Can’t Stop the Beat Samantha Steffan

C a n ’ t S t o p t h e B e a t Reflections on the 2021 Virtual Student Conference & the End of a Term

When 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 al-

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