Eastern Division R & S

Community Choirs

Chairperson:  Steven Russell

Steven Russell is the Artistic Director of the New Jersey Gay Men's Chorus, and the Director of Sacred Music at the Parish of St. Thomas More in Manalapan, New Jersey. He is also the President of the New Jersey Choral Consortium.
www.stevenarussell.com 
hemiola@optonline.net

On March 30th and 31st, Mr. Steven Russell led our students through a two day workshop on Yoga for Singers and Conductors. Sponsored by the Millersville University ACDA Chapter, Mr. Russell brought his compassionate and unassuming approach to our students who loved every minute of his visit. I am still hearing remarks about how much they got out of the experience - thinking about how the entire body is involved on both singing and conducting. The sessions provided our students (and a couple faculty members) a greater physical sense of the interconnected nature of the physical and the musical. 

2012 ACDA Eastern Division Providence Conference
Community Chorus Reading Session Music List:

1. World, I Cannot Hold Thee Close Enough by Colin Britt - Alliance AMP-0847
2. Now I Joseph Was Walking by Kit Powell - Cantus Quercus CQ3028-1 http://www.cantusquercus.com/
3. In the Bleak Midwinter by Abbie Betinis - Abbie Betinis AB-047-01 - www.abbiebetinis.com
4. Coney Island by Rich Campbell - Rich Campbell (Paythe Band Music) - www.richcampbell.us
5. Heart, We Will Forget Him by Bradley Ellingboe Oxford 978-0-19-337227-6
6. I Saw Three Ships SAby Jocelyn Hagen Graphite GP-H001 - http://www.graphitepublishing.com
7. Wayfarin’ Stranger by Craig Zamer Hinshaw HMC2272
8. I’ve Been in the Storm So Long by Mark Hayes Alfred 35596
9. Ute Sundance by Valerie Naranjo/Ethan Sperry - Earthsongs S-343
10. Skip to My Lou by Greg Gilpin Alfred 34749
11. Invitation by Margaret Tucker Theodore Presser 392-03088
12. Adam Lay Ybounden by Thomas Bell Hinshaw HMC-2259
13. And the Song Am I by Abbie Betinis - Abbie Betinis AB-056-01 - www.abbiebetinis.com
14. Like a Singing Bird by Bob Chilcott Oxford BC132
15. Il Est Né Le Divin Enfant by Paul Halley Pelagos PEL2074 -http://www.pelagosmusic.com/Current/Home.html
16. An Illuminated Transience by Edie Hill Edie Hill HP04-09
17. ‘Twas In the Moon of Wintertime by Tim Takach Graphite GP-T001 - http://www.graphitepublishing.com
18. Sleep, Sleep, Beauty Bright by Richard Waters Colla Voce 15-95810 - http://www.graphitepublishing.com

Description of my yoga classes:
Each morning at 7:00 at the Providence Conference, I taught a yoga class for singers and conductors. Each day at dawn, a good number of brave early risers greeted the sun as it rose over the Providence Journal Building across the street from the fifth floor Pre-Function Area of the Convention Center where we laid our mats. We slowed and deepened our breath, loosened joints, stretched muscles, focused our attention, held poses so the large and minuscule muscles could strengthen and send signals to our bones to build. We sweated and then we relaxed. We focused our attention with even more determination as hundreds of people gathered inches away from us for a free breakfast before the morning sessions. We overcame the temptations from our senses awash with the smells of coffee and danishes and the sounds of joviality and camaraderie. We rolled up our mats and went on with our convention day with a renewed sense of calm and peace. The day's litany of breaths was full and satisfying.
Links to my first three of many coming videos on the basics of yoga.
http://youtu.be/90BEx5b51Y0
http://youtu.be/Ql-lSqbCIRo
http://youtu.be/EWJAOG54_tE

Article
"Western Choral Music Sung by Farmers in Chinese Rural Fields," article by Li Xi.
Li Xi is the founding conductor of the Shenzhen Yantian Foreign Language Primary School
Children’s Choir in China which she began in 2001. In July 2010, the choir won the gold medal
in the Champions Competition of the 6th World Choir Games, demonstrating its enormous development
over the past decade. Xi enjoys collecting folk music and adapting the folk music
into a cappella songs. She is a member of the International Federation for Choral Music
(IFCM), the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), the China Choral Association,
and the China Society of Music Education (CSME)

Community Chorus Links:
National ACDA Community Chorus Page
National ACDA Community Chorus Registry
Choral Arts New England
Choral Public Domain Library
Choralnet
Chorus America
GALA Choruses
Hear the Choirs Sing
Musica International
The Singer Link
Vocal Area Network

Choral Consortia:
Association of Connecticut Choruses
New Jersey Choral Consortium
New York Choral Consortium
Greater Boston Choral Consortium
Greater Rochester Choral Consortium
Great Lakes Male Chorus Association
New England Area Community Chorus Association

Retail sites:
BriLee Music
ECS Publishing
Earthsongs
J. W. Pepper
Santa Barbara Music Publishing
Sheet Music Plus
Stantons Sheet Music
Yelton Rhodes Music

2011 National ACDA Conference
Community Chorus Reading Session

At The Round Earth's Imagined Corner - Williametta Spencer
Dream Within A Dream - Debra Scroggins
How Can I Keep From Singing? - Arr. Karen P. Thomas
Let God Arise - Dmitri Stepanovich Bortniansky
Ring Out Wild Bells - Gwyneth Walker
Elegy For Dachau - Matthew Armstrong
In The Bleak Midwinter - G. Holst/Arr. Council
Hark, I Hear The Harps Eternal - Arr. Alice Parker
Life's Mirror - Eleanor Daley
Shenandoah - Arr. James Erb
Magnificat - Thomas Tallis/Ed. Alwes
Va Pensiero - Giuseppe Verdi/Arr. Liebergen
If Music Be The Food Of Love - David Dickau
Great Day - Carol Barnett

The music above is listed with links to purchase and listen at the J.W. Pepper website. First you have to be registered at J.W. Pepper. This costs nothing. If you aren't, go to www.jwpepper.com and register for their website. Then, once you are registered, go to www.jwpepper.com/acda and use the same login information. Then just follow through.

Last revised May 01, 2012