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Southwest Regional ResourcesAugust 2011Hello Southwest Region Members! It was great seeing a nice representation of our region at the summer conference this past weekend. Our members were chairing and participating in honor choirs, both the men's and women's student-director honor choirs as well as the junior high/ middle school honor choir, they were assisting with reading sessions, and attending wonderful interest and plenary sessions. My challenge to you is to take the energy and enthusiasm you've gained from the conference and share it with your colleagues. We'd love to double the showing at next year's conference and show that the Southwest Region is a force in choral music! Our annual Southwest Region fall middle school festivals are set to go: Mucho Macho and Sweet Harmony. Tuesday, November 8 marks the eighth year of our boys' event, Mucho Macho Music, to be held at North Hills Junior High School. The guest conductor this year is a Pittsburgh native, Michael Horanski. Mike now teaches in the Virginia public school system and has been doing great things with his program there. He is looking forward to a trip home to work with our middle school boys, as well as the Westminster College Men's Chorus. More details can be found in the "events" section below. Friday, November 18 will be the third installment of MMM's sister festival, Sweet Harmony. This year's festival will also take place at North Hills Junior High, and will feature guest conductor Donna Knott from the York County Junior Honors Choir. Donna will lead our middle school girls in a day of great choral music making, along with the University of Pittsburgh Women's Choral Ensemble. Again, see the section below for more details. I'm tentatively looking to hold a summer community choral event in early July 2012. The details are still coming together, but I'm envisioning a day camp for youth and evening sessions for adults, over the course of a week, ending with a combined performance. Now that I've moved into the high school position in my district (while keeping some of the jr. high, too!), I have a few more resources available to me and may be able to host the entire event within our jr./sr. high campus. More to come soon... I wish you all the best of luck on another year of choral music making. With budgets crunching and less resources provided to us, we're expected to do the same if not more with less. Just remember, though, that we are the bright spot in many of our singers' lives, and no amount of funding or cuts can replace the feeling of fulfillment from collective song. Keep inspiring, and remember that ACDA is here for you! Warm Regards, Shaun Cloonan
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