Fall 2017: Volume 37, Issue 1

ContentsFrom Your President . . . . . . . . . . . 1Richard Schnipke

Sight-Reading Resources for the Public School Choir Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Doug O’Neal

How to Survive (and PossiblyThrive) as a Choral Director . . . . 6Amy Gelsone

So Much Music, So Little Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Lynda Hasseler

Summer Conference Recap . . . . 10Christopher Dent

Reaching Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Brian Potts

Upcoming Events . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Leadership Roster . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

AdvertisersACDA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Bob Rogers Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

CMS Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Cousins Concert Attire . . . . . . . . . 9

Make Me Dough . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Otterbein University . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Soundwaves Recording . . . . . . . 11

Stanton’s Sheet Music . . . . . . . . . 10

From Your President

Updated OCDA Board Structure in PlaceAs I begIn my term as OCDA President, I firstwant to express how honored I am to serve ourmembership in this capacity. ACDA and OCDAhave had a huge influence on my life as a choraldirector since I was a university student. My in-volvement in these organizations has affordedme countless educational resources, leadership experiences, and personalnetworking opportunities, and for these I am incredibly thankful. AsOCDA President, I hope to maintain the positive direction in which our organization is headed while introducing new initiatives that support andpromote our profession both in the short term and the long term. ankyou for the opportunity to serve in this manner.

One of the first projects to which I applied myself as President was therestructuring of our board. is process began over a year ago when PastPresident Loren Veigel asked me to form a committee to examine possiblechanges to our board’s structure and to make recommendations to theboard regarding those changes. Other members of the committee wereBrandon Moss, Zebulon Highben, Wei Cheng, and Amy Blosser. I’m happyto say that the committee’s work was fruitful and the new board structure isnow in place. An explanation of the purpose and scope of the revisions tothe board structure follows.

Purpose and Timelinee changes in the OCDA Board structure were first motivated by changesthat were enacted in the national Repertoire and Standards structure withinACDA. e national leadership of ACDA urged us to find a way to adjustour board structure to fit the new national guidelines while still meeting thespecific needs of our own state organization.

Our committee within OCDA corresponded via email and telephoneand met in person in Columbus on November 27, 2016. Our recommenda-tions were made to the OCDA board at the January 2017 meeting, and thefull adoption of the changes was accomplished at the June 2017 SummerConference Business Luncheon.

OCDA President Richard Schnipke

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Structural and ProceduralChanges 1. ACDA has replaced the previouschair titles of “Repertoire & Stan-dards Chair” with the “Repertoireand Resources Chair.” OCDA hasfollowed suit by changing “Reper-toire & Standards” to “Repertoireand Resources” in all of our officialdocuments, publications, and cor-respondence.

2. OCDA has organized our newlytitled Repertoire and Resources(R&R) area utilizing the followingnational structure as a basic model,with 4 R&R Coordinators oversee-ing committees of R&R Chairs:

• e Youth R&R Coordinatoroversees the Children & Commu-

nity Youth R&R Chair, the JuniorHigh/Middle School R&R Chair,and the Senior High R&R Chair.

• e Collegiate R&R Coordinatoroversees the College/UniversityR&R Chair and the Student Ac-tivities R&R Chair.

• e Lifelong R&R Coordinatoroversees the Community ChoirsR&R Chair and the Music inWorship R&R Chair.

• e Repertoire Specific R&R Co-ordinator oversees the Contem-porary Commercial (formerlyShow Choir) R&R Chair, the Eth-nic Music R&R Chair, the Men’sChoirs (formerly Male) R&RChair, the Vocal Jazz R&R Chair,and the Women’s Choirs R&RChair.

Furthermore, the national lead-

ership in ACDA encouraged statesto add specific R&R chairs at theirdiscretion to serve the areas andactivities of each state. OCDA hasadded the following positions toassist in providing repertoire forour reading sessions at the OMEAand OCDA conferences:

• In the Youth Area, the Children &Community Youth R&R Chairhas been divided into two chairs:Community Children R&R Chairand Elementary School ChildrenR&R Chair.

• In the Repertoire Specific Area,Contemporary Commercial hasbeen divided into two chairs:Show Choir and Contemporary ACappella. Ethnic Music has alsobe divided into two chairs: EthnicMusic for Developing Singers and

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As I stArt my new position asRepertoire and Resources Chair forYouth Choirs, I thought it would benice to look at some sight-readingresources for public school teach-ers and students. Becoming musi-cally literate as well as artisticallyable is one of the most importantskills I can pass along to my stu-dents. Yes, they often groan whenit is time to work on sight-reading,but the work proves fruitful when aformer student proudly sends anemail following a college choir au-dition to share how the college di-rector was impressed that they cansight-read.

To make sight singing as funand fresh as possible, I try to varymy approach and resources when

teaching sight-reading. While thereare many resources available, thisarticle will share some of the textsand supplemental materials I use inmy rehearsals.

Method TextsI like how the following texts de-velop singer abilities with some funsongs and melodies that can besung individually or together.

Choral Approach to Sight Singing(Volumes 1 and 2)Emily Crocker & Joyce EilersHal LeonardVolume 1 takes students up throughdotted quarter note rhythms whileVolume 2 begins work on syncopa-tion and sixteenth notes. e bookis for three-part choir, but it can

work for SSAalone.

Sight Singing for SSAJoyce Eilers & Emily CrockerHal LeonardMy young ladies love some of thesilly songs in this text. is bookbegins with the basics, but also hitssyncopation and sixteenth notes inone text.

Essential Sight-Singing Male Voice(Volumes 1 and 2)Emily Crocker & John LeavittHal Leonard ere are a couple songs that I skipover in this text, but it is a nice re-source for men’s voices. I am usu-ally able to do both volumes withina school year.

Sight-Reading Resources for the Public School Choir DirectorDoug O’Neal, R&R Chair for Youth Choirs

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Ethnic Music for Intermediate toAdvanced Singers.

As per the OCDA Constitutionand By-Laws and the ACDA Na-tional Guidelines, the OCDA presi-dent appoints both R&R Coordina-tors and R&R Chairs. Also per theACDA National Guidelines, R&RCoordinators may or may not oc-cupy an R&R Chair in his/her spe-cific area.

3. Since a portion of the restructur-ing effort at both the state and na-tional level was motivated by aneed to streamline what had be-

come a very large OCDA board,OCDA has also made the followingchanges pertaining to meeting at-tendance:

• e four R&R Coordinators areexpected to attend regular boardmeetings to represent their area.R&R Coordinators communicatewith their Chairs regularly to besure they are up to date on theactivities and needs of the area.

• e R&R Chairs do not attendregular board meetings, but willcommunicate with their Coordi-nator regularly and will meetwith the Coordinators and thePresident-Elect (both the incom-

ing and the outgoing during elec-tion years) annually at the sum-mer conference.

You can find a full board roster,including all of the newly ap-pointed R&R Coordinators andChairs, at the end of this newslet-ter. If you have any questions aboutthe new structure, please feel freecontact me. I look forward to serv-ing OCDA over the next two yearsand hope to see you at our OCDA-sponsored reading sessions at theOMEA Conference on February8–10 and at the OCDA SummerConference on June 18–20! d

Supplemental Materials

Sight Reading SuccessStan McGill & Morris StevensSATB and SSA editions availableHal LeonardI love this book! e exercises startout in two-measure phrases so theycan be sung every day as part of awarm-up sequence. As difficultygrows, so does length. e pagescan be duplicated and distributed; adigital component is also part of thepurchase, so examples can be pro-jected or sent to tablets. is year,the authors came out with an SSAedition. It is on my purchase list!

Sing at First SightAndy Bexk, Karen Farnum Surmani& Brian LewisAlfred

is is a reproducible supplemen-tal resource that I use in additionto my method texts. I do a double-sided copy with the rhythm drillson one side and melodies on theother. After working on the sheetas a class, students can write in thecounts and solfège. (Having a writ-ten approach is one way to showadministrators differentiation inregard to learning styles.) e bookalso offers music theory tests andaural training! Level 1 will hit foun-dations up through OMEA AAsight-reading requirements.

Songs for Sight SingingSouthern Music Companyere are many volumes and voic-ings of this series. It has nice prac-tice materials in preparation forOMEA sight-reading adjudication.

CMS PublicationsC.M. Shearercmspublications.comese compositions are formersight-reading selections fromOMEA District and State contests.It really helps to work on actualsamples in preparation for OMEAadjudication.

Online Resources

sightreadingfactory.com• Free account lets you try up to

20 free samples • Unlimited with subscription• $39.99 annual subscription for

educatorsWhile the free exercises are fixed,subscribers get uniquely composedexamples each time the user clicks“Another One.” e company offers

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my nAme Is Amy and I’m a ChoralDirector. . . .

I would like to share a Top-Tenlist of things I have learnedthrough trial and error. ese maynot work for everyone, but theyhave been helpful to me as I guidemy students toward musicalgrowth and achievement.

1. Be kind to the custodians. eyare your best friends or your worstenemies. ey can help you or hurtyou. ank them for the “thank-less” job they do, no matter howgood or bad the service may be.One day they just might have yourback!

2. Promote your own wellbeing.Don’t fool yourself: choral direc-tors put in long hours. But pleasedo not overwork to the detrimentof your family life, your home, yourfaith—in essence, your “real” life.e work will be there when you

return the next day. is lessontook me a very long time to learn,but is vital to choral mental health.

3. Lesson planning is vital! Why iseverything due at the same time?Your SLO as well as 2nd quartergrades are due the day of yourWinter Concert! e RESA dead-line is also looming, you have threeIEP meetings after school and mu-sical rehearsal every night thisweek. We’ve all been there! Try topace yourself to meet deadlines.But lesson planning is the only wayto assure that you will be concertready.

4. Teacher evaluation work andprofessional growth plans are notyour top priority. Try to createstudent learning objectives thatwill actually achieve individualgrowth in your students. eseareas of your job must be com-pleted, but it is not your disserta-

tion, so take abasic approachand do what is required. A verywise teacher reminded me that thepay is the same regardless of yourrating! Do your best work but notat the expense of your top priority:your students.

5. Plan how to stretch yourbudget. Every school district ap-proaches money differently, solearn the process. I hope you willbe more fortunate than I. Mybudget is the same today as when Iwas hired over 30 years ago! Yes,music octavo prices have morethan doubled; and yes, my classeshave tripled; and no, we do nothave textbooks as other classesdo—but you can survive! Becomefamiliar with the Choral Public Do-main Library. It is your best friendand the music is free.ere aregreat pieces in the CPDL for all

How to Survive (and Possibly rive) as a Choral DirectorAmy Gelsone, Historian

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student subscriptions for as low as$2 per student (requires at least 100subscriptions). My students haveused the free account to preparefor choir advancement auditions.

Arizona Choral Educatorshttp://www.azchoraleducators.org/festivals/sight-reading-downloadsExamples of solo line and four-partsight-reading from the Arizona Re-gional and All-State Choir audition

archives. Students could use apractice-at-home, friendly optionat: http://azchoraleducators.org/sightreading/index.html

One Final ApproachIn addition to the text and the activity-based approach, I givetimed solfège quizzes. I project atimer through the TV in my roomand challenge the students to writesolfège to 10 sight-reading

melodies in a specified amount oftime. My hope is to put them in apressure situation as they often feelduring the four-minute sight-read-ing preparation time duringOMEA adjudication.

Do you have other texts or re-sources that work for you? Pleasefeel free to email me and share, so Ican spread the word as I strive toserve our OCDA members. d

voicings, so take advantage. ChoirBoosters can also help with addi-tional funds and fundraising. Also,ask and ye might receive! Ourmusic library has grown in my 30+years and I am happy to sharepieces with others. I’m sure manyother directors feel the same. Toquote that famous Disney musical,“We’re all in this together!”

6. Be especially kind to yourschool secretary. ey can reallyhelp you (or allow you to fail miser-ably). Learn how to fill out a requi-sition correctly as soon as you pos-sibly can. If you make a mistake,ask for forgiveness. I learned veryquickly: “it’s easier to get forgive-ness than it is to get permission!”

7. Attend as many professionalconferences as possible. ere is a

vast wealth of knowledge thatchoral directors share in interestsessions, demonstrations, and con-certs. Personally, attending ACDAand OCDA conferences helped megrow as a director. I’m not sure if Ihave a single teaching technique oridea that is an original one! e listof directors from which I have bor-rowed ideas might fill this entirecolumn. Where else can you learnfrom the very best?

8. Remember that the students areyour focus! Your number one pri-ority is to ensure that they lovemusic. How do you attain that?Love it yourself! If you are passion-ate about it, they will be encour-aged to be also. Challenge them!Even if they don’t love a piece ofmusic, most will work hard to pre-

pare it if they believe you love it.Guide them into musical momentsthrough choosing great literaturethat has stood the test of time. Ifyour students think others acrossthe country in schools like theirscan perform “e Awakening,” youhave a much better chance of get-ting them to learn it. WithYouTube at your fingertips, it’smuch easier to help them seewhat’s being sung outside of theirhometown as well as around theglobe. Show them!

If possible, take them to themusic. My students thought theyhated opera until we attended astudent-night performance ofMadame Butterfly at Toledo Opera(starring the incomparable ShawnMathey, son of Ohio’s own R.D.Mathey). ose students left with

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selectIng musIc for each of mychoirs and creating concert pro-grams are among the most chal-lenging, important, engaging, cre-ative, and fulfilling parts of mywork as a choral conductor. I be-lieve the process is both an art anda science. In this article I wouldlike to share with you some ele-ments of the process I follow whenchoosing music.

Big Picture/Little Picturee “little picture” represents thespecific ways in which a piece ofmusic suits the ensemble. It’s allthe little things we consider: levelof difficulty, range, length, instru-mentation, text, historical period,composer, etc. e “big picture” ishow the piece may fit into largercontexts: a concert program, a sea-son, the entire year and more. Howmight you group the piece with

other pieces on the program? isconsideration of context worksonly if you have a big picture inmind for your concert year and forthe growth of your ensembles.

Pedagogical ValueWhat can I teach with this piece ofmusic? is question includes a fullrange of possibilities: vocal tech-niques, musical skills, musicalstyle, historical time period, poetry,language, global perspective, per-sonal values, and more. While anyof these skills can be taught in iso-lation, the most effective andmeaningful way to teach any andall of these things is through care-fully selected, well-crafted pieces ofmusic.

Something Old/Something NewWith the wealth of beautiful andinteresting choral music being

written todayand the easy ac-cessibility ofthis music (complete with record-ings and online performances) it’seasy to choose music written byliving composers exclusively. Inand of itself this is not a bad thing.I love supporting the many out-standing composers who are ele-vating choral music with their cre-ative and compelling compositions.At the same time, I love helpingstudents discover the beauty ofmusic from a different time periodthan the one in which they live,and witnessing how they grow mu-sically and personally from that ex-perience. I recommend that youprogram at least one piece per pro-gram by a master composer whorepresents one of the primary his-torical style periods.

So Much Music, So Little TimeLynda Heler, Ethnic Music: Intermediate/Advanced R&R Chair

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an entirely different view of opera!Try to expose your best students tolocal honor choirs. is is a greatway to help them meet otherchoral students who are leaders intheir choirs. Allow your honorchoir students to share with theirchoir when they return to class.

9. Keep order in the classroom.You must be in charge. Studentsgenerally want to please theirteachers. Keep them on task. osewho choose to misbehave need tobe reprimanded. If you want qual-

ity students who produce qualitywork, there must be discipline.ere will always be moments offun and laughter, but great choirsrequire focused work.

10. Success is not measured by thenumber of Superior ratings youachieve. For some directors, per-forming at district events may notbe in the realm of possibility. Rat-ings do not define us. Sometimessuccess is performing an a cappellapiece for the first time! Successmay be singing more than two

parts, or even singing beautifulvowels for the first time! Only youcan measure success in your stu-dents. But it will be worth every-thing you fought through when ithappens.

I hope that at least one of the itemsabove will be helpful to our youngmusic educators and perhaps sparka chuckle from those of you whohave been in the trenches. I wishyou all a wonderful year of makingmusic and memories! d

Something BorrowedA significant part of my searchprocess includes investigating therepertoire of the many ensembles Iadmire and consequently “borrow-ing” their repertoire selections. Ivisit their websites. I purchase theirrecordings. I scour YouTube for

their performances. I research therepertoire lists from various choralcompetitions and festivals. I go toconferences and save all my pro-grams. I look at the programs forconferences I was unable to attend.All of these searches and saved ma-terials become part of my long listof so much music, so little time!

Something BlueI’ve got nothing here.

Be FearlessLet’s face it: selecting music wedon’t know and may not know howto teach is scary. is fear factorcan include a range of obstacles: wedon’t know the language or how topronounce it, we don’t know thestyle, we don’t have any recordingsof the piece, we don’t know how tomanage the instrumentation, etc.ese obstacles surface in particu-lar within the ACDA repertoire-specific area in which I serve— ethnic music. Believe me, I am noexpert on ethnic music. I do, how-ever, try to approach ethnic musicwith fearlessness and commitment.What I don’t know and am notequipped to teach, I search until Ifind someone who can teach me.And in the process, my choirs and Ihave stretched ourselves beyondwhat we thought we could do. Wehave met and learned from manyinteresting people who have ex-panded our minds and our world-view. Yes, it’s a lot of work; and yes,it’s totally worth it.

Be RespectfulBeing fearless does not mean beingcareless. When taking on a style of

music that is unfamiliar to you, in-cluding historical time period, eth-nic, jazz, folk, gospel, spirituals, oranything else, commit to learningall you can to honor that style andthe techniques associated with it.Educate yourself before you edu-cate your students.

Be CreativeI encourage you to be creative inyour repertoire selection and pro-gram creation. Because there is somuch high-quality choral music inprint available to us, it’s easy to se-lect the number of songs neededfor the concert and to make sure allthose pieces are interesting insome way, and then to leave it atthat. But rather than presenting asomewhat “random” list of goodpieces sung by each of your choirs,why not create an artful programwhich communicates a meaningfultheme or message? By doing so,you will tap into one of our mostbasic human functions—story-telling. By creating an artful, narra-tive program, based on a relevanttheme and comprising a varied andinteresting range of well-craftedchoral music, not only can we max-imize our students’ musicalgrowth; we can provide them andour audiences with a deeply mean-ingful and transformative experi-ence.

“To be an artist is not the privilege of a few,

but the necessity of us all.”  —Robert Shaw d

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OcDA’s 2017 summer cOnFerence

was held this year June 19–21, onthe campus of Otterbein Universityin Westerville. is year OCDAwelcomed as our clinicians Dr.Timothy Sharp, Executive Directorof ACDA; Dr. Ann Usher, from theUniversity of Akron and the Cleve-land Orchestra Children’s Chorus;Stacey V. Gibbs, composer andarranger; Dr. Peter Jarjisian, Profes-sor Emeritus of Choral Activities atOhio University; and Amy Blosser,from Bexley City Schools and theACDA National Chair for theCommittee on Repertoire and Re-sources. Dr. Sharp offered insight

into innovating the arts and inno-vating ACDA, and led an informa-tive reading session on choralworks that would fit a variety of en-semble needs. Ann Usher and AmyBlosser led engaging sessions re-garding the rehearsal process andworking with young singers. StaceyGibbs offered attendees insightinto the performance of the con-cert spiritual. Peter Jarjisian led at-tendees in a two-part session thatcommemorated the anniversary ofMartin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have aDream” speech. e sessions cul-minated in a memorable perform-ance featuring everyone who at-

tended his ses-sion.

One of thehighlights of each OCDA SummerConference are the high-caliberperformances. is year’s confer-ence boasted six great perform-ances by a variety of choirs includ-ing: the Cardinal Chorale, directedby Charles R. Snyder; e YoungPeople’s Choral Collective ofCincinnati, directed by KellyAnnNelson; and e Summit ChoralSociety Performance Choir ofAkron, led by Heather Cooper.

is year the OCDA HighSchool Men’s and Women’s Honors

Summer Conference Recap Christopher Dent, Summer Conference Coordinator

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the mOst recent AcDA ChoralJournal paid homage to the leg-endary choral director WestonNoble. e article contained kindwords, memories, and stories frommany other conductors, teachers,and friends who had crossed pathswith Weston over the years. Hisability to draw people inwardthrough his teaching, and to keephis excitement for choral musicthroughout his life has always in-

spired me. I was fortunate enoughto sing under Weston Noble’s di-rection as part of an ACDA Colle-giate Honor Choir during myfreshman year of college—an expe-rience that ultimately helped influ-ence my decision to change mymajor from biology to music edu-cation. During the honor choir, Iwas struck by Weston’s ability toreach out and connect to each per-son. It was during my freshman

year of collegethat my profes-sor invited meto travel to Cincinnati and be partof the honor choir. Had he notreached out and given me the op-portunity, I might not haveswitched my major to music edu-cation. I think many of us are greatat reaching out to our students andchoir members, no matter thelevel. So much of what we do is

Reaching OutBrian Ps, Southwt Region Chair

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Choirs were directed by Dr. PeterJarjisian and Dr. Gayle Walker. isone-day event saw over 100 highschool singers join together fromhigh schools across the state andperform several outstanding selec-tions.

e annual Children’s HonorChoir is always a huge part of Sum-mer Conference, with singers ingrades 4–8 coming to participate inthis rigorous three-day event. isyear’s Children’s Honor Choir wasdirected by Dr. Ann Usher.

is year’s OCDA SummerConference included two new op-portunities for attendees to inter-act: a chance to talk with veteransof the choral art through “brain-picking” sessions, and the opportu-nity to enhance the conference ex-perience through the use of theGuidebook app for smartphonesand tablets, which allowed atten-dees to access and view conferencematerials and supplemental mate-rials, including conference sched-ules, in real time. Additional con-

ference highlights included jam-packed reading sessions highlight-ing the tireless work of our Reper-toire & Resources chairs whohand-pick the best music to sharewith you; terrific social events in-cluding our annual Gemütlichkeitat Quaker Steak and Lube and theAll-Conference Party at Brio; and acrowded exhibit hall with severalvendors from across the region.

I look forward to seeing you atour next conference, June 18–20,2018, at Otterbein University. d

UNITE SONGin

AMERICAN

ASSOCIATION

CHORALDIRECTORS

ACDA Central & North Central Division ConferenceFebruary 14 -17, 2018 | Chicago, Illinois

Register online at: www.ACDA.orgMore information at: www.NCACDA.orgor www.ACDACentral.org

Headline PerformersChicago a cappellaSanta Fe Desert ChoraleShenzhen Golden Bell Youth Choir

Special EventsOpening Reception

Choral Evensong with Bella VoceCollegiate Repertoire Choir with René Clausen

Windy City High School Honors Chorus with Stacey GibbsWeston H. Noble Lifetime Achievement Award

Stace Stegman Award

Concert Venues & Conference Hotels

Harris Theater for Music and Dance - All ConcertsSt. James Episcopal Cathedral - Choral Evensong

Fairmont Chicago, Millennium Park - Headquarters & ExhibitsSwissôtel Chicago - Honor & Collegiate Repertoire Choirs

Photo by Sawyer Bengtson

Conference Highlights4 Honor Choirs20 Interest Sessions16 Auditioned Choirs12 Reading SessionsResearch Poster SessionExhibits & Vendors

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about recruitment and building re-lationships. How do I get moreboys in middle school choir? I needsome tenors in my church choir!How do I build this new commu-nity choir? Reaching out is what wedo. But do we also reach out toother choral directors? And how?OCDA is a great place to start.

I was introduced to OCDA as astudent at Otterbein, when I wasgiven the opportunity to be a stu-dent worker for the summer con-ference. Later, it was because GayleWalker reached out to my wife andme and invited us to serve as theOCDA Summer Conference Co-Chairs that we became involved inthe organization as professionals.We likely would not have becomeinvolved in OCDA during our firstyears of teaching if we had notbeen asked. Because we wereasked, we said “yes.” Being involvedin OCDA has led to many friend-ships and funny stories to share,such as hastily vacuuming dog hairout of my car when we found outno one was assigned to pick up thesummer conference clinician at theairport, or learning how to shut offa water valve when the conferencebathroom was flooding. Becausesomeone asked, I was able to have

a full-circle moment and share din-ner with Weston Noble, speakingclosely with him, when he head-lined one of the OCDA confer-ences. Most importantly, becausesomeone asked, I have met won-derful choral directors from allaround our state and beyond, withwhom I can connect professionallyand personally.

As Southwest Region Chair, Irealize my district is bigger than Iknew it to be, stretching beyondareas with which I am familiar. Ilook forward to reaching out topeople in the entire Southwest Re-gion. I also urge each of you toreach out to someone. Start small.Connect with a colleague in aneighboring school district andtalk shop—share ideas and re-sources, or just vent. Plan a collab-oration performance with a local

school, church, or communitychoir. Collaboration is a great ex-perience for your choristers, and agreat way to meet and work withother directors. Take on a studentteacher and guide them not only inthe classroom, but in ways they canbe involved and stay connected inthe “real world.” Become a mentoror find a mentor for yourself.(Check out OCDA’s mentorshipprogram!) Invite someone to theOCDA Summer Conference, orwhen you are at the conference,strike up a conversation withsomeone new and help them feelconnected.

ere are many ways to connectand OCDA is a great place tobegin. Why are you here? Didsomeone reach out to you? In re-turn, have you reached out tosomeone else? d

FAll 2017 table of contents 13

tim cloeter, editor • cloetet@bgsu.edu • 262-527-8151

OCDA News, the official publication of the OhioChoral Directors Association, is published threetimes annually and is distributed without charge tomembers of the Association as well as to selectedmembers and officers of the American Choral Direc-tors Association. Distribution is by PDF file that is e-mailed and posted at ohiocda.org. OCDA reservesthe right to determine inclusion of materials submit-ted and to edit all materials proposed for distribution.

Copy and Ad Submission Deadlines: September 15for the Fall Issue, January 15 for the Winter Issue, andApril 15 for the Spring Issue.

Advertising Rates: a full-page ad is $135 per issue, ahalf-page ad is $80 per issue, and a quarter-page ad is$45 per issue. A 15% discount is offered on the pur-chase of three consecutive ads; other discounts areavailable. Please contact the editor for exact ad sizesand other specifications.

Upcoming Events

February 2018OmeA Professional Development conferenceFebruary 8–10, 2018, Columbus, OHomeapdc.com

AcDA central & north central Division conferenceFebruary 14–17, 2018, Chicago, ILacdacentral.org

FAll 2017 table of contents 14

Leadership Roster

Pridentrichard schnipkerschnip@bgsu.eduBowling Green State University

Vice (Past) Pridentloren Veigellveig@sssnet.com Witte Travel

Prident Elebrandon mossbrandonlmoss@gmail.comCentral Crossing High School

SraryZebulon highbenzhighben@muskingum.eduMuskingum University

TreasurerKent W. Vandockkwvandock@gmail.comArchbold Local Schools

EC Region ChairWei chengchengw@denison.eduDenison University

NE Region ChairFrank bianchifbianchi@bw.eduBaldwin Wallace Conservatory

NW Region Chairbeth Vaughnbethvaughn@me.comBowling Green High School

SC Region Chair John mcclainjmcclain@capital.eduLogan High School

SW Region Chairbrian Pottspottsb@wyomingcityschools.orgWyoming City Schools

Conference Chairchristopher r. Dentchristopher.r.dent@gmail.comIndianola Presbyterian Church

Exhibits Chairholly lewis PembertonHollyLewisPem@gmail.comWorthington Kilbourne High School

Membership Chairmarla butkembutke@otterbein.eduOtterbein University

IT Coordinatoreric Westewest@defcity.orgDefiance High School

Newsler Editortim cloetercloetet@bgsu.eduMasterworks Chorale of Toledo

Mentorship Chairbrad PiersonBradley.Pierson2@utoledo.eduUniversity of Toledo

HistorianAmy gelsoneajgelsone@yahoo.comAnthony Wayne High School

Rired Reprentativeben Aylingb-ayling@onu.eduOhio Northern University (ret.)

Student Chapter ReprentativeDaniel landisdancox@bgsu.eduBowling Green State University

Elementary Ftival ChairJulie streblerjstrebler@coventryschools.orgCoventry High School

Children’s Honor Choir ChairJennifer calljennifer.call@cim.eduCleveland Institute of Music

High School Honor Choir ChairAnn Johnsonsingerann82@gmail.comWhitehall Yearling High School

Repertoire & Resources Chairs

Youth AreaArea Coordinator: Doug O’Neal

S C HO OL C HILDR E N

Jeremy Davidjeremydavid@foresthills.eduMaddux Elementary School

C OMMUNIT Y C HILDR E NVacant

JR . HIGH/MIDDLE S C HO OL

bryan nicholsbnichols@uakron.eduUniversity of Akron

SE NIOR HIGH S C HO OL

Doug O’nealrdohio@gmail.comOlentangy Liberty High School

Lifelong AreaArea Coordinators: Tim & Tracy Carpenter

C OMMUNIT Y

tim and tracy carpenterCarpenter_tim@milfordschools.orgCarpenter_t@milfordschools.orgClermont ChoraleMilford First United Methodist Church

MUSIC IN WOR SHIP

Daniel Parsleyparsledt@mail.uc.eduSt. Timothy’s Episcopal Church

Collegiate AreaArea Coordinator: Marie Bucoy-Calavan

C OLLEGE/UNI V E R SIT Y

marie bucoy-calavanmbucoycalavan@uakron.eduUniversity of Akron

ST UDE N T AC TI V ITIE S

bradley naylornaylorb@ohio.eduOhio University

Repertoire-Spific AreaArea Coordinator: Kristina MacMullen

C ON TE MP OR ARY A C APPE LL A

brody mcDonaldBrody.mcdonald@ketter-ingschools.orgKettering Fairmont High School

ETHNIC: DEV E LOPIN G VOIC E S Vacant

ETHNIC: IN TE R ME DI ATE/ADVAN C E D VOIC E S

lynda hasselerlhassele@capital.eduCapital University

ME N’S C HOIR S

Jason Falkofskyjfalkofsky@ignatius.eduSaint Ignatius High School

SHOW C HOIR

Jeff clarkshwchr78@aol.comVO C AL JAZ Z

chris Venesilecvenesil@kent.eduWOME N’S C HOIR S

Kristina macmullenmacmullen.1@osu.eduOhio State University

FAll 2017 table of contents 15