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Posted 07-18-08 Board Reports Deadline Approaching & New Procedures for Meetings Established ACDA-PA board member reports for the August 6, 2008 meeting are due via e-mail to Eileen Hower by Friday, July 25th. Beginning with this meeting, the procedure for submitting and sharing reports at meetings will be as follows:
The purpose of operating this way is to allow more time for discussion (as the entire board and as small groups) about our future for ACDA-PA and the future for our membership. After the board meeting, please feel free to share your thoughts about pros and cons via email. Eileen will share your thoughts with others and we can collaborate on ideas for future board meetings. Posted 07-16-08 This year the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Choral Directors Association would like to recognize all past presidents of ACDA-PA at the Presidents' Reception and Gala Banquet. The event will be part of the 2008 summer conference at Penn State University and will be held at the Nittany Lion Inn on Monday, August 4th beginning with cocktails at 6:30 PM and dinner at 7:30. It will be a simple verbal recognition honoring YOU for the work you have done to inspire one of the largest and most active states in the nation. We hope you will be able to join us in celebration of our rich history, our vibrant presence in Pennsylvania, and all that you have done to make this so! Please feel free to give me contact information for any past presidents who preceded Doug Miller as I do not have any contact information for them. Or if you would prefer, you can forward this message. On behalf of the members of the ACDA-PA board, we hope you will be able to join on us Monday, August 4th. Sincerely, Eileen M. Hower, President   Posted 07-02-08ACDA-PA on Facebook and MySpace In an effort to increase collegiate attendance at the summer conference and to boost student membership, we are establishing a presence on the popular websites Facebook and MySpace. State Chapter member groups have been created on both sites, and an official conference "event" page has been posted on Facebook. We know that the best way to reach our current and potential student members is through these sites and through e-mail, so we would encourage you that if you have accounts on either of these sites that you join the groups, sign up to attend the conference on the event page, and then share these links with your friends/colleagues/students. Taking our cues from the overwhelmingly successful online political campaigning of recent days, weeks, and months, we're hoping to reach this collegiate group in ways that are meaningful to them. Gone are the days when posting a flyer on a bulletin board is sufficient to get someone to sign up for an event. So, log on, IM, text, or whatever you need to do, but let's really boost that student attendance! The links to each are as follows:
Posted 04-23-08 Save the date – more details will be posted here soon, and a mailing will go out in September.
Posted 10-19-07 Outstanding Young Conductor Award This year there were multiple award recipients. Two nominees fit our criteria so well that we could not fairly distinguish between them. Congratulations to Andres Cladera and to Charles Masters. Andres Cladera is currently the choral director at the Ellis School, a position he has held for five years. His nominator wrote. “The Ellis School is a highly respected private school for girls only and has had a consistently strong music program. Under Andres direction, the program has expanded even more, doubling the size of the choir during his tenure and programming exciting, sophisticated literature.” In addition to his position with the Ellis School, Andres is the musical director of the Renaissance City Women’s Choir and the Pittsburgh Early Music Consort. He has also worked in the opera and festival arena both in Pittsburgh and abroad. Some of those notable festivals include: Piccolo Spoletto Festival, Spoletto Festival, Opera Theater of Pittsburgh and the Basoti Music Festival. He has served as a musical editor, coach and performer and holds degrees from Escuela Universitaria de Musica, College of Charleston and Carnegie Mellon University. Charles Masters is currently the newly appointed Director of Choral Activities at Central Dauphin High School moving there from a similar position in the Loyalsock Schools. Within his first few years of teaching his ensemble, Knight Music was invited to perform with a Pennsylvania professional chamber choir. The conductor of the chamber choir said. “Knight Music sang with beautiful, healthy tone quality, excellent intonation, and expressive phrasing on some very challenging literature. It was clear that the group admires and respects Charles through his skill in teaching voice, his determination to be musical, his exceptional ear, and his thorough preparation.” The same ensemble also performed at the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association Convention later in the same year. His nominator wrote. “Charles is a fabulous musician. He displays his talent through exceptional keyboard skills in both the classical and jazz realms and as a singer with a fine lyric baritone voice. He has a warm, engaging personality, works well with students and adults, and he is highly organized.” Elaine Brown Award The distinguished Elaine Brown Award for Choral Excellence is presented to an individual for outstanding lifelong work in the choral art. The award is named in honor of Elaine Brown, the founder/director of Singing City in Philadelphia, PA and former Director of Choral Activities, Temple University. Previous winners have been Elaine Brown, Fred Waring, Robert Page, Elma Heckler, Pierce Getz, Helen Kemp, Douglas Miller, Lois Williams, and Cyril Stretansky. We were very proud to present the Elaine Brown award for 2007 to Alan Harler. Alan Harler is well known to ACDA members. He has earned distinction is Choral Music at the highest levels at both the national and international scenes. He has served as Chair of the Choral Department of Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance since 1981 and has the distinction of being named a Laura Carnell Professor Music. He was recently awarded the university’s Creative Achievement Award. Under his leadership, the Masters Program in Conducting has flourished attracting students from throughout the US and abroad. Many of these students have taken various choral music positions, including those in higher educations, or have moved into prestigious doctoral programs. At Temple, Mr. Harler has continued the long-standing traditions of two previous awards winners, Robert Page and Elaine Brown. His letter of nomination said. “Alan Harler is particularly known for commissioning new works by Philadelphia composers as well as other composers, some who are newly recognized. These new works can most often be heard in the concerts of Mendelsshon Club of Philadelphia, which he has guided since 1988. He is only the twelfth person to hold the position since the chorus’s founding in 1874.” He has prepared works for Riccardo Muti, Charles Dutoit and Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos and Max Rudolph. Before coming to Pennsylvania, Alan Harler served on the faculties Indiana University and the University of Massachusetts. He received his musical education at Illinois Wesleyan University and the University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and the University of California and enjoyed an association with the eminent Julius Herford.
Posted 10-19-07 Nominations are sought for the Elaine Brown Award for Choral Excellence, presented to an individual for outstanding lifelong work in the choral art. This award is named in honor of Elaine Brown, the founder/director of Singing City in Philadelphia, PA. Previous winners have been Elaine Brown, Fred Waring, Robert Page, Elma Heckler, Pierce Getz, Helen Kemp, Douglas Miller, Lois Williams, Cyril Stretansky and Alan Harler. Download Details (pdf)
Posted 10-19-07 Nominations are sought for the Outstanding New Conductor award, presented annually to a new and aspiring choral conductor. Download Details (pdf)
Posted 09-30-06 As you may know, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has made slight changes. These changes affect both the way you request credit and the way providers such as ACDA-PA must report your credits. All certified teachers in Pennsylvania have been assigned a seven digit Professional Personal ID number. This must be used by individuals requesting credit. Eventually, this number will replace your SSN. For the time being both numbers are needed. You can get your Professional Personal ID by logging on to the PDE website. Go to www.pde.state.pa.us About half way down on the left side you will see "Act 48 Reporting System". Click on that. Under the heading "Educator Options", click on "Get Your Professional Personal ID". The rest is easy. It is a matter of filling in some of the information. One caution, enter all four numbers when entering the year of your birth. After you complete the form, your ID will be issued.
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ACDA is funded in part by the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts |
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