Eight music students and three faculty representatives from Eastern New Mexico University attended the Southwestern American Choral Directors Association (SWACDA) Conference in Oklahoma City from March 6-10.

The following students were selected for the 2018 SWACDA Honor Choir, conducted by Maria Guinand of Venezuela: Lindsey Bartlett, a junior majoring in vocal performance, Zane Burden, a senior majoring in choral music education, Devin DeVargas, a junior majoring in vocal performance, Juan Espino, a senior majoring in vocal performance, Thomas Fisher, a senior majoring in choral music education, Lauren Hutchison, a senior majoring in choral music education, Dalia Melendez, a junior majoring in vocal performance, and Annabelle Rangel a junior majoring in choral music education.

These students participated in a Student Immersion Day, followed by rehearsals and a final performance in the Civic Center Music Hall. Additionally, these students participated in a conducting presentation led by Dr. Jason Paulk, professor of music at ENMU, and Dr. Rodney Eichenberger, as well as a reading session led by Dr. Jason Paulk and accompanied by Ms. Kayla Paulk, instructor of music at ENMU, with student Zane Burden serving as student conductor for one of the reading session pieces. 

Mr. Ken Miller, interim director of choirs at ENMU, served as an ENMU faculty representative on the trip.

Mrs. Kayla Paulk discusses her experience at the conference:

1. How did you find out about the Southwestern American Choral Directors Association Conference? Have you attended before?

As a twenty-year member of ACDA, I am a regular attendee/presenter/performer at the annual national and biennial regional conferences. I have attended the conference almost every year for the past twenty years, with a few exceptions.

2. How did you help the students prepare for the conference?

The students were given music to memorize and prepare for performance for Dr. Paulk and Dr. Eichenberger's presentation on "Beginning Conducting." Zane Burden was asked to prepare to conduct "Here's to Song," a piece in a different session (a reading session, where attendees receive a packet of new music and sight read it together).

Also, since our students rehearsed and performed for the Collegiate Honor Choir at this conference, they received and prepared that music in advance. We also had an organizational meeting prior to our departure to give the students schedules and answer any questions they had.

3. How were students chosen for the Honor Choir?

We are proud of our ENMU music students, and these eight students represented ENMU well as the only New Mexico students in the Honor Choir. Each University is asked to select up to eight singers to sing in the Honor Choir. These eight students were chosen as leaders in the ENMU choral ensembles. There are many other ENMU students who would have represented us equally well. 

These students were also chosen because either they are choral music education majors or they have seniority among their peers.

4. What did having several students named to the Honor Choir mean to you?

 As Dr. Paulk, Mr. Miller and I observed the rehearsals and performance of this over 150-voice Honor Choir, we were exceedingly proud of our students. They prepared well for the experience so they could be flexible and creative through the music with their fantastic conductor (Maria Guinand of Venezuela), and also integrated well with new friends from Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas. 

I believe this experience was similar to what some of our students might have experienced in their high school All-State Choirs, though at the collegiate level. Every opportunity to collaborate with a new set of musicians is a learning experience and creates musical memories to keep for a lifetime.

5. Describe the reading session you accompanied.

 The reading session I accompanied at SWACDA was a prepared packet of choral music both new and old, geared toward two target audiences: two-year colleges/universities, and four-year colleges/universities. A colleague of ours (mine and Dr. Paulk's) who teaches at a two-year university selected that portion of the repertoire, and Dr. Paulk selected the four-year university repertoire.

The participating audience for our session received a packet of music as they entered the room and, as Dr. Paulk introduced each piece sequentially, we performed all or a portion of each song. The purpose of this session is to introduce choral conductors and future teachers (our music education students) to repertoire that might be new to them or, perhaps, remind them of a piece they've not considered programming for their choirs in some time. 

I prepared for this session by receiving a packet of music much earlier than the moment of the presentation, about a month or so in advance. I prepared both the accompaniments and open-score choral parts, so I could reinforce the singers if they had any struggles (which happened a few times).  We received very good feedback from the session, and feel it was successful if it helped one person consider a new piece to program for their own choir(s).

6. What other activities did you participate in at the conference?

I attended a part of the Student Immersion Day, almost all of the concert sessions, the reading session, our "Beginning Conducting" presentation, a presentation on conducting gesture by Dr. Bronfman of Sam Houston State University, the semi-final and final rounds of the undergraduate conducting competition, an evening performance of Canterbury Choral Society and the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and, of course, the final performance of the SWACDA Collegiate Honor Choir.

The conference was filled with so many activities (often multiple offerings at the same time), it was impossible to attend them all, but I attended as many as possible.

7. What was your favorite part of the trip?

What a difficult question to answer!  I always enjoy the conversations that ensue with our students as they have new experiences at events such as these.  Hearing their unique, informed impressions of presentations, conductors and performances made me proud as a teacher. That was, perhaps, my favorite aspect of the trip. Witnessing them flourish in new relationships with peers and mentors in the field of choral music is also an inspiration.

Zane Burden, an ENMU student, discusses his experience at the conference:

1. How did you find out about the Southwestern American Choral Directors Association Conference? Have you attended before?

As an ACDA member, I always look forward to hearing about the regional and national conferences held by the organization each year, usually through both organization documents and ENMU music faculty. I have attended two ACDA conferences in the past; the 2014 Southwestern ACDA conference in Little Rock, Arkansas, and the 2017 National ACDA conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

2. How were you chosen for the Honor Choir?

To be chosen as a member of an ACDA Collegiate Honor Choir is essentially to be selected as a representative of your state. By my understanding, the process involves the selection of an exemplary university choral program or student ACDA chapter by the state ACDA office. Participants are then selected by the program director based on merit, passion and involvement in choral activities.

3. You served as a student conductor. Please describe that experience and how you received that role.

I was given the wonderful opportunity to conduct a piece, "Here's to Song" by Allister MacGillivray, during a reading session at this conference. During reading sessions, attendees sight-read their way through a packet of new music, in order to potentially discover new material for use in their own ensembles. The preparatory process was somewhat nerve wracking, however, one should never underestimate the power of music to bring people together. I found that even though most of the attendees were reading the piece for the first time, I was still able to connect with each of them through the music, which is an amazing feeling.

4. Describe the Student Immersion Day portion of the conference.

Student Immersion Day was one of my favorite parts of the conference. Through challenging activities, games and workshops, we were able to interact with other students from across the Southwestern ACDA region, an opportunity we otherwise might not have had. Between song building activities, group listening exercises and a particularly interesting Q and A with university teachers regarding graduate school studies, I found Student Immersion Day to be both fun and vastly beneficial.

5. Describe the rehearsals and final performance.

The rehearsal process was quite rigorous; since we were limited to only three days of rehearsal prior to the concert, rehearsals were intensive, often lasting around two hours with limited breaks. The end result, however, made this process quite worth the effort. We performed a broad range of music, from sacred pieces of the baroque and classical eras to traditional Latin American folk songs, such as the Cuban Guayaboso. I was quite proud of our final performance. I felt that we put on a strong show of community and musical integrity, which undoubtedly impacted the lives of myself, other honor choir performers, as well as our audience, in a very positive way.

6. What other activities did you participate in at the conference?

My primary focus during this conference was my participation in the Collegiate Honor Choir, however, I also particularly enjoyed attending reading sessions. As a future music educator, I love having the opportunity to gain knowledge of new music, some of which could potentially be used in my own classroom. Another highlight of the conference was, as mentioned earlier, the workshop on selecting, applying and attending a graduate program, presented during Student Immersion Day. It was wonderful to interact with educators from large-scale graduate music programs, something that I have had limited knowledge of in the past.

7. How did you prepare for the conference?

The largest process was, of course, learning the Honor Choir music; many hours went into preparing the music for our limited rehearsals, however, this was an enjoyable process. Otherwise, I was simply excited to spend time with my peers exploring a new city, networking and enriching ourselves as musicians and future educators.

8. What was your favorite part of the trip?

My favorite part of the trip would have to have been the rehearsal process itself. Working with renowned Venezuelan choral director Maria Guinand was an absolute joy, and helped me to look at music a new way, through the filter of rhythm and dance rather than notes on a page.

Dalia Melendez, an ENMU student, discusses her experience at the conference:

1. How did you find out about the Southwestern American Choral Directors Association Conference? Have you attended before?

I found out about this conference a year ago when a few of my colleagues had gone to the National Conference in Minneapolis. This was the first time I've participated in this conference.

2. How were you chosen for the Honor Choir? What did being named to the Honor Choir mean to you?

Dr. Jason Paulk was the one who chose from members of the ACDA chapter here at ENMU. It was a privilege to have been selected to participate in the conference at all. I have been a part of many choirs in the past, but this one was by far one of the most memorable ones.

3. Describe the Student Immersion Day portion of the conference.

The Student Immersion Day portion of the conference took place on the first day. We were introduced to everyone and participated in "icebreaker" activities. The first and only activity I was able to be a part of was when we were randomly divided into groups and were asked to collaborate and brainstorm together by putting together an a cappella song, made up of a choral piece and a contemporary song. We had to leave the Student Immersion activities an hour early to get to rehearsal for the Collegiate Honor Choir.

4. Describe the rehearsals and final performance.

The music that we performed was incredible and so beautiful! We did "Sacred Heart (Ubi Caritas III)" by Ola Gjeilo, Misericordias "Domini" by Mozart, a Cuban choral piece titled "El Guayaboso" by Guido López-Gavilán, a Brazilian piece named "Muié Rendêra," by C.A. Pinto Fonseca, and two of my favorite pieces, "Eli! Eli!" by Deák-Bárdos György and "Kasar Mie La Gaji" by Alberto Grau, who is married to our guest conductor Maria Guinand, who was incredible. I learned so much from her conducting skills.

The rehearsal process was really intense, due to the fact that we only had three rehearsals to prepare for our concert. The performance was spectacular! It was one of the most enjoyable performance I have ever been a part of.

5. What other activities did you participate in at the conference?

I participated in reading sessions and attended a few workshops. In the reading sessions, you were given a booklet of choral music and you spent the next hour sight reading through all the pieces and learning the effectiveness of the pieces for your ensemble. I attended a few of those and was given a lot of choral music. The workshops ranged from a vocal pedagogy lecture to a Q and A on choosing a master's school/program.

6. How did you prepare for the conference?

The music for the Honor Choir was given to us back in November, so we had a lot of time to learn all the pieces.

7. What was your favorite part of the trip?

My favorite moment of the trip was when we were listening to the Baylor University Treble choir perform their final song by Dan Forest, "Good Night, Dear Heart." I had never been so moved by a performance before.

Attending this conference was an incredible opportunity, I hope every musician can experience something like this at some point in their life.