Page 164 - CJJanuary2026

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

Interest Sessions

Draw the Circle Wide: duce principles and practical application of lyric dic-
Programming Music by Black Composers tion for singing Estonian.

As choir directors, we strive to program diverse Alex T. Favazza Jr. is assistant professor
choral music that is accessible for our middle school/ of music and director of choral activities
junior high and high school programs. Oftentimes, our at Ouachita Baptist University, where he
classrooms or rehearsals are the places where students conducts the Ouachita Singers, Concert
receive a sense of belonging; we nurture these social Choir, and teaches courses in conducting
and emotional needs with the music that we program. and choral music. He holds a PhD in music education
This reading session will focus on programming and specializing in choral conducting from The Florida
performing the non-idiomatic music of Black compos- State University, MM in choral conducting from the
ers accessible for middle school, junior high, and high University of Southern Mississippi, and BME from
school programs. Middle Tennessee State University. As a composer, Fa-
vazza’s choral works are published by Hinshaw Music,
Gyasi J. Blanton, a native of New Jersey, Colla Voce Music, and Oxford University Press. His
serves as the assistant director of choirs compositions have been performed by numerous all-
at Stratford High School in Houston, state and regional honor choirs as well as collegiate,
TX. Choirs under his direction have high school, community, and religious choirs through-
earned sweepstakes at the UIL concert out the United States. Favazza is a lifelong church mu-
and sightreading evaluation. He holds degrees from sician and serves as director of worship ministries at
Lincoln University, PA, and an MME from The Flor- First Baptist Church, Arkadelphia, AR.
ida State University. He has also served as the guest
conductor of the Illinois MEA district 1 honor choir.

Evolutionary Conducting

Estonian Choral Repertoire and Diction: The needs of your choral ensemble evolve through-
A Practical Approach out the rehearsal process, and your conducting will

ideally adapt along with those shifts. This session will
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, many Western look at the various “texts”—both musical and non-mu-
choirs and audiences have become enamored with sical—that your singers are interacting with at any giv-
the spellbinding choral music of the Baltic nation of en time in order to help determine how the conductor
Estonia. Home to the world’s largest quinquennial can most effectively support student learning and mu-
choral song festival, the special connection of Esto- sic making. Through participatory demonstrations, we
nians to choral music is undeniable. While there is an will consider methods to give students the tools to in-
increase in the availability of Estonian choral reper- teract effectively with the score, their instrument, their
toire for Western choirs, American choral conductors surroundings, and your conducting. The final goal is
who want to program these works may find themselves musical achievement and ownership from the ensem-
intimidated by the Estonian language and its applica- ble paired with meaningful and effective conducting
tion for choral singing. The purpose of this session is from you, their leader.
to explore Estonian choral repertoire, offer resources
for discovering and investigating new works, and intro-

162 CHORAL JOURNAL January 2026 Volume 66 Number 5