Every other year the Southwestern region of the American Choral Directors’ Association (ACDA) offers a Collegiate Honors Choir conference. This year the conference will be held in Denver, Colo., from Feb. 24-27, and Ouachita will be sending seven music education majors.
The ACDA is a group of choral directors that meets every two years, for networking and experience-sharing reasons.
It is divided into regions, and during the years between formal meetings, each region holds an honors choir conference.
“Our region has the normal honors choirs [elementary, high school, etc…], but unique to our region is a collegiate honor choir,” said Dr. Gary Gerber, associate professor of music. “It has been a tremendous success for us.”
Gerber will be taking the students to the conference next week.
Gerber is also serving in his fourth year (second term) as the Repertoire and Standards chair for the Southwestern ACDA. This means he is very involved in the planning and coordinating for the conference. For every conference, the ACDA enlists the help of a well-known, respected Choir Director to assist with the Choir. This year the Conductor will be Dr. Craig Jessop, former director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (12 years) and current chair of the music department at Utah State University.
According to Gerber, an average of 150 to 200 students from the Southwestern Region attend the conference annually, this year they anticipate about 160 students to attend.
The Choir will be accompanied by a brass choir, at the 2008 conference they were accompanied by an orchestra.
The conference normally works by “students coming together, rehearsing at the convention, then performing a concert at the end of the conference [for parents, professors, and themselves],” Gerber said.
The music education students from Ouachita attending this year’s conference are: juniors Jessica Hardy, Jennifer Carney, Maggie Taylor, Emily Peek, Josiah Wheeler and seniors Natalie Carroll and Molly Jo Banks.
Wheeler went to the Kansas City Choir in 2008 as a freshman and expects to enjoy this year’s choir as much as last time.
“I loved every minute of it the last time I went,” Wheeler said. “I bet [that] this time will be even better.”
Wheeler also said that the conference is a way to “sing great music with a couple hundred great singers.” In addition to this, students who attend get the opportunity to learn, perform and keep brand new music and “hone [their] singing and conducting skills.”
Taylor agreed with Wheeler’s assessment of the benefits of the choir.
“It means that I’ll be able to have an experience at a music conference that I wouldn’t have otherwise,” Taylor said. “It also means that I will attend different clinics along with high school directors from all over the country in order to further my education and get my name out there.”
Taylor, like Wheeler, attended as a freshman and said her favorite part of the previous trip was “getting to know the other [Ouachita] people that went along with me.”
Hardy and Peek will be attending the conference for the first time this year.
“I’m so excited to hear some amazing ensembles perform and work under the direction of Craig Jessop,” Hardy said. “We will be practicing like crazy, going to different workshops and lectures, and listening to many different choral ensembles.”
Peek said she is “incredibly excited about going. I think it’s going to be a great opportunity to meet new people with the same interests I have.”
Peek also said she is excited to miss a few days of class, though it will be a lot of work.
“I was told we’re going to have 1-2 rehearsals a day over music we’ve already been given,” Peek said. “Also there are going to be other concerts and exhibits that we will be able to visit for free.”
While the conference will be a lot of work for the students attending, Gerber said that it is a great opportunity for students to go and practice what they will be doing in their careers as choir directors.
Gerber also said that Ouachita’s presence at the conference is a great networking tool, and “helps keep our name out there…shows the music department is thriving.”
By Ananda Boardman, Signal Writer
