NDACDA Chorister - Spring 2021 Issue

Issue 30 • Spring 2021

In This Issue: From the Outgoing President From the Incoming President Can’t Stop the Beat Central/North Central Merger The Official Publication of the North Dakota Chapter

of the American Choral Directors Association www.ndacda.com | 1

North Dakota ACDA Leadership Cheryl McIntyre, president, Jamestown High School Dean Jilek, president-elect, University of North Dakota Rebecca Raber, past president, University of Mary Sheldon Weltz, treasurer

North Dakota Repertoire and Resources Committee Repertoire-Specific Coordinator: Tom Porter, University of Mary  Men’s Choirs: Tom Porter  Women’s Choirs: Lauren Brandenburg, Fargo South HS/Eielson MS  Vocal Jazz: Mike Seil, Bismarck Legacy High School  Showchoir: Connie Stordalen, Horizon Middle School  Ethnic/Multicultural Music: Phillip Voeller, Beulah Middle/High School

Youth Coordinator: Sarah Barnum, Discovery Middle School  Children and Community: Brady Gudgel, Mandan Middle School  Middle School/Junior High:

Lacey Hanson, Center-Stanton Public School Samantha Steffan  Senior High School: Brian Saylor, Bismarck High School

Collegiate Coordinator: Chris Redfearn, Valley City State University  Youth College/University: Chris Redfearn  Student Activities: Melanie Popejoy, University of North Dakota

Life-Long Coordinator: Sara Lichtblau, Fargo South High School  Community Choirs: Sarah Barnum  Music in Worship:

Traditional: Vicky Boechler, St. Mary’s High School, Contemporary: Sara Lichtblau Brent Rogers, Dickinson State University Editor and Designer, The Chorister brent.w.rogers@dickinsonstate.edu 2 | The Chorister • Spring 2021

Contents From the Outgoing President

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Cheryl McIntyre, Jamestown High School From the Incoming President

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Dean Jilek, University of North Dakota Can’t Stop the Beat

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Samantha Steffan Central/North Central ACDA Merger

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ACDA Executive Committee

Visit NDACDA online at ndacda.com, or by clicking below.

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From the Outgoing President

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want to thank North Dakota ACDA members for your support in the past two years during my presidency. I have had many opportunities to shout the praises of this organization to colleagues and to the National ACDA office. NDACDA works well because the various board members get things done and ask for help from other ACDA members. Because of this, we are able to offer various opportunities to students of all ages: Surround the State in Song for 5th & 6th grade students; Middle Level Honor Choirs (Treble & Mixed); Women's Honor Choir and Men's Honor Choir for high school & Collegiate singers; and a high school Show Choir Festival. Sheldon Weltz has kept us financially sound and Rebecca Raber dealt with membership. Brent Rogers has done a beautiful job publishing the Chorister.

This year has been especially challenging. The silver lining came with additional communication through our "Check In Chats" to share ideas, challenges, and successes. North Dakota found creative ways to safely keep the music active and alive in our schools.

NDACDA added a Young Professionals Chair to focus on connecting with newer teachers in our state. My passion has always been to offer assistance to foster music educators regardless of what type of school they work in. I am incredibly proud of the joy and love of music you share with our students. Please continue to empower and support each other so we can offer the finest opportunities for students to succeed.

I am confident that our incoming president Dean Jilek and president-elect Connie Stordalen will make a great team to carry on our fine traditions and make North Dakota ACDA vital to both teachers and students. To each and every NDACDA member, you have my thanks and admiration! As we finish the 2020-2021 school year, I congratulate you on a job well done!

Cheryl McIntyre Jamestown MS/HS NDACDA President

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From the Incoming President

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A Year in Review…

offer a heart-felt “thanks” to the all the music teachers and students in the state of North Dakota and commend you for your perseverance and determination to make music under any and all circumstances.

This academic year began with many unknowns and circumstances we have never faced before: virtual/online performances, masked rehearsals, hybrid teaching, physical distancing, time limits on singing in rehearsal, and students, faculty and staff in quarantine. Through creativity, flexibility, and hard-work, we have managed to give our students the invaluable experience of connecting through music during a time filled with so much isolation.

I extend my deepest gratitude to President Cheryl McIntyre. Her leadership throughout her tenure has been outstanding, positive, inclusive, poised, and very patient! Cheryl never says “no” but through good dialogue finds a good solution.

As she transitions from president to past-president, I wish her well and welcome her continued expertise and wisdom as we move forward during this pandemic to forge the future of choral education in North Dakota.

An invitation to all…

As we reach a well-deserved summer break, the ND ACDA Board will begin the process of planning for next year’s choral events. As in the past, we invite all of you to actively participate in some form. Participation, the act of taking part or sharing in something, is what our organization thrives on! Mere membership is not enough.

We need the knowledge and experience of each individual.

The more members we have to concentrate and offer input on specified goals, the more valuable opportunities we can provide for our students and teachers.

Please reach out to the board; volunteer, share ideas, and let us know how we can serve the singers of North Dakota more fully. At some point, you may very well be asked to take a more active part with ND ACDA. Please don’t hesitate. If you think www.ndacda.com | 5

you are not ready for a leadership position or to share your ideas on choral education, let me tell you, as a team, we are ready. You are part of the team because you are part of choral education in the state of North Dakota!

I wish you well on the final days of this school year, and I hope summer brings you much needed rest and renewal!

Musically, Dean Jilek University of North Dakota NDACDA President-Elect

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Can’t Stop the Beat

Reflections on the 2021 Virtual Student Conference & the End of a Term

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hen Lacey and I started our to-do list for this year’s honor choir, we knew we were in for a challenge. Covid case numbers started rising in July and August, so we decided to forego an out-of-state conductor and schedule two in-state conductors. Cases kept climbing, so we started thinking and talking about what we could do. Could we have two sites?

What kind of spaces can we use? How many kids can we really fit six feet apart? What if we have kids in the auditorium seating? What technology and licensing would we need to live stream? Can we make this a one-day event?

What about air exchange requirements? What about feeding the kids lunch?

So we switched our thinking. In the end, the NDACDA board came up with an exciting idea: a conference for the students. We teachers get to go to conferences. We get to hear speakers give us practical advice and inspiration. We get to interact with people we otherwise wouldn’t be able to. We get to hear professionals perform. I think it’s easy to forget that our students don’t usually get those opportunities. Instead of trying to create an approximation of our normal event, we wanted to take advantage of our unique situation where students have even more access to devices and people have frequently been connecting through virtual events.

We held auditions as normal, due in mid-October, but we waived the audition fees. Our auditions were down; typically we get 650-700 auditions from 65-70 schools, but this year we only had 403 auditions from 51 schools. Some schools that typically send in only a few sent in a bunch of auditions. Maybe you were using these auditions as your singing content in class as you were social distancing or your school didn’t allow group singing. Some schools that typically send in dozens didn’t send any. Maybe your schools didn’t let you sing or weren’t going to let you travel to an event anyway. Maybe your students’ parents weren’t going to let them go to an honor choir. Maybe if you had known our plans (or we had known our plans at that time) it would have been different. We are sure there were as many circumstances as there are schools, and we hope that auditions go right back up to normal.

On Friday, February 5, we held a virtual conference for the 250 students (190 accepted formally to a choir plus we were able to include the 60 students named alwww.ndacda.com | 7

ternates), their teachers, and some other guests. I was excited to see some collegiate NDACDA members in attendance! We were on Zoom from 9am to around 1pm and heard from Ben Folds, Nation, Tigirlily, Kat Perkins, Patrick McGuire, and Six Appeal. There were desktop concerts, Q&A sessions, and great discussion topics including songwriting, how to handle negative comments on social media, and so much more. It was exciting to see so many students wearing their conference shirts and so many schools with all their students and teachers watching together in their classrooms or performance spaces. It made me feel like we really were doing something together. I did very, very little when it came to putting together the conference, but I’m so proud that I got to be part of it.

We were also able to give out 25 3-year awards this year! We give awards to the students who participated in the choir each of their 3 years of eligibility from 7th to 9th grade. 25 is the most we’ve given out in a year, and it is a reflection of the work of your students and the dedication of you as teachers! Congratulations to those 25 students from 12 schools! I cannot emphasize enough how competitive it truly is to be accepted into one of the choirs any one year. Three is a huge accomplishment.

Finally, I want to take just a minute to say thank you. The Middle Level/Junior High Honor Choir Co-Chairs serve 3-year terms, and this was the final year in mine. (Paige Bondley will be taking my place, and she’s going to be amazing!) When I started my term, I did not expect my final year to be from several states away and during a pandemic. I also did not expect it to be one of the most fulfilling things I’ve done. I was honored to take on the role and excited to be taking a more active part in NDACDA, but I did not realize that this role would play on my strengths and talents and help me build a stronger community and develop new skills in the way it did.

When I decided to move to Utah last spring, I was not ready to let go of this part of my life, and I’m grateful that I didn’t have to. The truth is, I’m still not ready. I truly loved this position and would keep it as long as anyone let me. If doing this could be my job, I’d take it. I loved working with the Board and all of you and being part of NDACDA. Frankly, you might still not be truly rid of me. I may show up at conferences in the future.

In 2022, you’ll have two national conductors—Victor C. Johnson (rescheduled from 2021) for the Mixed Choir and Rosephanye Powell for the Treble Choir. That’s certainly tempting to fly home for! Plus I love the cold, and my first winter in Utah was strikingly disappointing. And of course, there’s the community.

NDACDA was such a gift in my North Dakota teaching career. Thank you for everything. Keep enriching the lives of your students and your colleagues. I hope to see you soon.

Samantha Steffan NDACDA Middle-School Honor Choirs Co-Chair

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In Case You Missed It...

Central and North Central regions are now the Midwestern Region

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poll of Central and North Central Regions membership on a potential merger of the two regions closed on Thursday with a supermajority of voters from each region approving a merger, thus moving the process on to a national vote in January 2020 on the required constitutional change.

The results: North Central Region 67% approved the merger; 33% opposed.

Central Region 72% approved the merger; 28% opposed.

As stated in the poll, ACDA will now move to hold a vote in January 2020 on the Constitutional change that would be required to create one new region – to be named by the current two regions. If the poll had indicated that either or both of the regions polled were NOT in agreement with this proposed merger (at the supermajority mark), the discussion would have ceased.

Background ACDA was formed in 1959 with six “divisions” that originally served as administrative arms of the national office. In 1980, it was decided that the Central Division would split into the North Central (North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin) and Central (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio). Both regions have recently experienced successes as well as some serious financial difficulties prior to 2017.

Due to these difficulties, it was decided in 2015 that the conferences of both regions would be combined and take place in Chicago. The conference was not without its challenges but was a very successful event celebrating musicians from both regions and produced healthy revenue as well. It was agreed that we would hold another joint conference in 2020 in Milwaukee.

You may or may not be aware of the challenges facing the regions. Central is the smallest in number of states (4). For comparison’s sake, Southern Region has 11 states and Eastern, 13. Central is also one of the smallest regions in overall membership, with 1,769 members. Compare that to the 3,428 members Southern Region has.

Both Central and North Central have had very lean financial years in the past 10 years along with a few good financial years. Of all the 7 ACDA regions these 2 are the weakest financially.

We are aware there are many things to consider in regard to this decision. Therefore, we sought the valuable input in from Central and North Central leadership, both present and past, before moving forward with the recent poll of the membership in those regions. Change is never easy, but sometimes in order to provide the www.ndacda.com | 11

best experiences for our membership and secure a healthy and prosperous environment for our association, change needs to be considered.

As ACDA continues to grow and develop to meet the abundant and diverse needs of its membership, we very much appreciate hearing from the voters in each region, and will now move ahead in the direction that the strong majority of Central and North Central Region voters has indicated with their votes.

Sincerely, ACDA Executive Committee: Lynne Gackle, National President Tom Shelton, National Past President Mary Hopper, Chair, Past Presidents Advisory Council Andre Thomas, National Vice President David Fryling, National President-Elect Tom Merrill, National Secretary-Treasurer Tim Sharp, Ex Officio (Article originally posted on ChoralNet.org.)

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Photo Credit: Andrew Filer on Flickr