Page 53 - CJJan24

2024 ACDA Midwestern Region Conference February 7-10, 2024 Omaha, Nebraska

pedagogy intersect. Advocacy is a centerpiece of her in mobilizing an effective environmentalist movement
community building. Other areas of research include within the field and strategies for achieving a syner-
silenced voices in music history, choral works of Rus- gistic course of action. With hundreds of thousands
sian composer Sergei Taneyev, early choral works of of singers participating in choral music worldwide,
Johannes Brahms, life and works of Barbara Strozzi, a coordinated campaign to address climate change
and music education advocacy. In addition to conduct- through singing could produce a powerful forum for
ing and scholarly activities, she enjoys singing, playing conversation, education, and action.
piano, collaborating with others, running, and going to
baseball games. Kirsten Hedegaard has enjoyed a varied
career as a singer and conductor. Cur-
Nathan Edwards is a professor, award- rently director of choral and vocal activ-
winning sound engineer, and music cre- ities at Loyola University Chicago, He-
ator from Wisconsin. He is the director degaard is also artistic director of Voices
of audio production at the University of Madonna and Bella Voce Camerata. As a singer,
of Wisconsin Oshkosh and previously she has appeared with ensembles across the country.
served as assistant professor of audio technology in the As co-founder of The EcoVoice Project and artistic
digital arts and design program at Dakota State Uni- director of the New Earth Ensemble, Hedegaard is
versity in South Dakota. His musical work has been fea- dedicated to bringing together musicians to explore
tured on MLB Network, WWE Network, CTV Televi- how the arts can support environmental action.
sion Network, American Public Media, Oprah Winfrey
Network, and on popular podcasts and YouTube chan-
nels. He has had audio/visual work featured in numer-
ous museums and art centers, as well as at conferences Experiences of Gender Nonconforming Students
including the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music Na-
tional Conference and Electronic Music Midwest. in the Choral Classroom

The goal of this session is to give current and pre-
service music educators recommendations for the
Eco-Choral Music: creation of safe learning environments from the per-
Mobilizing the Choral Art spectives of gender nonconforming choral students

for Environmental Activism and their teachers. Traditionally, biological sex has
contributed to choices that choir teachers make re-
garding students’ voice part identification, uniform,
In the Western choral tradition, there has recent- repertoire, ensemble names, and more. People who do
ly been a growing trend to address important social not express their gender in a way that matches their
concerns through new compositions and innovative biological sex are known as gender nonconforming.
programming. One of the subgenres of this socially This presentation will outline existing research on the
conscious repertoire is music that focuses on environ- experiences of choir students who identify as transgen-
mentalism and the growing anxiety regarding climate der, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming, provide ex-
change. This presentation will address recent activity amples of vocal exercises appropriate for trans voices,
in the eco-choral genre, including new compositions, video interviews from gender nonconforming choral
grassroots movements in the U.S., and current socio- students, and steps educators can take to ensure they
logical and psychological research related to the topic. are creating a safe, welcoming choral learning space
Musical examples from recent compositions will be for all students.
shared. A case will be made for choral music’s utility

CHORAL JOURNAL January 2024 Volume 64 Number 5 51