American Choral Directors Association

By Tim Sharp and Christina Prucha

American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) was formed in Kansas City, Missouri, on February 24, 1959, by 35 choral directors from around the United States. They aimed to create an organization that would meet the professional needs of all choir directors. To achieve this goal, they made the promotion of excellence in choral music through performance, composition, publication, research, and teaching their central purpose. In addition, ACDA strives through arts advocacy to elevate choral music s position in American society. From the original steering committee to today s leaders, this central purpose continues to drive ACDA s development. Among the ways that ACDA has promoted excellence in choral music are national and division conventions featuring the best choirs in the world, awards given to individuals who have in some way contributed to the art of choral music, state workshops and clinics, and honor choirs and commissioned works. Each generation that has passed through ACDA has left its indelible mark. The first generation built the foundation and gave ACDA its purpose. The second generation gave ACDA its independence and voice. The third generation leads the organization into a new and more globally connected world. And through it all, ACDA remains true to promoting choral music excellence.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Feb 23, 2009
• ISBN: 9781439621127

Tim Sharp

ACDA has selected some of the best images from the ACDA International Archives for Choral Music. Tim Sharp, ACDA executive director, and Christina Prucha, ACDA archivist, narrate the journey of ACDA�s 50-year history and its commitment to the development of choral music excellence.

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Music.

INTRODUCTION

When the 35 choral conductors sat together in room 400 of the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1959, did they have any idea of the history they were making or of the remarkable organization they were founding? This group of leaders met on a cold February day to create what was to become the preeminent choral directors association in the United States. Their decisions built the foundation that shaped what was to become American Choral Directors Association (ACDA).

This founding group decided to represent all types of choirs through the work of the proposed association. As a result, today ACDA is home to children’s choirs, university and college choirs, church and synagogue choirs, community choirs, and jazz and show choirs. The founders wanted to foster choral excellence, so they built conventions that encouraged and showcased this excellence through performance, reading sessions, interest sessions, and panel discussions. These elements are present in today’s ACDA conventions. This founding generation, living in a time of social and political upheaval, was at the forefront of the movement in understanding the role of quality choral practice and performance. These values continue to be upheld today throughout ACDA where choirs are chosen to perform based on their quality rather than on what they represent socially or politically. These early leaders understood that American choral music must be part of a worldwide choral music movement; their international initiatives reflected this understanding. The first and foundational generation of ACDA leadership set a high bar for its members, and subsequent generations have honored and raised that bar.

In the early 1970s, leadership transferred hands from one generation to the next. The second generation of ACDA grew the organization and gave it independence and a broader voice. This group of individuals created independent divisions, resulting in divisional as well as national conventions. These leaders began to invite international groups and world renowned conductors to perform, teach, and conduct. This new generation elevated the standards for convention performance by choosing premier concert halls for performance. It understood that funding for the arts and arts advocacy is important and must be a hallmark of ACDA. To that end, it created the advocacy statement that is still evoked in each issue of Choral Journal.

The second generation of ACDA leadership never forgot the lessons of the first. It expanded the ideas of its teachers and mentors. It created a solidly academic Choral Journal; it refined a choral conducting and research curriculum throughout America’s colleges and universities; it established policies and procedures for choral repertoire and standards; and it set out on an educational and performance agenda that gave solid direction to choral conducting students, leading to even stronger directors and academicians. It gave opportunities to youth and college students to sing under the direction of the world’s greatest choral directors. It provided many opportunities for choir directors to observe and learn the best in choral arts practice through workshops and conventions. This generation understood the mission of the founders and used that foundation to adhere to and deepen those values.

As ACDA entered the 21st century, legendary status was conveyed to the founding members and the noted choral educators, writers, researchers, and conductors who built ACDA. The choral art had earned its place alongside the most revered of the classical art forms. With the death of Robert Shaw in 1999, ACDA said goodbye to its first truly marquee choral conductor who infused professionals with the enthusiasm of amateurs, and amateurs with the skills of professionals. His magic was more spiritual than technical, and he became a patron saint for choral conductors in the United States.

The ACDA leadership that had professionalized and energized choral music education and performance, and that had established the highest standards of practice, had now passed the baton, literally, to a new generation of choral scholars, teachers, and performers. This new generation can be found engaging in a grassroots effort to increase membership. It is reaching out to members and nonmembers alike in states and divisions to spread the purposes of ACDA and inspire yet another generation to aspire to excel in the choral arts.

This new generation of ACDA choral directors now enters the 21st century connected to a world performance arena influenced by choral sounds from around the globe. Today ACDA realizes more fully the prophetic international intentions of its founders by the inclusion of international choirs at its conventions and its leadership in the International Federation for Choral Music (IFCM). The choral program exchanges of the 1950s now take place digitally through cataloged video choral