The Tennessee American Choral Directors Association
is a chapter of the national ACDA organization and
represents and enhances the choral music profession in the state of Tennessee.
We represent individuals who work in any capacity in leading choral music in
schools, houses of worship, civic choral organizations, corporate or
professional choral organizations as well as the singers that comprise those
organizations and composers who write music for them.
We host events throughout the year to offer professional development to choral directors and singers as well as college and university students who are on their way to becoming the next generation of professional choral directors.
We host events throughout the year to offer professional development to choral directors and singers as well as college and university students who are on their way to becoming the next generation of professional choral directors.
Tennessee President Elect Election is running from May 22 through June 5. Go to acda.org webpage to vote. Candidates: Dr. Jeffery Ames and Dr. Gary Wilson
Dale Warland, Kenney and Heather Potter Featured at 2013 Summer TN-ACDA Conference in Chattanooga
The 2013 Tennessee ACDA Summer Conference will feature noted clinicians Dale Warland (Dale Warland Singers, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Chorale, Minnesota Beethoven Festival Chorale), Heather Potter (Choristers Guild, Charlotte Children's Choir, First Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church-Gastonia), and Kenney Potter (Wingate University, First Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church-Gastonia) will highlight an impressive offering of interest sessions, reading sessions, and performances at this year's gathering of choral directors from around the Volunteer State.
This year's conference takes place June 21-22, 2013 at First Baptist Church-Chattanooga - 401 Gateway Avenue. Attendees can find more details including information about schedules, registration, and lodging in the TNACDA Summer Conference section of the www.tnacda.org web site.
Full-time students are especially encouraged to attend at a discounted registration rate. Proof of student status is required.
See you in Chattanooga June 21-22!
This year's conference takes place June 21-22, 2013 at First Baptist Church-Chattanooga - 401 Gateway Avenue. Attendees can find more details including information about schedules, registration, and lodging in the TNACDA Summer Conference section of the www.tnacda.org web site.
Full-time students are especially encouraged to attend at a discounted registration rate. Proof of student status is required.
See you in Chattanooga June 21-22!
National Middle School/Junior High Conference for Choral Music - May 2-3, University of North Texas
The 2014 MS/JH National Conference for Choral Music will take plan May 2 (late afternoon) and May 3 at the University of North Texas in Denton (30 minutes north of Dallas). This conference is an exemplary gathering of experts and colleagues who will address topics related to literature, rehearsal pedagogy, performance, sight-singing, and classroom technology geared towards middle school teachers and directors. The conference also features the innovative Cambiata Composition Initiative, which seeks to promote the creation of quality choral literature for early adolescent male choristers. Click on the documents below for more information on the conference and the composition initiative.
Cambiata Composition Initiative (PDF)
National MS / JH Conference on Choral Music Information Flyer (PDF)
Cambiata Composition Initiative (PDF)
National MS / JH Conference on Choral Music Information Flyer (PDF)
Student Conductors at 2013 TMEA Conference
A special session sponsored by the Tennessee chapter of ACDA at this year's Tennessee Music Educators Association conference in Chattanooga featured three student conductors working with members of the Signal Mountain Middle-High School Concert Choir (Jan Johnson, director) and guest clinician G. Phillip Shoultz. The event took place on Friday, April 12 at the TMEA Conference in the Chattanooga Convention Center. Students were nominated by their university choral faculty and selected through an application process. The session was attended by several conference registrants as part of the TMEA conference offerings.
The students participating in the master class included:
• Eric Hill, Maryville College
• Zach Thompson, Austin Peay State University
• Sarah Wade, Middle Tennessee State University
The students participating in the master class included:
• Eric Hill, Maryville College
• Zach Thompson, Austin Peay State University
• Sarah Wade, Middle Tennessee State University
High School State Festivals - April 24-26, 2013
The Tennessee ACDA High School Choral Festivals took place from April 24-26 in three locations throughout the state. Visit the State Choral Festival page for results and more information.
April 24 - St. George's Episcopal Church, 2425 South Germantown Road, Germantown, TN
April 25 - Lipscomb University, One University Park Drive, Nashville, TN
April 26 - Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church, 9132 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN
April 24 - St. George's Episcopal Church, 2425 South Germantown Road, Germantown, TN
April 25 - Lipscomb University, One University Park Drive, Nashville, TN
April 26 - Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church, 9132 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN
Vincent Oakes Selected President-Elect
Vincent Oakes, Artistic Director of the Chattanooga Boys Choir and Director of Choral Music at The Baylor School, has been selected as President-Elect by the Tennessee ACDA membership. His term as President-Elect begins in fall 2011, and he will assume to role of President in 2013. Oakes is Artistic Director of the Chattanooga Boys Choir, a public, non-profit community music performance and education organization of over 140 boys in five different ensembles. Recent appearances by the choir include performance tours of the Czech Republic, Ireland, Canada, and throughout the United States. A frequent guest conductor, recent conducting engagements include the Tennessee Treble Honor Choir, Alabama ACDA Festival of Voices Boychoir, Florida ACDA Male Honor Choir, and the GMEA (Georgia) 6th Grade Statewide Honors Chorus. Oakes also directs the choral program at the Baylor School, including two middle school choirs, two high school choirs, and the faculty chorus. His recent service to ACDA includes state and division R&S Chair for Boychoirs, state conference chair, and high school honor choir chair for the 2010 (Memphis) and 2012 (Winston-Salem) division conventions. He was also selected to participate in the inaugural ACDA International Conductors Exchange Program, which culminates in his participation in a delegation of American conductors who will visit Cuba in May 2012.
Grammy Nominee Takes Tennessee Choir Director BJ Frost of Hillsboro High School to Awards
February 11, 2012 NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Christian singer Brandon Heath doesn't need to win a Grammy to thank his biggest supporter publicly. She's going with him to the show! 33-year old Heath is took his former high school choir teacher, Bobby Jean Frost to the Grammy Awards.
Lipscomb University's Gary Wilson Selected to Present Research at ACDA Seminar
Dr. Gary Wilson was selected to present research at ACDA’s first National Symposium on American Choral Music: The Search for An American Style. The conference took place in Washington D.C. in June 2012, with most of the sessions held at the Library of Congress. Wilson’s presentation covered American composer Edward MacDowell (1860-1902). MacDowell is well-known as a composer of piano
and orchestral works, but also wrote approximately two dozen choral octavos.
The symposium was the culmination of a joint venture begun in 2007 between ACDA and the Library of Congress. The purpose of the initiative is to create an American choral
music web site that would make selected works from the Library of Congress collection available for downloading, free of charge, to conductors worldwide. Works selected for the web site are by American composers, in the public domain, and appear in editions not readily available today. The collection contains mixed, women’s and men’s pieces, either unaccompanied or with keyboard accompaniment. Some of the composers included in the project with MacDowell are Amy Beach, Nathaniel Dett, Horatio Parker, Henry Burleigh, Victor Herbert, Peter Lutkin, and Edgar Thorn (MacDowell’s pseudonym). To view the collection visit:
http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/choralmusic/
and orchestral works, but also wrote approximately two dozen choral octavos.
The symposium was the culmination of a joint venture begun in 2007 between ACDA and the Library of Congress. The purpose of the initiative is to create an American choral
music web site that would make selected works from the Library of Congress collection available for downloading, free of charge, to conductors worldwide. Works selected for the web site are by American composers, in the public domain, and appear in editions not readily available today. The collection contains mixed, women’s and men’s pieces, either unaccompanied or with keyboard accompaniment. Some of the composers included in the project with MacDowell are Amy Beach, Nathaniel Dett, Horatio Parker, Henry Burleigh, Victor Herbert, Peter Lutkin, and Edgar Thorn (MacDowell’s pseudonym). To view the collection visit:
http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/choralmusic/
