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2026 ACDA Southwestern Region Conference March 4-7, 2026 Albuquerque, New Mexico

Community Choirs Junior High/Middle School Choirs

State of the States: Voices in Transition

A Conversation with Community Choir The session will provide choral voicing options to
Leaders from Every State in Our Region meet the needs of both the changing transgender voice
and those of cis-gender singers. As choir directors are
Join Andy Waggoner, SWACDA R&R chair for faced with more students who identify as transgender,
community choirs, and a representative from each the need to be able to choose literature that meets those
state in our region for this collaborative session. We are needs is imperative. In addition to existing voicings, op-
going to pack so much information into this fifty-min- tions for adapting scores with a new “flex” part using
ute session: programming ideas, auditioning, budget guidelines created by Stevie J. Hirner will be included.
management, chorus membership and database man- The key learning outcomes include building aware-
agement, promotion, and much more! In addition, ness of the needs of singers going through both a voice
participants will submit information ahead of time so change and a life change, awareness of terms and cate-
that attendees can have packets of information to take gories of singers, placement within the ensemble, voice
home. Community choirs are at the heart of ACDA’s testing, and part creation.
lifelong singing commitment. Whether you’ve been on
the podium for decades or just getting ready to start Roger Emerson will be the clinician for this session. His
your first appointment, we hope you will join us as we photo and bio are on page 27.
all learn and share together.

Andy Waggoner was appointed artistic Senior High School Choirs
director of the St. Louis County Com-
munity Chorus in 2016. The chorus has
an active membership of two hundred Southwest Rising:
singers from across the St. Louis area. In A Reading Session Featuring Emerging Composers
addition, he serves as director of worship arts at Web-
ster Hills UMC in St. Louis, Missouri. He served Mis- This reading session will highlight choral repertoire
souri ACDA as representative for community choirs written by emerging composers from the Southwestern
and music in worship and currently serves in various ACDA Region. Featuring a diverse selection of original
capacities, mainly in welcoming new members and works and arrangements for all levels of mixed choirs,
special events. Waggoner has prepared choruses and the session will showcase the creative and unique per-
conducted residencies in London, Dublin, New York spectives of composers who are currently shaping the
City, Washington DC, and festivals and tours through- future of choral music in our region. Whether you’re
out the Midwest. He has had the honor of working seeking innovative programming ideas or more oppor-
with many composers on commissions and premieres, tunities to support new artists, this session offers an op-
most notably two new works by Mark Hayes at Carne- portunity to engage with works that reflect the cultural
gie Hall and Lincoln Center. and artistic diversity of composers from the Southwest.

Spencer Wiley earned a BME from the
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and an
MME at Texas State University while re-
maining active in Austin-area choral pro-

CHORAL JOURNAL January 2026 Volume 66 Number 5 139