ndacda chorister, winter issue 2016

www.ndacda.com | 1

The Official Publication of the North Dakota Chapter

of the American Choral Directors Association

Issue 14 • Winter 2016

2 | The Chorister • Winter 2016

North Dakota ACDA Leadership

Joshua Bronfman, president

University of North Dakota

Peggy Dahl-Bartunek, president-elect

Mike Weber, past president

North Dakota State University

Sheldon Weltz, treasurer

North Dakota Repertoire and Standards Chairs

Cheryl McIntyre, children’s choirs

James Wolter, junior high choirs

Discovery Middle School

Allyse Hoge, junior high choirs

Valley Middle School

Tom Porter, men’s choirs

University of Mary

Charlette Moe, women’s choirs

North Dakota State University

Phillip Voeller, senior high choirs

Beulah Middle/High School

Mike Seil, jazz choirs

Legacy High School

Brian Saylor, show choirs

Bismarck High School

Sara Lichtblau, ethnic/multicultural

Fargo South High School

Chris Redfearn, collegiate/university

Valley City State University

Melanie Popejoy, community choirs


Vicky Boechler, music in worship

St. Mary’s High School

Andrew Miller, student activities

Bismarck State College

www.ndacda.com | 3

In This Issue From the President 4

From the Editor 6

2016 State Conference Information 8

Schedule 8

Legacy High School 10

Honor Choir Conductors 12

Articles

Multicultural Resources 14

Sara Lichtblau

Promoting Your Program 15

Mary Pat Archuleta

Becoming an Encourager 18

Brian Saylor


From the President W

elcome back from break

everyone. I hope you had

a restful and rejuvenating

time with family and

friends.

First off I’d like to share my excitement

for the upcoming ND-ACDA State Con-

vention, February 5-6. If you haven’t

made arrangements to attend the con-

vention, I encourage you to do so as

soon as possible. Peggy Bartunek, our

Conference Chair, has put together an

exciting program of showcase choirs, in-

terest sessions, and outreach activities.

We have some wonderful guest directors,

and a gorgeous new facility at Bismarck

Legacy High School with our host, Mike

Seil. It’s going to be a great time, and I

hope to see you all there.

I love conventions. I go whenever pos-

sible. I find so much value in getting to-

gether to share our common experienc-

es. But still, when I look around this state, I

see many folks that are not participating

in enrichment events like our conference.

Here are some things to think about, that

might help those who don’t participate,

to join us at ACDA, or NAfME, or any oth-

er gathering like our state convention.

Education

OK, so this one is obvious. We have in-

terest sessions, we have guest conduc-

tors and auditioned showcase choirs, all

of which help us to learn more about our

field. What I find interesting is that while

we recognize the value of education for

our students,

sometimes we

neglect the need

for our own con-

tinued growth.

We’ve all had

those weeks (or

months!), where

it seems like all

we’ve been do-

ing is going from

meeting to re-

hearsal to another rehearsal to voice les-

son to musical rehearsal, without a break,

until our head hits the pillow at night. And

then, we wake up the next day and do it

all again. By joining ACDA, and partici-

pating in ACDA events, we force our-

selves away from the grind of daily music

making (a joyful grind nonetheless), and

allow ourselves time to breathe and think

about what we are doing. The best di-

rectors always give themselves this time,

and they know how much it helps them-

selves, and their singers. I find that there is

always something to learn, whether it be

a new technique, a new piece, or to

learn about the state of the choral com-

munity around us.

Difference

This one is not so obvious, but is no less

important. By attending convention, you

get to see stuff that is fundamentally dif-

ferent from the stuff that you do. Another

way of saying this is diversity, but I think

that word seems to infer only racial or reli-

gious difference (which is no less im-

www.ndacda.com | 5

portant). That’s why I chose the word

“difference” in the subtitle. I’m talking

about different teaching styles, different

repertoire choices, different school sizes

and ages, different administrative struc-

tures, and so much more. I find I learn an

incredible amount from the ways in

which people are doing differently than

me.

One of my closest friends is another

college choir director, and he is my go to

person for repertoire questions. The funny

thing is, we both hate each others’ reper-

toire choices! That might be an exagger-

ation; the truth is more that we are on

opposite side of the repertoire spectrum,

and rarely choose the same pieces. But

because of that, because of that differ-

ence, we provide each other with fresh,

out-of-the-box ideas and pieces that get

each of us thinking in different ways, and

more often than not leads to a solution to

the problem at hand. When I go to con-

vention and see all the diverse and differ-

ent ideas floating around, and it inspires

new ideas in me in exactly the same

way.

Community

All that aside, the sense of community

is the most important for me. In many

ways, this is more important than any-

thing else. ACDA provides a community—

a tribe, really—of like minded folks who

can get together and share our triumphs

and tribulations. Normally, we spend all

day long talking at our singers, and so

rarely get a chance to talk with our col-

leagues. When I can go and have a cup

of coffee with my peers, and just relax

and talk to people who get what I do, it’s

rejuvenating in a way I can’t even ex-

plain. I think many of those folks who

don’t participate in conventions are real-

ly missing out on an opportunity to im-

prove their professional and personal

lives. It’s sort of like those “Blue Zones”

that scientists have identified around the

world where people live an average of

20 years longer than anywhere else.

They’ve identified common factors be-

tween the Blue Zone communities, and

one of them is a robust and fulfilling so-

cial network. We are so often closed off

in our classrooms and offices that we

sometimes don’t realize how even going

out a few times a year can have a real

impact on our happiness, health, and

sense of well-being. This to me, is the

main reason to be a part of gatherings

like the upcoming state convention.

And so, please reach out to any of

your colleagues who are not coming to

Bismarck, and encourage them to come.

It’s a small commitment, but well worth it.

I hope to see you all in there. Come and

say hi.

Josh

Joshua Bronfman


NDACDA President


From the Editor I

’ve often found an outsider’s per-

spective to be enlightening, because

the longer I’m in a place or situation,

the less conscious I become of the

objective pros and cons of that place or

situation. For example, when I was a stu-

dent at Brigham Young University I

thought it was normal for a large universi-

ty (around 30,000 students) to have four

auditioned choirs with a total enrollment

of 450+ students, along with two more

non-auditioned choirs with a combined

enrollment of 200–250. When I got out in-

to the real world, I realized I was very

much mistaken.

So I want to share with you an experi-

ence I had last month that might remind

you of one way in which we are fortu-

nate here in North Dakota. Being in my

first year at Dickinson State University, I

don’t have a good feel yet for what kind

of audience we have in our community,

what they’re interested in, and how likely

they are to attend our concerts. So when

I planned a large-scale holiday concert

at a venue 25+ miles from our campus, it

was something of a hail-Mary pass to see

what would happen. My department

chair was skeptical—especially when I

asked for $2,000 to hire an orchestra from

Bismarck so we could perform the Saint-

Saëns Oratorio de Noël—but I pressed on

in hopes that an impressive holiday con-

cert in perhaps the most beautiful venue

in the western part of the state would be

just the thing we needed to jump-start

the choral program at DSU. I was not dis-

appointed.

The concert

took place on a

foggy, icy even-

ing, and much of

our audience

had to drive a

significant dis-

tance to attend

the concert at

Assumption Ab-

bey in Rich-

ardton. But they

came—and they filled the church. We

started with more-familiar holiday tunes,

which they seemed to enjoy, and when

our band teamed with the fine string

players we hired from Bismarck to play a

medley of songs from Frozen, the audi-

ence loved it. However, as we prepared

for the oratorio—which in my mind was to

be the centerpiece of the concert—I

wasn’t sure what they would think. This is

a 150-year-old piece, and none of it

would be familiar to the audience. We

sang it in English instead of the original

Latin to make it more accessible, but I still

had concerns that the performance

would fall flat in terms of audience re-

sponse. But they responded very positive-

ly, and we have received many com-

ments from many community members

since the day of the concert letting us

know how much they enjoyed it.

We have good audiences here! In my

first college-teaching job (whose name I

won’t give so as not to “throw it under

the bus”), we really struggled to get an

audience to come out for our concerts.

Yes, we can’t expect people to pack the

www.ndacda.com | 7

house for every performance, but even for our big holiday concerts our venues were

typically half full at best—and this was in a city significantly larger than Dickinson. Last

month I was absolutely floored not only to see the church filled, but also to see the

way the audience responded to a piece which, although it’s one of my favorites, was

completely unfamiliar to them and from an era long past. This is a blessing that not all

conductors have, but I have found that there is a strong love for music in many Mid-

western towns. My first college job was in a city about the size of Bismarck, which had

only a small community orchestra which was nowhere near as skilled as the Bismarck-

Mandan Symphony. We are fortunate indeed to be in an area where music in gen-

eral—and classical music in particular—is valued by the community. As an outsider

who is transitioning to being an insider in this area, this was brought powerfully home

to me last month, and I hope this is a phenomenon you also enjoy in your respective

positions.

Brent Rogers

Dickinson State University

Editor and Designer, The Chorister

How Can The Chorister Better Serve You?

Are there issues you would like to see addressed in a future article?

Some examples might include:

The Boy’s Changing Voice

Re-Arranging Your Arrangements

Working With Instrumentalists

Anything else you think could be useful!

Are there regular features you would like to see included in future is-

sues? Any features that were previously included, but which may

have gone by the wayside?

Please feel free to email me with suggestions as to how this publication

can better meet your needs!

[email protected]


2016 State Confer ence Friday–Saturday, February 5th–6th

Legacy High School, Bismarck

Schedule

Friday

11:30 Register

12:00 Honor Choir Rehearsals Begin

(Directors are encouraged to observe rehearsals when workshop

presentations don’t fit their needs.)

12:30 Business Meeting

All members are encouraged to attend.

1:30 Sight Reading Resources and Ideas to Incorporate into Your Middle

School (and High School) Choir Rehearsals (Desiree Bondley)

2:20 R&S Reading Session #1: Middle School (Allysse Hoge)

2:30 What I Wish I Knew Going In & How I’m a Better Teacher Now Than I Was

in My First Year (panel of teachers who are in their first five years)

3:20 R&S Reading Session #2: Children’s Choir (Cheryl McIntyre)

3:30 Act II: Music Directing the Musical! The Complete and Healthy Way

(workshop continued from 2015) (Dr. Katherine Noone)

4:20 R&S Reading Session #3: Ethnic/Multicultural (Sara Lichtblau)

5:30 Dinner – Legacy High School Cafeteria

7:30 Showcase Concert (Doors open at 7:00)

Honor Choirs

19th Ave. Jazz Choir, Fargo North High School

Shelley Zietz, Director

Central Dakota Children’s Choir – Kantorei (grades 7-9) Bismarck

James McMahon, Director

Horizon Middle School 8th Grade Choir, Bismarck

Connie Stordalen, Director

www.ndacda.com | 9

Saturday

9:00 Incorporating Kodaly into the Choral Rehearsal (Dr. Charlette Moe)

9:50 R&S Reading Session #4: Women’s Choir (Dr. Charlette Moe)

10:00 So You Want to Start a Jazz Choir: Nuts and Bolts (Shelley Zeitz)

10:50 R&S Reading Session #5: Jazz (Shelley Zeitz)

11:00 Choral Conducting (Dr. Joshua Bronfman)

11:50 R&S Reading Session #6 (Phil Voeller)

12:00 Lunch – Legacy High School Cafeteria

12:00 Lunch & Meeting for Collegiate Students

1:00 Making the Most of the ND-ACDA Website (Rebecca Raber/Brian Saylor)

1:50 R&S Reading Session #7: Showchoir (Brian Saylor)

3:00 Final Concert (Doors open at 2:30)

Middle School Treble Choir

Middle School Mixed Choir

Men's Choir

Presentation of Outstanding Choral Director Award

http://www.dickinsonstate.edu/music


O n behalf of the staff and ad-

ministration of Legacy High

School, I look forward to wel-

coming you to our new facili-

ty on February 5 & 6th for the NDACDA

Honor Choirs and Convention. We are

excited to finally be in our space in our

third year of existence. Located on the

northeast side of Bismarck, Legacy is just

one piece of the massive expansion that

has taken place in this part of town and

throughout the greater Bismarck/

Mandan community.

At Legacy High School, we were given

the directive to formulate our teaching

structure and strategies around what will

best serve students. Rather than simply

follow the models of what has always

been done, the Legacy staff spent two

years researching and formulating a plan

to motivate students to be more active

participants in their education. We are

employing a “flex-mod” schedule, divid-

ing each day into 20 minute intervals.

The class schedule is different each day

of the week, similar to the structure of a

lab science college course. Some days,

we see the students for 40 minutes, while

on others, 80 minutes. This structure al-

lows the flexibility to schedule those ac-

tivities that require more time for the 4

mod days. In several of the required

courses, the teachers collectively utilize

the auditorium for large group presenta-

tions, rather than giving the same lecture

or hosting a special event multiple times

during the day. Another philosophy of

Legacy is promoting collegiality amongst

the staff. Many of the rooms are

equipped with a windowed garage

door, allowing teachers to open their

classroom, or

better yet, col-

laborate with a

teacher in the

same area. In

the center of the

hallways, com-

mons areas and

c o l l a b o r a t i o n

rooms are availa-

ble for students

who are completing missed work or par-

ticipating in a group project. Throughout

the day, students have “Saber Time.”

This time can be used for lunch or a

break, but can also be used for tutoring.

Each teacher is assigned “Saber Time”

mods, in addition to the staff that are sta-

tioned in the Learning Commons to assist

students throughout the day. Lastly, Leg-

acy is a 1-to-1 school, utilizing and em-

phasizing the implementation of technol-

ogy in the classroom and beyond.

In the music department, we feel very

fortunate to have a facility that promotes

both group rehearsal and individual stu-

dent practice. We have three large re-

hearsal spaces (band, choir, orchestra) in

addition to the 660 seat auditorium.

However, we also have 2 Wenger prac-

tice modules, a recording studio, and a

black box theater that can be used for

any level of rehearsal. In Choir, Alicia

Fladeland and I have taken on the phi-

losophy that “bigger isn’t always better.”

Our middle level choirs, mostly sopho-

more and juniors, are divided into groups

of 30ish based on ability for rehearsal, ar-

ranging them in any appropriate combi-

nation for performance. We feel that this

makes each singer’s individual participa-

Welcome to Legacy High School!

www.ndacda.com | 11

tion more meaningful, while assisting us in

making authentic assessments of ability

and improvement.

When you arrive in February, please

use these directions to find Legacy High

School:

From I-94:

Use exit 161

North on Centennial Road

West on Knudsen Avenue

Enter from the northeast side of the

parking lot, proceeding forward to

the bus loops

From HWY 83:

East on 43rd Avenue

South on Minnesota Drive

West on Knudsen Avenue

Enter from the northeast side of the


the bus loops

From Century Avenue:

North on Hamilton Street

East on Calgary Avenue

Enter from the southeast side of the


the bus loop

Don’t use Google Maps, since we don’t

yet exist in that world. We are really look-

ing forward to having you here with us!

Mike Seil

Legacy High School

Jazz Choirs R&S Chair

For more photos

of the Legacy HS facilities, see p. 21


Honor Choir Conductors

Dr. Janet Galván (Mixed Choir)

Dr. Janet Galván, Director of Choral Activities at Ithaca College,

conducts the Ithaca College Choir and Women's Chorale, and is Artis-

tic Director for the Ithaca Children's Choir. Her New York colleagues

recognized Dr. Galván’s contribution to choral music in 1995 when she

received the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) New York

Outstanding Choral Director Award. In 2010, she founded the chorus

UNYC that has performed with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra

(Lanfranco Marcelleti, conductor).

Galván has conducted national, regional, and all-state choruses

throughout the United States in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Wash-

ington’s Constitution Hall, Minneapolis’ Symphony Hall, Pittsburgh’s Heinz Hall, and Nashville’s

Schermerhorn Symphony Center. She has conducted her own choral ensembles in Carnegie Hall,

Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, and Avery Fisher Hall as well as in concert halls in Ireland, Italy, the

Czech Republic, Austria, Canada, and Spain. Her choral ensembles have also appeared at na-

tional, regional, and state music conferences. She has conducted the chamber orchestra, Virtuo-

si Pragneses, the State Philharmonic of Bialystok, Poland, the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, the

Madrid Chamber Orchestra, and the New England Symphonic Ensemble in choral/orchestral per-

formances. Galván was the sixth national honor choir conductor for ACDA, and was the conduc-

tor of the North American Children’s Choir which performed annually in Carnegie Hall from 1995-

2007. She was also a guest conductor for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in 2002.

Galván has been a guest conductor and clinician

in the United Kingdom, Canada, Belgium, Austria,

the Czech Republic, Greece, and Brazil as well as

national and regional choral and music education

conferences and the World Symposium on Choral

Music. She was on the conducting faculty for the

Carnegie Hall Choral Institute, the Transient Glory

Symposium in February of 2012 and the Oberlin Con-

ducting Institute in 2014.

Galván has two choral music series with the Roger

Dean Publishing Company and is the author of

chapters in two books, Teaching Music through Per-

formance in Choir, Volume 2 and The School Choral

Program: Philosophy, Planning, Organizing and

Teaching. She is also the series advisor to Latin Ac-

cents, a series with Boosey & Hawkes. Her article on

the changing voice was published in the Internation-

al Federation of Choral Music Journal in August of

2007 and was reprinted in La Circulare del Secretari-

at de Corals Infantils de Catalunga.

Galván has been recognized as one of the coun-

try’s leading conducting teachers, and her students

have received first place awards and have been

finalists in both the graduate and undergraduate

divisions of the American Choral Directors biennial

https://popplersmusic.com/

www.ndacda.com | 13

National Choral Conducting Competition. Dr. Galván was a member of the Grammy Award-

winning Robert Shaw Festival Singers (Telarc Recordings).

Galván is the founder and faculty advisor of the Ithaca College ACDA Student Chapter. This

chapter has won Outstanding Student Chapter at the last three national conventions of AC-

DA. She is past president of NYACDA.

Dr. Christopher Redfearn (Treble Choir)

Christopher Redfearn is Chair of the Department of Music and Direc-

tor of Choral Activities at Valley City State University. He conducts the

Concert Choir and University Singers, and also teaches courses in con-

ducting, vocal methods and pedagogy, music appreciation, and ap-

plied voice. He earned the BM in Choral Music Education at Brigham

Young University, the MM in Choral Conducting at Michigan State Univer-

sity, and the Doctor of Arts in Choral Conducting and Music Education at

the University of Northern Colorado. Redfearn has experience conduct-

ing choirs at all age levels, from elementary through high school stu-

dents, collegiate ensembles, and adult community choirs. He taught

high school choir for seven years at programs in Idaho and Michigan, where his choirs consistently

scored superior ratings at large group festivals. Choirs under his direction have presented juried

performances at conferences and competitions across the United States and in Europe. He is in

demand as an adjudicator, guest conductor, and choral clinician, with recent presentations at

area conferences on topics such as vocal and choral pedagogy, assessment in the choral re-

hearsal, and choral literature. Redfearn has been chosen to conduct the ND ACDA Jr. High/

Middle School Honor Choir at the 2016 ND ACDA Conference in Bismarck, ND.

He is an active member of the American Choral Director's Association, the National Association

for Music Education, College Music Society, and the National Collegiate Choral Organization.

Redfearn currently serves on the executive board of ACDA North Dakota as the College/

University Repertoire & Standards Chairperson.

Dr. Daniel Stowe (Men's Choir)

A native of the Los Angeles area, he received his undergraduate de-

gree in Music and International Relations from the University of California,

Davis, and holds graduate degrees from the University of Southern Cali-

fornia and Cornell University, with research interests in the sacred and

secular music of the sixteenth century.

He has conducted the University Chorus, Chamber Singers and Early

Music Ensemble of U.C. Davis, as well as the Cornell Chorale.

In addition to leading the Glee Club, he also presently serves as con-

ductor of the Notre Dame Symphony Orchestra and the Notre Dame

Collegium Musicum. He is a founding member of the plainchant ensemble Schola Musicorum and

has appeared in Notre Dame Opera productions of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Marriage of

Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Cosi fan tutte. Mr. Stowe contributed articles on Renaissance, Baroque

and 20th-century Latin American composers to the Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music.


Multicultural Resources T

he following are a few resources that I found online

that I’m going to be using to increase my knowledge

and understanding of multicultural music, and re-

sources that I can use to build my music library.

For all of you Pinterest fans, there are plenty of resources to

gain from this person’s pins. https://www.pinterest.com/

thorppearse/music-ed-multicultural/

Multicultural music education articles: http://

www.davidell iottmusic.com/praxial -music-education/

multicultural-music-education/

In this article the author of Music Matters discussed his

opinion on why multicultural music should be taught and learned during all stages of

development. He has written a few books on the subject and you can check those

out on this webpage: http://multiculturalmusiceducation.weebly.com/

This website gives many different websites to utilize and links to national associa-

tions that also talk about multicultural music education.

“The Skin that We Sing”- http://mej.sagepub.com/content/98/4/75.abstract

This link will lead you to the abstract and you can choose to read the pdf file that is

attached to the abstract. The author, Julia Shaw, states, “[T]his article builds on an

abundance of literature addressing culturally responsive pedagogy in general edu-

cation to apply the principles specifically to choral music education. In addition to

describing culturally responsive approaches to repertoire selection, rehearsal tech-

nique, and curriculum design, the article discusses how choral music education can

go beyond a surface treatment of diverse repertoire to one that develops students’

sociopolitical competence and empowers them toward social action.”

If you have any suggestions for multi-

cultural pieces, I always welcome them. My

e-mail is [email protected]. I’d be

happy to review something that you have

enjoyed performing.

Sara Lichtblau

Fargo South High School

Ethnic/Multicultural R&S Chair

https://www.pinterest.com/thorppearse/music-ed-multicultural/

https://www.pinterest.com/thorppearse/music-ed-multicultural/

http://www.davidelliottmusic.com/praxial-music-education/multicultural-music-education/



http://multiculturalmusiceducation.weebly.com/

http://mej.sagepub.com/content/98/4/75.abstract

mailto:[email protected]

www.ndacda.com | 15

Promoting Your Program H

ow do you promote your cho-

ral program?

Depending on the size of

your school and school district,

this can vary. Many of us leave the pro-

motion of our programs, and info to our

school secretary and a school newsletter.

Maybe we rely solely on an informative

handout we give the students on the first

day of school. We all communicate the

concert dates, festivals, auditions and

countless other things verbally to our stu-

dents. I also have to be honest, before

social media was so prevalent I wasn’t

too big on tooting my own horn about

anything. By nature, I wasn’t a “look at

me”, “see what I’m doing” kind of per-

son. True story: I had to be pushed, prod-

ded, convinced and talked into starting

a Facebook account by some fellow col-

leagues and they were right, it’s fun! You

share what you want to share, learn

about others, and well, now I’m hooked,

just like everyone else.

As an educator well into the prime of

my career, I loved learning how to utilize

all the new technology that exploded

into the world of education. Along the

way, I learned to rely on my own chil-

dren, my STUDENTS and my own experi-

mentation with all of the social media out

there: Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat,

Twitter, school/program web pages, and

the list goes on. I truly enjoy the fun of

the social interaction, finding friends from

high school, seeing my kid’s pictures of

their activities, seeing our grandkids grow

and achieve. But setting up, managing

and keeping current information in these

accounts can be

tough and time

consuming! Es-

pecially if you

have a busy cho-

ral program and I

know that all of

you do!

In my position

in Bismarck, I am

fortunate to have a lot of help. My high

school has a fine Activities Director, who

advertises and promotes ALL activities in

our school—and quite fairly, I might add.

Above him, we also utilize a wonderful PR

person who gets upcoming events on a

district webpage. We are able to send

important dates, concert information,

photos, achievements and within a day

or so, our information is out there for the

world to see. Within that same district of-

fice, we have a district Activities/Athletic

Director and a secretary who assists by

putting out a great district-wide Fine Arts

Newsletter. They are magic if for some

reason we have to make a concert date

change, and we all know that comes up

occasionally.

I designed a webpage this summer

with WIX and if I can do one of these an-

yone can put a webpage together. I

would suggest that you start taking pic-

tures of your kids during the day, as they

line up for concerts, after a concert and

just whenever. As a parent myself, I love

to see when my child is featured or pic-

tures for something they’ve done well.

Everyone loves to see pictures-just be

sure to check out your district’s privacy


and opt out policies for publishing photos

of students. Your smart phone will work

just fine because you carry it with you

most of the time. I used to keep a cam-

era in my office and that works just fine,

too. I looked at many webpages before

doing one and decided to try to keep it

simple, informative and colorful. It was

very well received and our parents like to

have a place to check out dates and

times for events.

I also did a Facebook page for our

CHS Choral Department. Until very re-

cently, it really stunk. Fortunately, we

have hired a wonderful accompanist to

our music department who has a market-

ing degree and lots of experience. She

asked me in her fun way, “Who is the ad-

ministrator for the Choir’s Facebook

page? It’s terrible!!” I laughed out loud

and said “I am”, and quickly added,

“would you please come on as an ad-

ministrator?” She graciously and immedi-

ately said YES and I was ecstatic!! She’s

improved the page so much more in the

last two months than I had since I started

the darn thing. But as all of you know,

our real job is to teach, to sing and play,

and motivate young brains. At the end

of a very busy and musical day, I don’t

always remember (or have TIME) to post,

vine, snap or tweet about my choirs?!

Even though I love my job and students

like crazy, I’m thinking about other things

like: music to program for upcoming con-

certs, auditions, my crazy calendar, my

family and perhaps what I am going to

cook for supper that night. It was a

great move to accept help. Genius.

I would encourage you to seek others

in your community who are good at get-

ting the word out, in as many ways possi-

ble. It may mean you should start small.

Maintain some of the promotion yourself,

but rally some help with management of

your choir’s PR. You may have a parent

or a student out there who really enjoys

PR work, design-and has a good head

on their shoulders. Our accompanist/

marketing whiz, Lauren, has also stepped

in to assist with designing programs and

posters for concerts. She’s got t-shirt ide-

as, Facebook posts, lovely photos and

new IDEAS constantly. Relinquishing

some of that control and allowing myself

to delegate a few things has allowed me

to be a better professional. It’s also re-

duced a little stress.

I have realized that it’s a good thing

to “toot my own horn”, and to accept

some assistance in doing it! I have to ad-

mit, being a visual learner and a little old

school from time to time, I still like a pa-

per copy. Still, our world is more e-driven

than ever and our stakeholders are in-

creasingly tech savvy. If we are going to

showcase our programs, it will have to be

along the information super highway.

Mary Pat Archuleta

Bismarck Century High School

NDACDA West Representative

www.ndacda.com | 17

https://www.ndsu.edu/performingarts/music/index.html


Becoming an Encourager L

ately I have been contemplating the idea of the Choir

Director’s role in encouraging our students. We all

have numerous stories of how and when we were able

to encourage a student to push for success in an area

of their lives and this lead me to another thought. What about

us as the Choir Director. How do we stay alert and ready to

accomplish this daunting task. How do we ensure that we are

able to see the needs of students and be able to act accord-

ing to those needs. I was reminded of a story I read several

years ago and decided to share it with you:

The Keeper of the Stream (From Soul Keeping, by John

Ortberg, )

There once was a town high in the Alps that straddled the banks of a beauti-

ful stream. The stream was fed by springs that were old as the earth and deep

as the sea.

The water was clear like crystal. Children laughed and played beside it;

swans and geese swam on it. You could see the rocks and the sand and the

rainbow trout that swarmed at the bottom of the stream.

High in the hills, far beyond anyone’s sight, lived an old man who served as

Keeper of the Springs. He had been hired so long ago that now no one could

remember a time when he wasn’t there. He would travel from one spring to an-

other in the hills, removing branches or fallen leaves or debris that might pollute

the water. But his work was unseen.

One year the town council decided they had better things to do with their

money. No one supervised the old man anyway. They had roads to repair and

taxes to collect and services to offer, and giving money to an unseen stream-

cleaner had become a luxury they could no longer afford.

So the old man left his post. High in the mountains, the springs went untend-

ed; twigs and branches and worse muddied the liquid flow. Mud and silt com-

pacted the creek bed; farm wastes turned parts of the stream into stagnant

bogs.

For a time no one in the village noticed. But after a while the water was not

the same. It began to look brackish. The swans flew away to live elsewhere. The

water no longer had a crisp scent that drew children to play by it. Some peo-

ple in the town began to grow ill. All noticed the loss of sparkling beauty that

used to flow between the banks of the streams that fed the town. The life of the

village depended on the stream, and the life of the stream depended on the

keeper.

www.ndacda.com | 19

The city council reconvened, the money was found, the old man was re-

hired. After yet another time, the springs were cleaned, the stream was pure,

children played again on its banks, illness was replaced by health, the swans

came home, and the village came back to life.

The life of the village depended on the health of the stream.

I would assert that it is vital that we as Choir Directors need to be “Keepers of the

Stream” so that we can be effective encouragers to our students. I would like to take

a few moments of your time and quickly explore 5 areas in which we can all seek to

maintain the skills and attitude necessary to accomplish the awesome responsibility of

being a “Keeper of the Stream.”

Stay Positive

It is easy in life to see the negative around us. In real life and online we see and

hear the horrible awful things that are happening in the world. It is a challenge for us

to remain positive. Our students can read us better than we expect, often when we

are frustrated or upset this blends and blurs into our daily school life. I would assert

that we should keep these negative things out of our rehearsals and conversations

that we have with students. I try to do this, often unsuccessfully, but now aware.

Speak positively about colleagues and other students. Help students to see the posi-

tive around them. I know that I am constantly amazed by the small little acts of stu-

dents towards each other that show the good in my day-to-day world. We need to

reinforce those positive actions in every way possible.

Avoid Negativity

I know what you are thinking, “isn’t that the same thing.” I don’t think it is. Avoiding

negativity is the awareness that I was talking about earlier. Once we are aware of the

negativity and the sources of negative thoughts, we then can begin the process of

avoiding them at all cost. I once worked in a school where the teacher’s lounge was

the worst place to hang out because of all of the negative talk. I could go into de-

tails, but I won’t. I made a decision to avoid the place whenever possible. I found

that my days were better just by removing myself from the negativity. There will al-

ways be folks who seek to tear others down to make themselves seem bigger. It is the

most basic of the study of human behavior. I think we are at our best when we avoid

those who seek to do this in our lives.

Stay Sharp (Sharpen Your Axe)

You have probably heard the story of the young man who starts working for a log-

ging company. He is told that he will be paid according to his productivity. The first

day, he has more trees down than all of the rest of the crew, however as the days go

on he notices that he is falling behind. He asks his foreman what the secret of the old-

er loggers is, the foreman simply responds “sharpen your axe!” I know this to be true.

When I am out of sync and balance in my life, I feel like I am working harder and


harder and the work piles up more and more. Sometimes I need to walk away, do

something restful and rejuvenating and then my productivity returns. As Choir Direc-

tors our lives revolve around performances and rehearsals. The pace can be grueling

and exhausting. We owe it to ourselves to take time and “sharpen our axes.” Be crea-

tive, be musical, be in the moment.

See Beyond the Surface

In a Choral Program it is easy to see the performances, auditions, festivals, and

contests; while missing the little needs of our students. My choirs are like any other,

they have students who excel and students who struggle. It is often easy to work with

the students who excel, and much more difficult to work with the student who strug-

gles. It is my job to see each student need, know their story, and do my best to assist

them on their journey as a singer. This means that helping a student figure out how to

match pitch and sing a scale are every bit as rewarding as working with the students

who achieve at the highest levels. This will help me (I am still on the journey) to seek to

work with each student individually, and to see them for what positive things they are

equipped with.

Show Gratitude

Sometimes saying “thank you” is hard. Not that the words are hard, but just re-

membering to say it. Showing gratitude is crucial to being a “Keeper of the Stream.”

No one achieves without the help and encouragement of many. I think it is our re-

sponsibility to show gratitude as often and in as many ways as we can. A simple note,

email, word at a concert, or conversation can go a long way. This is particularly true

with the students we work with. Showing genuine and true gratitude for them and

their individual strengths is an awesome way we can encourage them to be some-

thing more than what they even imagine they can be.

Finale

In conclusion, it is my hope that these words have encouraged you. I hope that

you are excited and invigorated as you begin your next several weeks of working with

students in the 2015-2016 school year. Please know that I am honored to be a part of

such an awesome group of Choral Directors. I believe that North Dakota is THE PLACE

to be as a Music Educator. I am excited to see many great things in the future of our

great North Dakota American Choral Director’s Association.

Brian Saylor

Bismarck High School

Show Choirs R&S Chair

NDACDA Website Administrator

www.ndacda.com | 21

ndacda chorister, winter issue 2016

Documents