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The Northeastern District Chorus Directors Association (NEDCDA) was founded in 1991. It's purposes are to support the training of existing, new, and potential directors, to encourage the exchange of information and ideas, and to advise the District Convention Team on the selection of contest sites with regard to performance conditions and logistics. The CDA is self governing and financialy self-sustaining, receiving no monetary assistance from the NED. The CDA provides guidance and assistance to the NED VP-CDD in the planning of Chorus Director classes at NED schools. In addition, the CDA operates an annual weekend seminar for all NED directors and assistants, often inviting neighboring district directors.
Winter, 2003
Directors College 2003 Scholarships Announced
This year there will be six scholarships
to Directors College for front-line NED chorus directors attending directors
College for the first time. "First time" means that you have never attended
Directors College offered at St. Joseph, Missouri. Prior to moving to the
campus of Western Missouri State in St. Joseph, Missouri, Directors College was
offered several years at Carthage College in Kenosha, WI and there were some
regional schools. These don't count for the purposes of determining eligibility
for one of these scholarships. So, if you attended any of those schools, but
never attended one in St. Joseph, Missouri, you are eligible to enter the
drawing.
There are a total of 75 scholarships available this year for
Society directors with six of them going to NED directors. Forty of the scholarships are funded by the Society's Chorus Director
Development Committee and thirty-five are funded by Harmony Foundation. This is
just another example of how your donations to Harmony Foundation are being used
to promote our fabulous hobby and musical style.
The scholarship only covers tuition to the school. You will have to get yourself to the school (the nearest major airport is Kansas City), but your chapter should be more than willing to cover that cost.
There are two eligibility requirements.
1. You must be a
front-line director of an SPEBSQSA chorus.
2. You have never
attended Directors College in St. Joseph, Missouri.
There is no form to fill out, no paperwork to return, no need to submit a
resume, and no need to gather letters of reference. Simply send your name and
address to Jerry Knickerbocker. You may send
your name and address by surface mail to him at
Jerry Knickerbocker
515 West Elm Street
Titusville, Pa 16354-1424
814 827-9347
or send your name and address to him by e-mail at
jerrykn@csonline.net.
The Directors College is held in conjunction with Harmony College and lasts an entire week. This year it will be held from July 23 to August 4, 2003 in St. Joseph's Missouri. The school is a fantastic experience for directors at all levels. For complete information including a catalog and schedule, visit the Harmony College/Directors College web page.
Applications must be received by April 5, 2003.
Branco and Signor Achieve Director Certification
One of the many joyful awards presentations made in Lake Placid during the
Fall NED Convention and Contest was the awarding of Director Certification to
Rick Branco, Music Director of the Ned Bedford and Cape Cod chapters, and to
Dan Signor, Music Director of the Hanover chapter. Congratulations to Rick and
Dan. Take considerable pride in the fact that both are active NED chorus
directors.
It was an enormous pleasure for me to be the district officer to recognize this
important milestone in their development as directors of NED choruses. Make
sure that the next time you see one of them you congratulate him for taking a
considerable amount of time to achieve this level of expertise as a chorus
director.
Achieving director certification is not an easy path. Ten courses are required,
most of them can only be taken at Directors College, and it's difficult to take
more than two of them at a time. Amazingly, Rick Branco was able to finish in
four years. Even more amazingly, Dan Signor completed the requirements in one
year. Dan, of course, had the considerable advantage of being a music educator
when he entered the certification program.
For more information about what is required to become a certified director
follow the links under "Director Certification" on the left where you will find
a link to a document listing the requirements as well as an application to
enter the program.
If you have any questions about director certification or any other aspect of
chorus director development, contact NED DVP CDD Chuck Eaker at
ceaker@nycap.rr.com or call him in the evenings at 518 580-0056 or during
the day at 518 285-7601.
Once again, congratulations to Rick and Dan for bringing additional honor and
accomplishment to the NED.
Certification Course Available by Correspondence
An Interesting Web Site
Here is the URL for a fascinating web site: http://www.ncvs.org. There is an"Information for Singers" page at: http://www.ncvs.org/singers which has a link to a set of articles by Ingo Titze originally published in "The Journal of Singing". They are short and provocative. Look at the third one in the list: "Choir Warm-ups: How Effective are They?" at: http://www.ncvs.org/singers/choir_wa.pdf (it's a PDF file so you need to have Adobe Acrobat installed).
Perhaps we need to change what we encourage in our choruses especially if we are moving toward asking our singers to take more responsibility for their contribution to the chorus. Can you imagine warming up the way an orchestra or sports team does?