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2024 ACDA Southwestern Region Conference February 27 - March 2, 2024 Denver, Colorado

In t er est S essions
Interest Sessions

Choral Singing in America tion with each other in order to help choir teachers cre-
Documentary Screening ate classrooms that are more welcoming to students with
disabilities. We will then explore examples of these ideas
being applied in educational settings and discuss practi-
Choral Singing in America is a visual representation cal ways to implement them.
of the breadth and depth of choral singing today. The
film beautifully tells the myriad stories and sounds of Andrew Voth is currently in his first year
American choral singers and leaders—stories that in- as assistant professor of music at McPher-
spire, build community, foster hope, and showcase the son College in McPherson, Kansas. Voth
tremendous social capital and community building of completed his DMA and MM at the Uni-
singing together. America sings in schools, in commu- versity of Wisconsin-Madison. During this
nities, in concert halls, on the streets, in churches and time, he worked as a TA for both the choral and music
synagogues, in prisons, in hospice centers, and wherever education departments, teaching choirs and supervising
hearts are moved to join in song. student teaching experiences, as well as being selected as
a Lorna Wendt Choral Conducting Fellow. Prior to his
Brian Gaukel excels in creating documen- graduate studies, Voth taught singers in grades 6-12 in
tary style, short- and long-form films. An Goessel, Kansas, for five years following his graduation
advanced training in the performing arts from Bethel College (KS).
as a singer and instrumentalist serve him
well as an emotional storyteller. He at-
tended the Interlochen Arts Academy and the Cincin- Creating the Optimal Sound:
nati Conservatory of Music. Gaukel is the filmmaker of
the feature documentary We Are the Music Makers (2020), Voice Matching for the
is a biopic on the topic of choral music and the pro- Large Vocal Jazz Ensemble
found career of Dr. Jerry Blackstone. He has recently
produced creative content for National Concerts, The Voice match a Vocal Jazz Ensemble during the clinic
Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State Uni- to demonstrate how to improve the tone/blend using
versity, The University of Michigan, Yale University, methods derived from the American Choral Tradition,
Amherst College, The Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble, mostly using the St. Olaf method.
Dallas Street Choir, VOCES8, and Chanticleer.
John Stafford II is director of choral ac-
tivities at Kansas City Kansas Community
Creating a Culture of Inclusion: College. Stafford was a 2015 recipient of
Welcoming Singers with Disabilities the John and Suanne Roueche Excellence
Award and the 2020 Henry Louis Award
for Teaching Excellence at KCKCC. He serves as the
Even though choral music should be available to ev- R&R Vocal Jazz Chair for ACDA and has music pub-
eryone, students with disabilities are often denied sub- lished by the Lorenz Corporation, Anchor Music Pub-
stantive, appropriate ensemble experiences in school. lications, and the Jazz Education Network. He wrote
This session will lead participants through three philo- a chapter for “Rehearsing The Vocal Jazz Ensemble,”
sophical and educational models (cultural model of dis- published by GIA Publications. Stafford has been a clini-
ability, Universal Design for Learning, and culturally cian for the choral music across the country, and he has
responsive teaching), and put the models in conversa- conducted multiple all-state jazz choirs.

114 CHORAL JOURNAL January 2024 Volume 64 Number 5