by Kelly Rogge
The Kansas City Kansas Community College Vocal Jazz Choir is preparing for another exciting year – a year that will end at one of the biggest choral music conferences in the United States.
KCKCC has been invited to perform at the American Choral Directors Association’s national conference March 8 to 11 in Minneapolis, Minn. Of the more than 300 choirs that applied to perform, less than 30 were selected. Among the headliners are the Orphei Dranger, Sweden; the Hamilton Children’s Choir, Canada; the Whitacre Singers, Cantus and The Navy Sea Charters, United States and Anuna, Ireland. In addition to exhibits and performances, attendees have the opportunity to attend classes and workshops.
“I was shocked when I found out,” said John Stafford, director of choral activities at KCKCC. “It is tough to get into. Some educators go their entire career and never have their group selected to perform. It is a pretty big deal.”
The ACDA, a nonprofit music education organization, was founded in 1959 with the mission of “inspiring excellence in choral music through education, performance, composition and advocacy.” Membership in the organization includes K-12 choral directors in both public and private schools as well as those at the post-secondary level.
To be selected, recordings must be submitted from the last three years in order to determine if groups are consistent enough to perform. Conductors must also have been in the same position with the same organization for at least three years as well as be current members of the ACDA. Selection is based “solely on the quality” of these recorded musical performances. Any type of choir can submit an application to perform including children and youth choirs, middle and high school choirs, choirs from two and four year colleges and universities and community choirs, among others. The national conference is only held every two years, which makes being selected even more prestigious.
“We feel very fortunate to have this kind of opportunity,” Stafford said. “We have been improving, especially the last three years, and I feel we have maintained a certain level of consistency.”
Stafford said the KCKCC Choir will be performing in front of more than 1,000 people at the conference, by far the largest audience ever for the vocal group. He said the students will also be able to network with other choral directors and students from colleges throughout the country and have the chance to see choirs from children to professionals perform.
“Anything that has to do with choral music, they will have the opportunity to check out,” Stafford said. “This is just a huge honor, and we are very grateful to have been chosen. This will definitely be a highlight of my career.”
Prior to attending the ACDA conference, the vocal jazz ensemble has been selected to perform the JENerations Jazz Festival as part of the Jazz Educators Network’s annual conference. More than 800 elementary, middle and high school, community and college musicians are expected to participate. Participating groups will perform for 30 minutes, followed by a 30-minute clinic session. They will also have the opportunity to attend other clinics and concerns associated with the conference. The conference is Jan. 4 to 7 in New Orleans.
“We are going to be practicing a lot over the next few months – not only in the classroom but during performances as well,” Stafford said. “We have several performances lined up, and students are already practicing music this summer. They have to know four songs by the first day of class.”
Stafford said the ACDA selection is more than having the opportunity to perform in front of such a large group of people, it finally means putting the KCKCC vocal music program on the national stage.
“This will make us nationally known,” he said. “This is one of the biggest stages we can put our students on. We are putting our college on the national stage.”
For more information on the ACDA invitation or on the KCKCC vocal music program, contact John Stafford at 913-288-7137 or by email at [email protected].
Kelly Rogge is the public information supervisor at Kansas City Kansas Community College.
