On October 23rd, the chamber choir set out on a trip to the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) in Rochester, where they were invited to put on a choral performance.

ACDA or the American Choral Directors Association was founded in 1959. The founders were a group of 35 choral directors from around the nation that met in Kanas City, Missouri for a conference. ACDA is an organization that educates directors, performers and teachers on how to make advancements in choral performances. The members of ACDA conduct a variety of choirs. These groups are scattered around the country. Being a national organization ACDA is divided into seven geographic regions and fifty state chapters. This allows talent from all over the nation to be expressed at the ACDA’s events, after the groups audition of course.

The audition process to perform at such a prestigious event is done by a blind listening test. The committee of ACDA listens to about fifty submissions with three songs each. The committee doesn’t know which ensemble is being listened to. Then a hand-full of choirs are selected, and are asked to perform. As Mr. Rubinstein says “…they’ll pick based on talent; based on what certain ensembles are offering at the time.” This means that the committee selects groups based on their choral advancements and abilities. The groups who performed over the weekend event were two high school groups, three collegiate ensembles, and one community choir. All were required to practice and prepare to put on a good performance.

To prepare for the trip the chamber choir had to rehearse twice a week. There were many hours of practice put in by the students inside and out of school. There were five pieces of music prepared including a spiritual song. Much time was taken to make hotel accommodations, travel arrangements, and to create a list of what needed to be packed. Jackson Parli, a 10^th grader and member of chamber choir, said, “There is a lot of stuff we have to pack. We had to pack our concert clothes. We had uniforms—the girls wore a long black skirt and a black shirt. The guys wore a long sleeve black shirt, black suit, and black tie. We had to bring all of our concert clothes as well as our over nightclothes, and anything else we might need for going home the next day.” After all the required items were packed it was time for the trip.

The location of this particular performance was in Rochester, New York, at the Eastman School of Music. This is about a seven-hour drive with no traffic. After a good night’s sleep the chamber choir got dressed in their finest concert clothes, and were ready to perform. Before the performance the chamber choir was invited to an exclusive seminar conducted by a member of ACDA. The seminar was based on vocal techniques when singing pop arrangements, and was an educational experience. Along with the concerts the members of ACDA could attend many workshops and seminars for further advancement in choral education. As for the performance of the chamber singers Mr. Rubinstein said, “The performance seemed to be very well received by the ACDA membership. It is a wonderful opportunity to be invited to perform in such a prestigious conference. We had to audition in order to be selected, and the shear magnitude of being able to perform at a conservatory of music in one of their prestigious recital halls is an opportunity not to be missed.”

The performance in Rochester was a huge success. The WHB’s chamber choir has done its part by making the music program proud.