2023 Conference Schedule

Conference Schedule

Click here to see Headliner & Opening Concert Performer Bios

Scroll down for Interest Session Details and Presenter Bios

Sunday, July 30, 2023

12:00PM	"Choir for All" Honor Choir Registration
12:45PM	Honor Choir seating in rehearsal space
12:55PM	"Choir for All" Honor Choir Welcome Liz Colpo, ACDA-PA President Kyle Zeuch & Jeff Gemmell, Honor Choir Co-Chairs
1:00-5:30PM	Honor Choir rehearses with Andrea Ramsey (breaks at director discretion)
4:30-6:30PM	Conference Registration
5:00-7:00PM	BBQ Dinner in the Quad (rain location: Martin Commons)
7:30PM	Opening Concert: Parkside Harmony, Gettysburg Children's Choir, Schumann Quartet
9:00PM	Dessert Reception

Monday, July 31

7:30-8:30AM	Registration (Breakfast available in Dining Hall for those staying on campus)
8:30-9:50AM	Conference Welcome: Joy Meade, president & conference coordinator/site host Liz Colpo, past-president & conference planner Reading Session 1 Children & Community Youth Choirs - Matt Carlson Junior High/Middle School Choirs - Stephanie Magaro Senior High Choirs - Matthew Klenk Self-Published Composers - Jen Wagner Worship in Music - Joy Meade
9:50-10:00AM	*Break*
10:00-10:50AM	Interest Session 1 Preparing Scores - Diction, Dynamics, Details (Bill Naydan) Supporting Gender Expansive Students in Your Youth Ensemble (Joy Hirokawa) Blend, Balance, and Buzz! Unique and Effective Vocal Pedagogy for Choirs (Jon Timmons)
10:50-11:00AM	*Break*
11:00-11:50AM	Interest Session 2 The First Ten Minutes: Re-Imagining the Role of Warm-Up Activities in the Choral Rehearsal (Dr. Alyssa Cossey) Multicultural Elementary Choral Ideas (Lori Weidner) “Honey, COVID Shrunk the Choir” (based on “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”) (Marvin Huls)
12:00-1:00PM	Lunch
1:00-1:50PM	Interest Session 3 Enhancing Healthy Vocalism and Musicality through the Choral Warm-Up (Caleb Hopkins) Yes, And… DEI and the Developing Choir (Dr. Alyssa Cossey) Sight-Singing Made Easy (Nicole Snodgrass)
1:50-2:00PM	Break
2:00-3:15PM	Collegiate Conducting Clinic Clinicians: Anthony Trecek-King & Andrea Ramsey
3:15-3:30PM	*Break*
3:30-4:30PM	Interest Session 4 7 Tips on Choral Intonation That I Wish I Knew in Year 1 (Joshua Stephen Smith) Repertoire for the Church Choir (Conner Ulrich) ChoralWorks - Rehearsal Tracks on Smartphones for Free (Rob Natter)
4:30-5:30PM	*Break*
5:30PM	“Choir for All” Honor Choir Concert Including the World Premiere of the 2023 ACDA-PA Composition Competition winner
6:45PM	Gala Dinner Buffet & Awards Ceremony
7:45PM	Conference Reading of the "Singing City Songbook" Led by members of Singing City Coordinated by Nathan Zullinger - College & University Choirs R&R
8:30PM	ACDA After Hours at T.J. Rockwell's

Tuesday, August 1

7:00-8:00AM	Registration (Breakfast available in Dining Hall for those staying on campus)
8:00-9:15AM	Plenary/Keynote 1: Andrea Ramsey Reimagining Rehearsal: Imagination, Play, Community, and Self-Compassion
9:15-9:30AM	*Break*
9:30-10:45AM	Keynote: Anthony Trecek-King Building the Room
10:45-11:00AM	Break
11:00AM-12:15PM	Andrea Ramsey Reading Session
12:15-1:15PM	Lunch
1:30-2:45PM	Keynote 2: Anthony Trecek-King
2:45-3:00PM	Break
3:00-4:15PM	Reading Session 2 Community Choirs - Kyle Zeuch College & University Choirs - Nathan Zullinger Upper Voice Choirs - Kathryn Hylton Lower Voice Choirs - Jeffrey Gemmell Contemporary Commercial/Vocal Jazz - Samantha Roberts
4:15PM	Conference Concludes Drawing for complimentary Summer 2024 Conference Registration (must be present to win!)
4:30PM	ACDA-PA Board Meeting

Session Descriptions & Presenter Biographies

Preparing Scores - Diction, Dynamics, Details
Bill NaydAn

Preparing scores for rehearsals and performance with the goal of improving diction, phrasing, dynamics and interpretation. Specific strategies, diction problems and suggested solutions will be presented. Working on specific scores as examples will be included in the presentation.

Mr. William J. Naydan, presently director of choirs at Arcadia University, retired from Hatboro-Horsham HS in 2016 as director of Choral Activities from 1991-2016. He was the choir director at Central Bucks West from 1982 to 1991. He also served as choir director at Lafayette College from 1992 to 2000 and Chestnut Hill College from 2004 to 2013. He received a B.A. in Foreign Languages (Russian & German) from Lafayette College, and an M.A. in Opera Performance from Temple University.

He is a clinician, adjudicator, guest conductor and lecturer. In April of 2009, Mr. Naydan was one of seven educators chosen for the inaugural class of the PA Music Educators Association Hall of Fame. Mr. Naydan is also the founding director of the Bucks Mont Camerata Chorus, a non auditioned community chorus created in 2014.

Supporting Gender Expansive Students in Your Youth Ensemble
Joy Hirokawa

As more young people are expressing genderfluidity earlier, choral directors may find themselves wondering how to best support these students in their ensembles. This session will provide concrete examples based on research and personal experience. Topics will include uniforms, travel/rooming, vocal issues, requirements and legalities surrounding confidentiality, text considerations, and repertoire selection. Emphasis will be placed on how to build an accepting and supportive community in the ensemble. Time will be allotted for an open discussion to discuss specific challenges faced by attendees.

Dr. Joy Hirokawa is the Founder and Artistic Director of The Bel Canto Youth Chorus of The Bach Choir of Bethlehem. She is a passionate advocate for creating musical spaces in which youth can express themselves through the choral art as they navigate and learn about a complicated world, as evidenced in the widely acclaimed 2021 Bel Canto video, Stand Up: Singing the Underground Railroad. She is a frequent guest conductor and clinician nationally and internationally. Her published arrangements include jazz, classical, and multicultural arrangements for young voices. Following 20 years of teaching at all levels in the public schools, Dr. Hirokawa led the music education program at Moravian College for ten years, was an adjunct instructor at Temple University, and led the Lafayette College Concert Choir. Dr. Hirokawa is the ACDA National Repertoire and Resources Chair for Children and Youth Choirs

Blend, Balance, and Buzz! Unique and Effective Vocal Pedagogy for Choirs
Jon Timmons

Educators will discover dynamic, effective, and refreshing vocal techniques to improve ensemble blend and balance. A strong focus will be placed on the developing voice and the techniques used to optimize sound in a healthy way. Additionally, common vocal faults and solutions will be discussed. Participants will apply techniques to warm-ups and a simple SATB selection. A comprehensive booklet will be included for each participant to keep as a resource.

Jon Timmons is the Director of Choral Activities at Souderton Area High School. At SAHS, Jon conducts seven choirs and teaches music theory. For 16 years, Jon has performed and taught in the Philadelphia metro area including appointments at Brandywine Heights Area High School and Hatboro-Horsham High School. Prior to public school teaching, Jon taught voice and choir through Music Training Center in New Jersey, maintaining a voice studio of over 40 students.

Jon’s choirs have performed at numerous festivals in the region and are praised for their balance, blend, and tone. He has presented at numerous Pennsylvania Conferences; the most recent being the PMEA State Conference in 2023. In 2020, his choir was chosen to perform at the PMEA Annual Conference - unfortunately canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Additionally, Jon has led many seminars at several professional development events advocating for LGBTQ youth and faculty.

The First Ten Minutes: Re-Imagining the Role of Warm-Up Activities in the Choral Rehearsal
Dr. Alyssa Cossey

This interactive session will challenge the traditional role of warm-ups in the choral classroom. Often, small changes can expand previously established exercises to address musical areas such as blend, balance, diction, intonation, pitch-matching, and sight-reading skills. In addition to developing singers' technical skills, participants will explore how to effectively utilize the first ten minutes of rehearsal to build community within the ensemble, foster student leadership, and establish a positive classroom culture. Participants will leave with strategies and resources to incorporate these practices in their own choral classrooms.

Dr. Alyssa J. Cossey (she/her) is a conductor, educator, scholar, and activist dedicated to expanding the choral canon and diversifying the podium. She is in demand as a clinician, adjudicator, conductor, and presenter, giving nearly one hundred research and practitioner presentations across the U.S. Her research interests include performance practice issues in twentieth-century music, culturally responsive pedagogy, and intersectional feminism in the arts. She is a contributing author for a new choral text on women composers (edited by Hilary Apfelstadt) and an inaugural member of the professional women’s choir, Mirabai. She is currently serving as an Artist in Residence at Coastal Carolina University. Before relocating to the East Coast for love, she was an Assistant Professor of Choral Music at the University of Arizona and prior to that she taught both middle and high school choir in Southern California for nearly a decade.

Multicultural Elementary Choral Ideas
Lori Weidner

This session will include repertoire selections and warm ups that are engaging and fun for young students to sing, while building a bridge between cultures in our communities.

Lori Weidner is a vocal elementary music specialist in the North Penn School District in Lansdale, PA. She has a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Mansfield University, Mansfield, PA and a Masters in Education from Gwynedd Mercy University, Lower Gwynedd, PA. Lori presented her masters project, Accelerando! Accelerating Learning Through Music, at the PAC-TE state conference, and often presents with the Rittenhouse Astronomical Society on topics including Music Inspired By the Moon and Gustav Holst's The Planets.

“Honey, COVID Shrunk the Choir” (based on “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”)
Marvin Huls

Sing through sacred anthems for post-CoVid or smaller choirs (unison, two-part, three part) for when all the men go golfing, or the altos go on a cruise, or the sopranos go to the casino.

Marvin Huls is happily retired after 42 years as Associate Professor at Seton Hill University, Music Director for 34 years of the Westmoreland Choral Society, and is in his 52rd year as Director of Music at First Lutheran Church, Greensburg. He has guest conducted a lot of things, adjudicated lots, done clinics, reading sessions, played cocktail music for receptions, museum events, accompanied hundreds of soloists and choirs. He is happily married to his lovely wife Shirley, has six grandchildren, and at age 80, functions reasonably well. As he would tell his students, “I may not be perfect, but parts of me are pretty good.”

Enhancing Healthy Vocalism and Musicality through the Choral Warm-Up
Caleb Hopkins

The session will address how to efficiently set up singers for a healthy vocal production and develop musical skills at an ensemble level. We will deal with designing a warm up that addresses the five major elements of singing (posture, respiration, phonation, resonation, articulation) and enhances intonation and other elements of ensemble.

Dr. Caleb Hopkins is an Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA. In addition to leading the University Choir and music directing the Bucknell Voice Lab, he teaches applied voice, choral methods, and other courses. Hopkins has previously held academic appointments at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and Anderson University. An avid performer, he has appeared as a baritone soloist in numerous performances across the United States including Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem and the title role in Mendelssohn’s Elijah. As a professional chorister, he has appeared with many leading professional ensembles including Kinnara Ensemble, Herring Chamber Ensemble, and Voices. Hopkins holds advanced degrees in conducting from the Eastman School and the University of Georgia as well as a Bachelor’s degree from Furman University.

Yes, And… DEI and the Developing Choir
Dr. Alyssa Cossey

In recent years, the choral world has tried to re-center or expand the canon to include works by historically excluded composers. However, many of these works are not written with beginning and developing choirs in mind. Likewise, while there is some information available for secondary teachers on how to serve the emotional and pedagogical needs of our young singers, many of these resources and works lack diversity. This session will address both the pedagogical, developmental, and emotional needs of beginning and developing choirs and provide resources and accessible repertoire featuring historically excluded composers.

Sight-Singing Made Easy
Nicole Snodgrass

Teaching sight singing is one of the most daunting aspects of choir for many choral directors. Nicole Snodgrass has a "feelings first" method to sight singing, which focuses on rhythm and pitch internalization. Through the use of movement and audiation, this method successfully gives your choir independence, autonomy, and confidence.

Nicole Snodgrass is the choral director at Ursinus College and has been the choral director at Cherokee High School since 1999. Ms. Snodgrass was the Conductor of the 2020 New Jersey All-State Treble Chorus as well as being the recipient of the 2020 NJMEA New Jersey Master Music Teacher Award. She was a quarter-finalist for the Grammy Music Educator Award and her choirs have been featured performers at ACDA and NJMEA conferences.She has been a guest presenter for Westminster Choir College, Messiah University, The College of New Jersey, and University of the Arts. She received her B.S. in Music Education from West Chester University and M.M. in Choral Conducting from Messiah University. Ms. Snodgrass has performed as a guest soloist with the Ocean City Pops Orchestra, Brandywine Valley Chorale, and has been the soprano soloist at Historic Old Pine Street Church in Philadelphia since 1996.

7 Tips on Choral Intonation That I Wish I Knew in Year 1
Joshua Stephen Smith

Based in the stream of “sound before symbol” pedagogical theories of Kodaly, Orff, Suzuki, and Dalcroze, these tips will provide a choral conductor innovative rehearsal practices that follow Edwin Gordon’s Music Learning Theory. Participants will return to the rehearsal room with applicable practices that engage choristers in growing aural based skills. These skills will provide ensembles with benefits of greater musical comprehension, faster acquisition of repertoire demands, and greater freedom in student-centered learning.

Joshua Stephen Smith is a conductor, pianist, vocalist, and coffee enthusiast based in Southwest Oklahoma. In 11 year educational and performance career, he has worked within public and private schools. Smith has conducted choirs and orchestras of all ages. He received critical acclaim for his recent work with “excellent and sensitive” conducting of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker for Michael Bolger’s NUTCRACKER, a contemporary adaptation of the ballet, produced by The Complex Contemporary Ballet Company (Putnam, CT). Smith is currently pursuing a DMA in Conducting from The University of Oklahoma and teaches with the Messiah University Graduate Program in Music. When not making music, Joshua is reading about covenant epistemology, drinking coffee, and enjoying family time. Connect with him on Instagram @thecaffeinatedmaestro

Repertoire for the Church Choir
Conner Ulrich

Picking repertoire to match the ensemble is critical for the growth and success of any group. We spend countless hours searching, learning, and selecting repertoire for our ensembles. Those exciting discovery periods start with many piles of music on our floors, and then end up with a succinct program for ensembles in the school, community, church, and professional settings.

In this session, I will introduce a variety of repertoire that your choir can learn quickly, sing well, maximize their pedagogical capabilities, and enhance your ensemble’s expression. The repertoire includes a variety of rhythms, voicings, textures, tone colors, articulations, and dynamics. This session includes works by Gibbons, Mendelssohn, B.E. Boykin, Kevin Allen, Abbie Betinis, Susan Labarr, Patrick Dupre Quigley, Elaine Hagenburg, and Andre Thomas.

Conner Ulrich (he, him, his) is the Director of Music at Christ Church UCC, in Elizabethtown, PA. At Christ Church, he conducts the Chancel Choir, oversees a program that includes six ensembles, and is the artistic director of the church’s concert music series. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Mansfield University and studied conducting with Dr. Peggy Dettwiler. He also performed with the Mansfield University Concert Choir at conferences of ACDA, PMEA, throughout venues in Europe, and three times in Carnegie Hall. In 2018, Conner spent time as a production assistant for The Crossing. During that time, he served as a production assistant on four recordings, three of which have received Grammy nominations. He has presented interest sessions and served on the state board of directors for the Pennsylvania Chapter of ACDA.

ChoralWorks - Rehearsal Tracks on Smartphones for Free
Rob Natter

The ChoralWorks web app makes interactive rehearsal tracks with high-quality piano sounds for free on smartphones, tablets, and computers. Singers can isolate their part, or combine theirs with others. They can emphasize their part while the other parts play more softly. Users can include special markers to indicate passages needing special attention. Directors can easily distribute these tracks using free resources. Participants will learn how to use the app, and how to create and distribute ChoralWorks files for their singers.

ChoralWorks requires no special skills beyond using music notation software to make MIDI files. There are many services that publish part-learning resources, but for a price. For choirs on a budget, a free solution, designed by a choral director for choral directors, can be a valuable tool that lets choirs use precious rehearsal time to make music instead of learning notes. ChoralWorks will always be free for non-commercial use.

Dr. Robert Natter is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Gettysburg College, where he has taught since 1998. He conducts the Gettysburg College Choir, Concert Choir, Audeamus, and Camerata, and teaches conducting. His choirs have performed throughout the eastern United States, and toured internationally. He also serves on the executive board for the Eastern Region of the American Choral Directors Association. Natter earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in music from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and a D.M.A. in choral conducting from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.