Dear Sacred Nine Singers,
This is a short survey to see how practical it is to take us to ACDA should we be chosen.
Some initial information:
Please know that there is no pressure here, and I won’t take it personally if this is not something you want to do!
When reading the fine print for performance groups, only one piece can be in manuscript. Yes, we could learn a lot of in-print music, but that is not what we do, and I don’t think it would feel authentic to change what we do just to get chosen for a conference.
I am going to submit to the Southern Division and the Eastern Division as Sacred Nine topics resonate well in the Northeast. Of course, we would not travel to both.
In terms of the conferences, here are the dates of each:
-Eastern: February 25-28, 2026 (Providence, RI)…The have a great category called Insight Choirs.
-Southern: March 4-7 (Memphis, TN)The plan is for me to raise the money to pay for your flight and lodging but not food, sadly.
The possible topics are as follows:
-based on the notion of predominantly white choirs singing Spirituals, as outlined by my Journal of Singing article
-School choirs entering discussions about slavery and Abolition by exploring the songs of Civi War composer, Henry Clay Work
-pointing back the first Sacred Nine Project, Southern Harmony and its facilitation of dialogue about the worldview of the White Southern Antebellum non-Catholic.
-The weirdness of supply Belcher (the one who wrote “Funeral Anthem” from our March concert
-Composers and music from around the time of the American Revolution, and the writing of a “new” national anthem.