Empowered Ensembles: Building Student Leadership Through Routine – Katie Huzinga
“This session demonstrates how intentional daily routines serve as the primary engine for fostering student agency, leadership, and foundational musicianship. Drawing from a successful 6–12 choral model, this session provides a step-by-step walkthrough of a classroom routine designed to foster student autonomy. Attendees will explore how every segment of the choral rehearsal—from body warm-ups to score study—acts as a catalyst for independent musicianship. By navigating the nuances of a consistent, student-centered routine, participants will discover how structural anchors allow directors to step back while students take ownership of their own musical and social growth. This approach builds genuine student buy-in, variety, and ensemble community. Attendees will leave with a practical blueprint for developing a self-governing choir room, including a toolkit of engaging warm-ups, ensemble games, and pedagogical approaches that empower student leadership.”

A Community of Song: Starting or Revamping A Community Chorus – Thomas Larner

“This session gives attendees an opportunity to understand multiple perspectives of how to begin their own community chorus in their city or even revive a community chorus that was once thriving. Attendees will be able to understand how some conductors have started or revitalized their choruses along with the steps they took to do it. Attendees will also be able to take away strategies back to their own communities to not only start or revitalize their chorus, but to drive membership in their home choir,  no matter the level.”

Political Music, Class of 1940: Lessons for Our Time – Clayton Parr

“With recent interest in choral works referring to issues of violence against marginalized groups in our society, this session looks back at two works written in and around 1940 on similar themes: A Child of Our Time by Michael Tippett, and William Grant Still’s And They Lynched Him on a Tree. In addition to an overview of the content, structure and message of these two works, we’ll look at the circumstances around their creation and reception, and how they were affected by racism, war, anti-Semitism, deportation, political assassination, state-sanctioned violence, homophobia and other issues of the time. Discussion of these issues as they relate to present-day realities of performing music with political overtones will close the session.”

A Very Good Place to Start: Solfege for Conductors & Singers – Dusty Francis

“Let’s start at the very beginning. There is no more powerful tool for improving music reading than the system whose first three notes just happen to be “do, re, mi.” Solfege is quick to learn, easy to implement, and unmatched in its ability to help singers and ensembles improve their music literacy and intonation. A novel sight-reading methodology built around scale function and the intrinsic tendencies of the tonal system empower singers and conductors of all skill and experience levels to find success quickly and easily. Participants will leave with practical warm ups, exercises, and pedagogical sequences to help singers grow in both musicianship and musicality in five to ten minutes each rehearsal.”

Chants and Chance: Ancient and Modern Techniques for Independent Musicianship – Rose Rodrigue

“Medieval monastics and avant-garde improvisatory musicians alike, from Hildegard von Bingen to Pauline Oliveros, understood the importance of the independent singer-listener. Participants will explore ways to incorporate these seemingly-disparate (and often overlooked) musical styles into their ensembles’ practice to revitalize their concert performances or worship services.”

Choral Programming and Popular Music – Andrew Martin

“In educational settings, perhaps a show choir, vocal jazz group, or other pop-specialty ensemble carries the popular music banner, allowing the concert choir to focus on segments of the repertoire deemed more “traditional” or “appropriate.” Certainly, many pop arrangements have been written specifically for these specialty groups, resulting in pieces with characteristics that simply may not suit the goals of a concert choirs—perhaps it is too focused on solo singing, maybe the choral writing is overly simplistic (or the parts are really just instrumental lines masquerading as vocal parts), or it demands an investment in developing a style of singing for which we cannot devote the necessary rehearsal time. Folk songs once faced a similar barrier to choral performance, but the creation of arrangements that meet the expectations of concert choirs has helped elevate folk music to equal status on the choral stage with the music of the Western art music canon. Are there arrangements of popular songs that also meet these expectations? Can popular music make the same leap in legitimacy? Through score examples and analysis, this session provides conductors with criteria for evaluating the characteristics of arrangements of popular music with respect to their idiomatic suitability to concert choirs, as compared to those arrangements that may better suit a pop-specialty ensemble. ”

Playful Pathways to Music Literacy – Amanda Goldberg

“This session equips educators with strategies to promote music literacy through play. Teaching students literacy can be daunting, but utilizing play-based strategies to reinforce and incorporate literacy into the classroom will help students find success quickly and find literacy-focused activities rewarding. This session will draw from multiple theoretical traditions to establish a shared understanding of what comprises music literacy, then to provide methods to incorporate a spiral of teaching through a play-based approach. These games, appropriate for all ages and settings, will incorporate audiation, dictation, and improvisation to ensure students are experiencing a well-rounded approach to developing music literacy. Educators will walk away with a comprehensive understanding of spiral sequencing when teaching music literacy, the value of audiation, dictation, and improvisation in the learning process, and how to implement these strategies in their classroom through play. By supporting literacy through a prism of approaches—rote, aural, visual, and kinesthetic—educators can better meet the needs of every learner. In doing so, we elevate the voices of students, giving all learners supported opportunities to be self empowered in their music making.”

Historical Choral Literature by Female Composers – Meredith Bowen

“This interest session highlights high-quality, accessible, historical choral repertoire by female composers that is artistically compelling and immediately practical for today’s ensembles. Participants will explore curated repertoire for treble and mixed choirs that balances musical depth with real-world considerations such as limited ranges, flexible voicing, and rehearsal efficiency. Repertoire includes works by historical composers, with strategies for integrating women composers across eras into existing concert programs. Attendees will leave with curated repertoire lists organized by voicing and difficulty, programming and pairing strategies that support inclusive canon expansion, and rehearsal and teaching insights for developing and advanced ensembles.”

The Sacred Sounds of The Black Church Experience – Ryan Bowie, Sadarra Fields, & Darrius Washington

“Through storytelling, sound, and song, we’ll journey through the legacy of African American spirituals and gospel music—and how they shaped the Black church, its worship, and the soul of Black America.”