Hello, IC ACDA blog readers! Here is the second and final installment to our blog about NY-ACDA!

Starting the day fresh at 8 AM with coffee and bagels, the participants of the NY-ACDA conference were buzzing with excitement about the upcoming day. Our director of choral activities, Dr. Janet Galván, kicked us off with a welcome, and our key-note speaker Francisco Núñez made an opening speech. He shared some thought-provoking and poignant ideas. He discussed music as a "vehicle to knowledge," stating that music isn't technically necessary to living, so why teach it? It is because music is an integral part to making us better people. He talked about the psychological implications of music, saying that music is one of the most influential catalysts in brain capacity growth. Mr. Núñez is certainly an inspiring speaker, and my own personal drive to pursuing music and music education was only solidified even more though this speech!

Following the opening session was our very own Dr. Derrick Fox's session entitled, "50 Shades of Grading." I know that I learned a great deal from this session -- assessment in a music ensemble has been a long-discussed issue, and Dr. Fox presented us with his creative ideas and solutions. For one thing, although grading can never parallel someone's true intelligence, educators nevertheless do need "artifacts," or proof of assessment. How can we keep the administration and parents happy while still challenging students to a higher cognitive level of thinking? Dr. Fox gave us many solutions: first, always be aware of how you are phrasing your questions. Instead of, "What's this key signature?" that calls for a simple answer, say, "How do you know what this key signature is?" that calls for critical thinking. Although it may take more time in the classroom, I truly believe it is imperative to give that time to your students in order to facilitate higher level thinking in your ensembles as well as individual assessment. Always anticipate certain questions by studying the score, and constantly be challenging your students to think at a deeper level. In terms of artifacts, you can do a number of things. Of course, you can go with a traditional music theory or aural skills paper test. Dr. Fox offers a few more suggestions: 
       (1) Record a mute video of you conducting, and have your students identify what piece you are conducting and how they arrived at that conclusion
       (2) Use YouTube as a source, give your students 2 videos to observe and have them write observations: how were they engaged, how were they singing, moving, etc.?
       (3) Have them use the analytical process of SHMRTFO (sound, harmony, melody, rhythm, texture, form, and organization) to describe a piece
       (4) Use roll-call as a time to test aural skills by calling their name on an interval
       (5) Have them draw a measure number out of a hat, where they will sight-read that melody or rhythm when their measure number arrives (which will assess internal pulse as well). 
I thought these ideas were just brilliant -- I know that I've been questioning assessment a lot lately, and Dr. Fox did a fine job sharing his creative ideas for assessment in the music ensemble classroom.

Next was our first concert session, with Camillus Middle School as Don Schuessler as conductor, and Cantare of Young People's Chorus of NYC conducted by Elizabeth Núñez. I can honestly say I was incredibly inspired by these two groups -- middle-school aged students who loved music and were already passionate about it, as well as these fantastic conductors that were able to convey the importance as well as beauty of music to these children. I also thought Mr. Schuessler's use of an iPad for music was a great, innovative method for easy page-turns and light traveling. After their performances, Francisco Núñez held a demonstration rehearsal with YPC, where there was a physical warm up with stretching and sitting in a "chair pose" and breathing for different counts, and solfeging exercises where they started with unison and then split to hear different intervals. Mr. Núñez also discussed the importance of teaching that a long note is not static -- it moves! It is crucial for a conductor to teach with gesture as well as words.

We had a break for lunch, and reconvened in Ford Hall for the second concert session. This time, we were privileged to have the Queens College Women's Choir conducted by Sandra Babb, as well as the Ithaca College Choir conducted by Janet Galván. The Queens College Women's Choir performed very well, and had some wonderful repertoire -- I especially liked "Svatba," a traditional Bulgarian song. They ended their portion with "Ride on King Jesus," arr. by Moses Hogan, which is always fun. The Ithaca College Choir then performed, and it was wonderful being able to share our music with such a wide range of people. It was especially inspiring to see Young People's Chorus's reaction to "Entreat Me Not to Leave You" by Dan Forrest; they seemed to be very moved by the beautiful text and music of this piece.

After the concerts, the New York Voices (IC's own!) presented a session, kind of a "teaser" to their concert later that night. In the light of not making this blog post much too long, all I have to say is that if you ever get a chance to go see them, do it! They are not only wonderful people, but incredible performers.

So that's it! The New York ACDA conference was a success and an absolute privilege to be able to host. We were presented with so many opportunities that not many people get to experience, and I know that I am truly grateful for it.

Thanks for reading!

-Sunhwa Reiner, treasurer of IC ACDA

Whew! It's been a while, readers of the IC ACDA blog. We've had a lot going on, from holding workshops (this past Wednesday, we had a Hawaiian Choral Music and Culture workshop!) to planning the trip to the conference to Baltimore in February (we're super excited!), to planning for the 35th annual Choral Composition Festival at Ithaca College... which is TOMORROW! (Stay tuned for blogs about these events!)

Last month, we held the New York ACDA conference right at our very own Ithaca College. We were extremely lucky to have composer and conductor Francisco Núñez as our keynote speaker! On the first day of the conference, we opened it up with a few words from our advisor and director of choral activities at Ithaca College, Janet Galván, and our president, Rebecca Saltzman. This was followed by an opening session with Fransisco Núñez, launching us into the start of the conference! We had 3 workshops that day, each concerning a unique topic in the choral world. Penelope Cruz, President of NY-ACDA, presented a workshop called, "My First Job: The Search, the Documents, the Interview." I personally wasn't able to attend this one, but it seemed to have been a success. 

The next workshop, entitled "Creative and Pragmatic Programming for Choirs," was presented by Christine Howlett from Vassar College. I found this one to be very informational -- she gave us a repertoire list she has put together, which included repertoire for choirs based on composer and difficulty. I will be sure to hold on to this list when I go out and start teaching my own choir!

Dr. Sandra Babb from Queens College, Chair of NY-ACDA Student and Youth Activities, conducted the Student Chapter Activities and Dinner. It was very nice to be able to get to know a few students from other ACDA college chapters! We played a few icebreakers, and Dr. Babb explained the importance of building a sense of community in your choirs, even by playing some simple icebreakers and allowing your students to get to know each other.

After all these wonderful workshops, we held a conducting master class with Francisco Núñez. There was a choir comprised of Ithaca College students, including myself, who had met a few times to learn the two songs that were used in the masterclass -- Brahms's "How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place" (in German) and Núñez's "Forever is My Song." We had a handful of students from all over New York conduct (including 2 students from IC!). Francisco Núñez had a lot of advice for every person, and I know I learned a great deal. The biggest thing I took away from this masterclass is that the most important thing for a conductor to do is create beautiful phrases; barlines do not matter as much, just know what direction you want to go in for every single phrase, and how you are going to convey that to your choir.

Ending this long day of activities was a performance of Duruflé's "Requiem," sung by Vox Lumine, conducted by Brandon Johnson. This was performed in the First Presbyterian Church downtown, which is just an absolutely exquisite space. You can read more about the group, but just to give a brief background, they are kind of an experimental group, consisting of many professionals, musicians, and music teachers, that only meets for a "retreat" a few days before performing in order to work together on the piece. I can imagine this requiem is not easy to sing at all, and in one of the movements, it was a bit shaky. It came to a point where the sopranos did not come in at one point, so Brandon Johnson stops and turns around to address us. He says, "Since most of you are probably from the ACDA conference, I feel comfortable stopping and creating this into a learning experience. This is the dangerous thing about experimental groups like this. It's when perfectionism of musicianship gets in the way of what is good." After talking for a bit more and explaining himself, he continues the requiem and they finish wonderfully. I personally learned, in this moment, that you cannot be constantly worried about being perfect, or else the delivery of the piece will not be organic and truly meaningful.

Anyways, that was the end to the long and fulfilling first day to the NY-ACDA conference! Since this post is becoming awfully long, I will continue this in another post soon, talking about the second day of NY-ACDA! Stay tuned!

-Sunhwa Reiner, Treasurer of ICACDA