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

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Interest Sessions
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essions
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You Are the Voice Teacher: in a choral ensemble and singing in applied lessons?
Teaching Technique and Authenticity of This session will provide practical applications of how
Vocal Production in Choral Singing to teach singers to find and use their authentic voices
by sharing suggestions from various vocal pedagogy
approaches, including Estill Voice. It is applicable to
“Blend. Drop your jaw. Straight tone. Darker.” Most directors working with high school, college, and older
people have likely heard one of these phrases before community singers.
in a choir, but do these ideas really help inexperienced
singers? What terminology can we use to give clarity to Amy Johnston Blosser will be a clinician for this ses-
singers that connects them in a relatable way and takes sion. Her photo and bio are on page 58.
away some of the mystery? Choral directors are the
primary voice teachers for our singers. Are we teaching C. Andrew Blosser will be a clinician for this session.
them the pedagogy behind their instrument in terms His photo and bio are on page 58.
that are clear and concrete? Additionally, how can
we bridge what can be a disconnect between singing

2024 ACDA Southwestern Region Conference

Honor Choir Conductors
H onor C hoir C onduc t ors

and a BME from the Crane School Music at SUNY
4-6 Treble Choir Potsdam.

Mary Biddlecombe is director of the
Vanderbilt Blair Academy, and the artis-
tic director of Vanderbilt Youth Choirs, 7-9 TB Choir
where she oversees six graded youth
choirs. In addition to her work with the
Blair Academy, she teaches collegiate courses in mu- Amon Eady serves as the director of cho-
sic education and choral literature and conducts the ral activities at Central Michigan Univer-
Vanderbilt University Singers. Biddlecombe is a spe- sity, where he conducts four ensembles
cialist in children’s voices, particularly middle school and teaches undergraduate and gradu-
and secondary choral settings. She has conducted all- ate choral conducting, and choral litera-
state choruses for Alabama, Florida, and Georgia as ture. Before arriving at CMU, Eady taught at both the
well as regional honor choirs in ten states. In 2022 she middle school and high school levels for nine years in
served as co-conductor of the UCTB Honor Choir for the White Station community of Memphis, Tennessee,
the Southern ACDA Region Conference as well as the where he was named the 2014 Tennessee Music Edu-
Children’s Choir Clinician for the Montreat Music’s cator of the year. Eady has conducted performances
Worship Conference. Biddlecombe holds an MM in and given presentations at state, region, and national
choral conducting from the Florida State University conferences of ACDA and NAfME. Eady serves as the

126 CHORAL JOURNAL January 2024 Volume 64 Number 5