here for more information and to register. Aug. 6-8 - Virginia, Maryland/D. C. & Delaware ACDA's Voices United. Participation free. Click here for more information and to register. Aug. 8 - North Carolina ACDA's Imagine with Tesfa Wondemagegnehu (session 2). Registration: $30 ACDA members, $40 nonmembers, $10 students for entire 4-part series. Click here for more information and to register. Sep. 12 - North Carolina ACDA's Immerse with Deke Sharon (session 3). Registration: $30 ACDA members, $40 nonmembers, $10 students for entire 4-part series. Click here for more information and to register. Oct. 17 - North Carolina ACDA's Connect with Jocelyn Hagen & Timothy Takach (Nation) (session 4). Registration: $30 ACDA members, $40 nonmembers, $10 students for entire 4-part series. Click here for more information and to register. Webinars Jul. 21 - New York ACDA's Composers are Real People! Participation free. Click here for more information and to register. Jul. 27 - New Jersey ACDA's Meet the Composer with Melissa Dunphy. Participation free. Click here for more information and to register. Jul. 28 - New York ACDA's Crash Course in Sight Reading. Participation free. Click here for more information and to register. Aug. 2 - Pennsylvania ACDA's Organizing, Rehearsing, and Programming for Socially Distant Choirs. Participation free. Click here for more information and to register. Is your state offering a virtual conference, webinar, or other event open to other ACDA members? Please ask your president or president-elect to submit it to us using this form.

TOOLS My Choral Coach My Choral Coach is a simple guided practice and choral management system that will keep choirs engaged and reaching their goals during this time of physical distancing and isolation. It's just a one-time $50 fee for six-month access, and FREE for all choral singers in your choirs through the end of the calendar year. Learn more. Are you using My Choral Coach with your choir? Would you be interested in sharing your experience? Contact My Choral Coach at info@mychoralcoach.com and consider being a webinar guest.

RELEVANCE CMI Sacred Music Library The Jun./Jul. issue of   Choral Journal announced a partnership between ACDA and the  Church Music Institute. The CMI Sacred Music Library referenced in that article, a library of 20,000 choral titles searchable on 17 criteria, and 16,000 organ titles searchable by hymn tune, is available only to CMI members. We are pleased to announced that - as a result of this partnership -  ACDA members receive a $35 discount on CMI membership (reg. $75). To access the discount, sign in at  https://acda.org and click on "My Offers" in the upper right of the screen.

ACDA APP If you haven't already downloaded the app, here are the links to follow: here for the iPhone/iOS app  and here for the  Android app. Already a user?  Update the app and log-in again. Hint: Your log-in information is the same on the app as it is on https://acda.org!

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