From the President’s Pen
Russ Otte, President

By the time you read this, the 2008-09 season will be well underway. I trust that your renewal efforts of this past summer have prepared each of you for a wonderful year of music making. I know that I have been renewed by my participation in the ACDA Leadership Training during July in Oklahoma City and by my participation in Oregon Summer Workshop ’08.

Tim Sharp, ACDA Executive Director, introduced the book A Whole New Mind by Daniel L. Pink to all those in attendance. If you are not familiar with this book, I highly recommend it. Vijay Singh challenged me to be a “Choral Tri-Athlete” and to figure out ways to bring members of my choir up to an Olympic standard of musicianship. Doreen Rao shared insights into a forthcoming edition of Mass by Leonard Bernstein that will allow access to this monumental work with smaller forces. The Oregon R&S Chairs led us through packets of new music with literature to help build programs for this year. Please take time to reflect on your summer renewal activities as a tool to keep you charged for the long season ahead.

To those of you interested in providing feedback and suggestions regarding the OSAA State Choir Contest, please read on for your opportunity to contribute. Christopher Silva, President of Oregon Music Educators Association, and I will facilitate a session during the OMEA Conference in January of 2009, entitled “An OSAA Choir Championship Summit.” This session will be a public discussion of concerns and ideas related to improvements for the operation of the OSAA State Choir Championships. Invited panelists include Mike Wallmark, OSAA Associate Executive Director; Matt Strauser, OSAA Contest Chair; Kim Kroeger, ACDA Liaison to OMEA; and Marci Taylor, OMEA Liaison to OSAA. These panelists will address issues that have been submitted in writing by a January 5, 2009 deadline. Concerned persons are asked to write about their issue with a proposed solution and send it as an attachment to Russ Otte at otter@mind.net. The concerns and solutions will be forwarded to the appropriate panelist(s) for preparation of a response. Additional concerns and solutions will be accepted from the assembled group present at the session after all of the written submissions have been addressed.

Our 2009 National ACDA Convention will take place on March 4-7, 2009 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Watch your mail for registration material. More than 120 choirs submitted applications to perform at this convention. Twenty-three choirs have been invited to perform including the Pacific Youth Choir directed by Mia Hall Savage from Portland. Congratulations to Mia and her singers! We look forward to hearing you in Oklahoma City.

I would like to attend concerts directed by members of Oregon ACDA; however, I rarely know when these events take place. Howard Meharg, webmaster, has arranged for a calendar to be available to all of us for sharing concert dates/times/locations. The site is http://www.calsnet.com/oracda. This is a free service. I invite each of you to post your information so that I and others can know about your events. The performances presented by each Oregon ACDA member constitute the sum of the work of our organization. Let us support the choral community in the great state of Oregon.

The Board of ACDA Oregon is already working on plans for the Summer Workshop 2009. These plans need to be completed by mid-January. Suggestions for improving Summer Workshop are always welcome. I look forward to the day when the program is so enticing that the full membership of Oregon gathers together to celebrate all facets of our wonderful art form at one time in one place. I look forward to hearing from you!

Leadership is primarily about service. As your elected president, I offer my services to you if I can be of assistance. I am willing to come to your location for a day of service to you and/or your choir. I will take care of the cost of transportation. I ask you to provide a meal or two and housing, if needed. Please contact me via email to schedule a time.

How many of you have visited http://www.geocities.com/hearchoirs/? It is a site with clips of choral music by choirs from around the world. Are there other sites that we should know about? Please feel free to share your thoughts, ideas, and resources with other members of our Oregon ACDA community.

Feel free to send an article to Tina Bull, our new Choral Focus editor. Join us in January, March, and August for valuable and enriching growth opportunities! And, volunteer to help others who seek to improve the art of choral music.

Membership Challenge

Membership is critical to the life and success of any organization. Tim Sharp, new Executive Director of ACDA, has challenged each state to increase membership for the good of our entire organization. The challenge to Oregon ACDA is to add 40 new active and 10 new student members before April 1, 2009.

New members are defined as persons who have not previously had an ACDA membership. The size of the challenge to each state is proportional to the current membership count for each state. Having previous members renew their membership is wonderful; however, such a membership does not count toward this challenge.

Current Oregon ACDA members are offered one of the following incentives to enroll new members in ACDA. Each current member has a personal story or rational for membership in this professional organization designed to promote and support choral music in America.

Part 1) A current Oregon ACDA member who gets a colleague(s) to complete the membership process on the web (www.acda.org & then press the red button for details) before October 15, 2008 will receive a $20 discount per each new member applied to the registration fee for the Oregon Summer Workshop, 2009.

Or Part 2) A current Oregon ACDA member who gets a colleague(s) to complete the membership process on the web after October 14 and before January 1, 2009 will receive a $15 discount per each new member applied to the registration fee for the Oregon Summer Workshop, 2009.

Or Part 3) A current Oregon ACDA member who gets a colleague(s) to complete the membership process on the web after December 31 and before April 1, 2009 will receive a $10 discount per each new member to the registration fee for the Oregon Summer Workshop, 2009.

Whether you complete Part 1, 2 or 3, send me the name(s) of the person(s) who submit a new membership so that I can watch for that new membership and track your discount for registration to the Oregon Summer Workshop, 2009. In case of the same name being submitted by more than one person, the date on the email that notifies me of the new member is the recipient of the discount. Thanks for your involvement in keeping our organization growing and vital.

Send your notice regarding new members to me, Russ Otte, otter@mind.net