Listen to Francisco J. Núñez's complete keynote address from the 2021 national conference below.

. . . Last week, I had an hour-long conversation with one of my choir students - a senior who was failing multiple classes and had completely stopped attending classes on Zoom. "Lillie" had been my student since she was a freshman. She was a bright, energetic, friendly girl . . . before COVID. I made a phone call to her that day to find out what was going on with her since I had not seen her in two weeks.

This was not the first time I had called her this year about her sporadic attendance, but I was extremely concerned this time because of her failing grades in classes she needed to graduate. "Lillie" poured her heart out to me. She was depressed. In our conversation, she told me that I was the only adult with whom she could be honest. By the end of the conversation, we had a plan to help her catch up in her required classes, and I am happy to say that she is back on the path to graduate in June. The relationships we build with our choir members through music are strong. These relationships have been critical in helping students adjust to their new reality and in keeping them engaged in learning. . . . Read complete post

We have added a new page to the website to include information on national webinars. You will find up-to-date information there on the following two events.

Church Music Re-Enters Worship, co-hosted by ACDA & the Church Music Institute (CMI) - Monday, Apr. 26, 1:00 p.m. PDT / 4:00 p.m. EDT

The event will be livestreamed on ACDA's Facebook page, and a recording will be available following the event. Sign up here to be sure to receive the recording!

Looking Forward: Inspiration for Revitalizing Your Middle School & High School Choirs, hosted by ACDA's Education & Communication Committee - Tuesday, Jun. 8, 5:00 p.m. PDT / 8:00 p.m. EDT

This webinar will feature a panel of clinicians who will share practical ideas for sixth through twelfth grade choral educators.

Registration will begin in May - look for more information on this event soon.

Visit our state chapter events page for a comprehensive list of events that are open to all ACDA members. Does your chapter or region have an official chapter event coming up that is open to other members? Ask your president to submit the information here to be included on this page!

Following are events scheduled for the next 30 days:

Check the region conference page for dates and locations of the 2022 conferences, as well as to find links to each region's conference information.

Apr. 22 - GALA presents Rise Up! This event explores music and social justice in collaboration with Berkshire Choral International. The event will include performances, commissions, and interviews with Eugene Rogers (The Washington Chorus), Tesfa Wondemagegnehu (St. Olaf College), and Alysia Lee (Sister Cities GirlChoir). Registration: pay what you can. Learn more and register.

The U. S. Department of Education has put out a call for real-life examples of successful back-to-school risk management practices for pre-K through college classrooms that will then be available to teachers and administrators in a clearinghouse as they plan to return to in-person learning. Submission instructions & template.

Open the Resources tab on the app and look in the COVID & the Return to Singing Together folder. We've just added (1) a newly published preprint of a scientific paper based on research by the Univ. of Colorado and Univ. of Maryland researchers, which ACDA helped sponsor, and (2) a summary of research-based guidance for a more general audience, which responds to the question "Is choir practice okay now?" 📲 Click here to download the app and get started!

A limited number of registrations to this landmark conference are still available! By registering now, you can access sessions and performances through December 2021.

Log-in here, then click Register at the top right of the page.

J. W. Pepper Reading Packets Available

Click here to go to the Pepper site. Once you create your free account, you will have access to the PDFs from the session booklets, plus any audio that they have for each title.

To return and view performances and sessions if you have already registered, go to https://acda.pathable.co/login and log-in.

First, can you log in? Remember, your primary email address is your username. If you’re not receiving the reset password email at that address, we may need to update your username manually. Please contact us at membership@acda.org or (405) 232-8161 and ask for help!

Second, can you renew once you log-in? If you aren’t able to move through the renewal process for some reason, please contact us and ask for a “pro forma invoice.” We’ll email you a link to simply click on and pay your renewal dues.

Autorenewal Available! If you are an Active member, you may opt-in to autorenewal of your dues the next time you renew your membership.

Sign-in at https://acda.org, go to your profile, scroll to your communications preferences, and de-select "Weekly Inspiration." Or, reply with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line and we'll manually remove you from this Wednesday email.