Banner photo
by Howard Meharg
of Flathead High School
Choir, Kevin Allen-Schmid,
Conductor - NW ACDA
Convention, Vancouver,
BC, 2008

The Western Montana Youth Sing Honors Choir Information

Date—Friday, February 26th
Place—Jefferson School; Missoula, MT

Children’s Honor choir will be conducted by Ms. Renie Gilbert.
Junior High Honor choir will be conducted by Ms. Rhonda Burghardt.

Repertoire lists—
Childrens:  Bless the Lord   Andrew Carter  Oxford Press  0-19-335513-2
Two Singing Songs     Bob Chilcott   Oxford Press  0-19-341527-5
                     Cameroon   Arr. Michael Scott   Alfred Publishing  SV9533
                     Jim-Along Josie   Reginald Unterseher  Oxford Press  0-19-386658-7

Junior High:
Agnus Dei Canon        Donald Moore    3 Pt Mixed        Heritage Press 15/2222H           
The Journey                   Joseph Martin    2 Pt Mixed        Shawnee Press E 0361             
Reuben and Rachel        Arr. Greg Gilpin  SAB                 Shawnee Press D 0711             
Why We Sing                Arr. Greg Gilpin SAB                  Shawnee Press D 0670             
The Power and
    the Glory                   Joyce Eilers      3 Pt Mixed        Jensen Pub. 40216010     

To register your students, please contact Kyla Morton at mortonk@stevensville.k12.mt.us

Registration is $15/student.  Registration deadline is February 12th.  Late Registration fee:  $25.      

Children's Choirs in Montana fading into the big sky or sweepin' down the plains?
by Mary Dietz, Children's Choir R&S Chair

Got back not too long ago from the city where "the wind comes sweepin' down the plains!" Actually, a gal came out of the front door of the hotel where I was staying and about got knocked over by the wind that was blowing right then. She laughed and said, "Oh, yeah, this is where the wind comes sweepin' down the plains!" and went on her way. The doorman rolled his eyes! I think they get that a lot!

It was a glorious National ACDA convention over March 3,4,5,6,7 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Lots of reconnecting with folks I only see at National (when I can get there).

The Children's Choir folks were out in abundance. Children's Choir had all the division and national reps there and we had a great roundtable about the future of ACDA and how they can better serve the masses. Some ideas that came from my groups included: making ACDA more accessible,

In chatting with other children's choir directors in Oklahoma City, I am concerned about the future of these wonderful organizations. In Montana, they seem to be fading into the Big Sky sunset. Community Children's Choirs in Montana were numerous a few years ago and now I know of only three: Great Falls, Helena, Belgrade. There seem to be many "honor choirs" attached to elementary schools or school districts, however. My understanding is that Community Children's Choirs have the advantages of:

* meeting year round

*touring in the summer

*kids getting to know kids from all over the area

*singers having another music teacher in their lives

*more performance opportunities

*combining with community arts events for concerts

*being exposed to and performing larger and/or more advanced works.

I would love to chat with you about Children's Choirs in your area whether attached to school or community. I was told that traditionally children's choirs involve treble singers from grade 4 to about age 16. The choirs I have been involved with include treble singers from grade 4 through grade 8. In Great Falls, we have grades 1 - 8 involved.

Let's get the wind full of children's voices sweeping across the plains in Montana.

The Time of the Year to Rethink and Recharge

by Larry Swingen, President-Elect
(Larry will become president of MT-ACDA in October, 2010)

Happy New Year! The Christmas Concerts, programs, and pageants along with all the work it takes from you; the leaders of music departments, and all the work your students have done are history, part of the year past. The stages are cleared the choir risers stored, the extra programs filed away, one to save in my 3-ring binder, and the rest on the piano for the kids to take—or throw away.  I’ve written the concert date on the front of the storage envelope for each title of music performed, and re-filed. The hard work has paid off; the students demonstrated what they have learned and also what they need more practice with. We’ve all stretched ourselves and our students, helping them to accomplish more than they expected, perform more music from a variety of times and cultures and languages than they expected.

Christmas break comes at just the right time after all the buzz and blur of preparation and performances. We get a chance to recharge and rethink our approaches. Our jobs are continuously challenging. We find solutions to some problems, while still searching for better ways to deal with and solve others. This posting of writings on our new web site can be a source to all of us for distributing ideas, searching for help, and then adapting those new ideas to fit our own situations. Here are some new-to-me ideas:

1. A Voice-Care Network breathing mind set has been a big success: “expand the space in your lungs and below and the air will naturally vacuum right in.” Do we ever stop thinking of new ways to teach the same thing?

2. I’ve also been asking my choirs to practice their stance for the concert from early on. Alignment and airspace make for a great foundation for singing—why didn’t I think of that before?

3. From MBI: Successful educators teach the behavior they want from their students.

So many of the Christmas cards we received this year stated how fast the years pass. Christmas and New Years break is a time to think back, and realize that the year has indeed flown by. Take time now, if you haven’t had a chance, to look at our own website, and other affiliate ACDA websites, check out the MENC website, read the articles in our Cadenza to see what ideas are out there that you can pull in and add to your own teaching repertoire. Take time to do that before this year flies by just like the last.

One idea that I got from a choir director’s website letter was to pick one of the standard 24 Italian art songs and teach it to the whole choir. It is a great experience for their own repertoire, for practice with the language, and the awesome phrasing in those songs.

Take time, also, to write your own letter to this website. Submit it to our MCDA President Pat Ryan. Let’s make our website dynamic and overflowing with teaching ideas from our membership!

I teach grades K-12 here in Malta, my latest challenge has been adjusting to the loss of my elementary classroom. I’m teaching “on the road” again. The addition of another kindergarten teacher to facilitate full day, every day kindergarten meant that my grade school music room was switched into the additional kindergarten room. My wife happens to be one of the kindergarten teachers. She is a genius on the SmartBoard. Last year her class arrived in my music room and announced to me: “Oh, I see you haven’t upgraded to the latest SmartBoard upgrade!” !! Kids. Our Parent organization raised money and supplied each classroom with a SmartBoard. I am continuing to develop files with lessons for each grade. When I arrive at each classroom I pull up my SmartBoard file with the week’s lessons and off we go.

My new learned ability is to link the music cd track with the smartboard page.

The easy access to the listening examples and song accompaniments make my travels much easier, and more time efficient for the kids. They get more to see and sing and listen to. And, their hard to contain desire to get their hands on that interactive board adds more kinesthetic options to their learning. The kids don’t get as much experience with classroom instruments so far this year.  God did give them hands and laps and bellies and pencils and desks to play rhythms on! Oh, I’ll work up percussion units and push the percussion-laden cart around for the joy of it.

I’m linking websites that I want to show the kids on those lesson pages. www.carnegiehall.org has some great stuff.

Technology keeps moving and improving. Our kids are right with it and if we want to connect with them we need to keep up too. We all have witnessed how quickly the kids pick up on all this tech stuff. Take a look at www.youtube.com to show your choir other choirs that are doing the same selection. Find “Westminster Chorus 2007 Strike up the Band” on youtube for some interesting movement ideas from a men’s barbershop chorus. You can even find me singing a little “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park.” You may have to click down a page or two to find me…

Go to www.musicK8.com for ideas for those grades K-8, and also some interesting ideas for high school choirs. A newer site that may become more and more helpful is www.teachertube.com. I found a video that goes through the pronunciation of Lauridsen’s “Dirait-on.” And, when in doubt, you can find anything by just doing a search through your favorite search engine: www.yahoo.com, or www.google.com. You can even search for search engines if you get excited about it all!

 I’d love to develop sight singing exercises for my high school choir on the computer and have them read the exercises from the TV screen in my choir room. I don’t have a SmartBoard in my high school choir room, but the TV is connected to my computer, and I can use PowerPoint, in combination with Finale—a music writing program. I may end up scanning one of the many sight singing booklets out there and singing them off the TV.

The joy of teaching is that we continually learn more about ourselves and how to teach more effectively as we do our job. We are the products of all those we’ve seen teaching. All the borrowed ideas make us and our students more for that borrowing. The challenge for all of us it to use this new year, and new technology, including our own website, to share our own talents and ideas and teaching strengths. Please be generous with your time and talents and share what you do on our new website!

Best wishes as you all go on with the next rehearsals and upcoming performances and festivals. Best wishes as you share the new things you continue to learn about our calling and once again filling the stages with kids making music.

(Article submitted January, 2009)

Meet Larry Swingen, your president-elect

Larry Swingen graduated from Concordia College, Moorhead, MN with a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance and music education.

He and his wife Barbara have lived in Malta for the past twenty-seven years; Larry teaching vocal music, and Barb teaching kindergarten. Larry directs the Malta Lutheran Church Choir and is an organist at church, he has directed the Malta Community Choir, he maintains an active piano studio, and tunes pianos. Larry is on the faculty of the Flathead Music Camp and the Flathead Lutheran Bible Choir Camp. He is a member of the VoiceCare Network, having completed both the Impact and the Continuing courses. The Malta Concert Choir and ensembles perform well at District and State Festivals. Larry Swingen adjudicates music festivals and guest directs honor choirs across the state of Montana.

In the summer of 07 and in the upcoming summer of 09, Larry and Barb will once again travel with the Northern Ambassadors of Music performing in six European countries with the choir and band made up of high school and college students from North Dakota and Montana. Larry will direct the choir for the ’09 tour.  Larry gave a piano recital playing Beethoven, Debussy, Bach and Chopin in the fall of 07. In February of 08 he gave a solo pipe organ recital at 1st Lutheran Church in Glasgow, Montana.

Larry & Barb’s daughter is completing her Masters of Public Health this year at the University of Iowa. Laura is to be married January 3, 2009 in Bismarck, ND. Their son, Jason is at Moorhead State working towards his Business Management degree and playing in their percussion ensemble.

Montana ACDA launches a new web site; will serve as a newsletter, too

At the urging of Montana's current ACDA president, Patrick Ryan, the state board has approved the construction of a website that will serve members in several ways. It'll serve as an immediate source of news and contact information. The site, in effect becomes a newsletter...something missing in Montana ACDA for quite some time.

Patrick says he hopes the site will provide a vehicle for Montana members to write articles. "I definitiely look forward to hearing from R&S chairs...perhaps one article per year from each." Many state ACDA chapters make that an expectation for officers and R&S leaders.

He goes on to express his hope that colleges and universities, churches, or any other groups who sponsor workshops or festivals, will make use of the site to promote the event and inform members. The site will have the capability of providing online registration forms for such events.

The site will provide links to MENC, other ACDA sites, and other helpful material.

Board members hope that all who are part of the ACDA family in Montana will bookmark the page and keep returning to it for the latest information.

The site was built (and will be updated as state leaders provide information) by Howard Meharg, who is the Web/Editor for the northwest division. Meharg also provides this service for Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, and maintains the NW Divisional site.

Montana ACDA members may submit articles for publication on this website.

Consider the "audience" and write material you think will be helpful in promoting choral music in the schools, churches, and concert halls of our state.

Until further notice, simply send your article to Patrick Ryan. Patrick will forward to our web/editor who will have it online immediately.

Members have been heard to complain that the Choral Journal tends to publish "academic" material, sometimes the dissertation findings of doctoral candidates. This is your chance to "get real" and talk about classroom management, simple rehearsal tips, organizational devices, fund-raising, touring, and the always helpful "top ten" literature list. Plus, we even welcome your own "academic" article...if that is what you're working on right now!

You need not fret over the details of format. Send your material as a Word attachment or in simple e-mail format. We'll copy and paste and then edit as necessary with your permission. Please provide a head shot photo, too. Mail to Patrick Ryan.