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I became involved in ACDA right out of college, my dear mentor and friend Germán Aguilar got me involved. I was blown away by the vast wealth of knowledge I learned in my first conferences. I felt like I got so much information I wasn’t ready to implement until I was running my own choral program, and that many college programs can’t possibly be expected to cover. In my first year teaching I met many incredible teachers who took me under their wings from established college directors to other first year teachers. Ten plus years later, I have become a much better teacher by being a member of ACDA, but more than that I’ve met a community of people who would love mountains to help me and I would for them, too! To me “I am ACDA” means to continually grow in my own teaching, all while trying to lift others up by sharing in fellowship and best practices. (Wow that sounds really ed-speak but I mean it!). What I am excited about right now is my choir has saved and fundraised for the last few years, and we are so excited to be participating in the Pacific Basin Music Festival in Honolulu this coming March after our first out of state choir tour was cancelled in April of 2020! 
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Kaytie Holt - Saugus High School Choir Director and Music Industry teacher, Santa Clarita, Ca5/4/2023 Being in ACDA brings me close to my community of choir teachers, which is so important in this field. It is an incredible resource and network that both supports and inspires me!" "I am ACDA" means that ACDA is a diverse community, made up of every single member of a variety of backgrounds, ages, and skill levels, with each member just as important as the next. Right now my students are really enjoying creating a variety of music. I have so many students in multiple choirs; Show Choir, Concert Choir, and Jazz Choir. I even have students who also take Music Industry, where they learn how to produce and create original music in different DAWs (digital audio workstations). I think this is so cool and important because it is crucial to be a well rounded musician and singer in this industry, so having students singing classical, jazz, and contemporary music broadens their horizons and only enhances they choirs, as there is something to be learned in every genre.  ACDA is a priceless resource both personally and professionally. The network of people who are teaching, creating, and learning along with me is such a welcoming community that I’m proud to be a part of. Not only do I have incredible colleagues in ACDA but also trusted friends who are devoted to mutual success, but I am musician constantly looking to improve! In my first year at the official helm of this amazing group, I’m excited to welcome new singers and strengthen relationships with returning ones. We’ve done a lot of behind-the-scenes work with our Board to have the talent and resources to further grow into the amazing Long Beach community and continue to strive to bring Great Music to Long Beach and beyond!  Matthew Davis - Choir Teacher at Goddard Middle, Sandburg Middle, and Glendora High Schools12/19/2022 My favorite thing about returning to in-person instruction this year was seeing the excitement on the students' faces when they finally got a chance to sing with their friends again. I knew going into the year that I had to make sure the students were interacting with each other and singing as much as possible. The most difficult part of this year was managing 3 separate choir programs at 3 separate schools. As a first year teacher, I had no idea how I was going to manage all of these programs. There were a lot of things working against me like coming back from distance learning, learning how to do show choir, working with 3 different administrations, but throughout it all I kept the students as my primary focus and managed to make it through.It took quite a bit of adjusting, but I finally managed to find my rhythm and had several very successful events, performances, and competitions throughout the year. My students love the warm ups, 'Mrs. Shady' and "The Good-Looking Cook." They're both sing-songey kinds of warmups with fun lyrics. They always request these 2 warmups every single rehearsal and it is such a joy to see them get so excited about warmups. Despite not having done it before now, I absolutely love show choir. I am excited to see where I can take these programs in years to come. If I had to offer one piece of advice to inspire other first year teachers it would be to ask a lot of questions. There are so many people out there who want you to succeed so don't be afraid to ask questions if you're unsure of how to do something.  Margaret Starr - Director of Vocal Music at Marin School of the Arts (MSA) at Novato High School12/6/2022 The best thing about returning to in-person instruction has been being able to HARMONIZE again!!! One of the challenges of this year has been rebuilding classroom norms and community expectations for how we work together as a team in choir. We have continued to use Sight Reading Factory in class as a group activity and my students love it! We often divide into sections and compete against each other 😊  The greatest gift that returning to live instruction has been is seeing students laughing and singing in the choir room during breaks, lunches, or after school. I love being able to spend my breaks & lunches with students talking about life or playing games.Our choir room is bustling with tags, random instruments, and community. The most challenging obstacle I faced this year was our Spring calendar. I had over planned our 2nd semester and we had our school's Spring musical - at one point in the semester, we were learning music for 4 different events! I definitely learned from this experience, but I also learned that students love the challenge and will learn anything we can teach them... So, teach effectively! Something wonderful that our students have really been enjoying is conducting their own pieces. I did not get the opportunity to do this many times througout the year, but when we did, it was always very impactful. After a short lesson on the conducting pattern and time signature, we have the students stand in a circle and all conduct a verse or phrase of the music. Already primed with the question, we then have students volunteer to conduct and voila! The students get a chance to practice notes and rhythms, never singing the same phrase twice, and watching a new conductor. Students usually leave this exercise with a new found appreciation for conducting, the music, and themselves.  My favorite thing about returning to in-person instruction is realizing that there is something intangibly wonderful about singing together in the same space. The musical electricity in the air when a choir sings a locked-in chord or the power of a group collectively being moved by a meaningful text is something that I’ll appreciate every time I step in front of a group of singers. My high school women’s choir is singing “Bright Morning Stars are Rising”, arr. by Jay Althouse. The music is an American folk tune that is very singable and was easily learned by the choir. Since they didn’t have to concentrate so much on learning their parts, they’ve been able to sing this with expression and musicality early on. This is my reminder as a conductor to be sure to program some music that is easily learned—sometimes simple pieces are the most effective—and some days students just need to make effortless, beautiful music together.  At our last concert, I wanted to feature more Eastern music, so I challenged myself by programing an Arabic piece and a Polynesian piece among others. The Arabic Piece, El Helwa-Di, was daunting because it has multiple stanzas in Arabic. I contacted a former student who is Egyptian and fluent in that particular dialect of Arabic to help us with the text by making audio recordings of the pronunciation.  21V is a new professional ensemble of sopraon and alto voices of all genders and gender identities, founded in the Bay Area during the Covid-19 pandemic. With its focus on 21st Century music of the Americas, 21V aims to serve as a beacon for a new generation of treble music lovers, and embraces an expansive view of inclusivity that inspires awareness and advocacy for underrepresented America Continent compositional voices and perspectives.  It’s been exciting watching the students gain confidence in themselves since the return. They are so joyful to be here and singing with each other. They are re-learning how to socialize and it’s inspiring to see new friendships emerging. Watching them connect with each other and the music these past few months is what matters. There are so many challenges to overcome this year. The goal in all of my classes is to have fun, reconnect, and allow students to feel comfortable singing without the anxiety of making mistakes. We wanted to have the students perform in as many events as possible (concerts, festivals, community events, etc) to expose them to a community that was shut down for so long.  |
Molly PetersWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. 
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