2026 Summer Conference

This session would be focused on developing harmony and part independence for beginning singers in approximately grades 9-12. The session will explore the process of training choirs to sing in unison and rounds to successful reading of multiple parts within the traditional choral octavo. After short lecture/discussion, session participants will participate in this process from warm-ups and rounds to reading through a variety of choral octavos that are age appropriate and ideal for developing part independence success.

This interactive presentation pulls from a variety of resources and experiences to address and improve vocal technique in rehearsal, and offers a conductor’s “bag of tricks” to help fix common choral issues.

This session will take choral directors through a method to introduce and teach beginning scat singing to their choirs. It will be interactive and will provide scaffolding support for both teachers and students to help them feel comfortable, confident, and creative in beginning their scat singing adventures.

Have you ever considered how you can be involved in creating unique community choir experiences?

In this presentation, we will consider what it might look like to serve our community in new and maybe even unconventional ways. Practical steps and talking points will include examples of connecting generations and people groups through meaningful choral moments, learning about current community needs and local non-profit service organizations, engaging in healthy communication and collaboration, creating a mission-driven organizational plan, allowing room for flexibility and troubleshooting, fostering a volunteer leadership team, equipping singers to connect with their audience, and creating surveys to assess experiences that can be used toward future growth opportunities.

What if our choir experiences could connect us to new relationships in our community?
What if our choir experiences could serve the unhoused, veterans, etc?
What if our young people could see what it looks like to be a life-long singer?

As choral directors, we can often busy our performance calendar and get caught in a cycle of routine expectations. However, maybe we can pause a moment to revive our drive and renew our calendar with a unique experience that connects us back to the heart of why we do what we do.

Mentors, mentees, and members of the ICDA Mentorship Initiative will share best practices and lessons learned during the first year ICDA Mentorship Initiative. Come and hear success stories and learn how you can be a mentor or receive mentoring either through ICDA. Ideas presented will be valuable to anyone supervising student teachers, in a team teaching setting, an early educator, or a choral teacher changing levels or in a collaborative setting. Panel participants will include Drew Childs, Kendra Kirby, Teresa Shunk, and others involved in mentorship.

Panel Facilitator:  Joyce Click

Student teaching teams along with university supervisors will share how to make the student teaching partnership a positive experience where all involved receive the most benefit. Collegiate music education majors, University supervisors and K-12 music teachers who serve or are planning to serve as cooperating teachers will benefit from this session. A group discussion will occur after the initial presentation.

Panel Facilitator:  Joyce Click

This reading session will focus on new choral releases from the ICC Publishing House!  Songs from several genres, voicings (treble and mixed), and difficulty levels will be presented.  Each attendee will receive a packet of music.

In a world of deep social media presence for students, parents, and teachers, it is increasingly easy to share performance videos and music, even though they are, in the vast majority of situations, copyright violations to do so. Coupled with historically tricky issues of music copying and transferring to other formats (i.e. iPad, etc.), today’s choral director still has to understand the basics of copyright as to legalities, ethics, and responsibilities to our schools, students, and community. This teacher-friendly session will offer some clear advice and strategies to avoid legal issues and actually use technology in positive ways without having to worry about copyright issues.

Attention all collegiate students and collegiate faculty, please join us for an afternoon of networking, games, and (most importantly) food! Meet fellow future music educators through games and mixers meant to bring our community closer together.

Join us for an interactive session of singing and conducting activities for choirs and educators in all stages of growth. Explore exerices and activities that allow your ensemble to “learn to read” your conducting gestures and allow you to practice and improve you conducting skills in the rehearsal setting.

Learn about how to put on a musical with help from the iTheatrics Method! Resourceful tools and ideas will be shared for both middle & high school shows from 25-year veteran teacher, Heather Simpson.

All are welcome to attend immediately following the All-State Vocal Jazz concert.  The drive is about 15 minutes from UIndy.

A primary goal of many ensemble music teachers is to facilitate student success and achievement. The question then becomes how to truly and effectively achieve a high level of facilitation and bring out the best in our students. A curriculum based on learning activities, essential skills, and meaningful assessment are critical in the development of each student-musician’s musical skills.

For far too long, the assessment practices of ensemble music directors have not aligned with their actual beliefs, the desires of other stakeholders, or practices found in other subject areas. Grading weights have since long reflected a focus on convenience and motivation as opposed to a focus on musical skill development. As a result, directors have placed heavy grading weights on non-performance aspects like concert attendance and in-class participation/attitude.

There are barriers to making vast changes like overhauling one’s strategies, but it’s a step worth taking. Assessment and instructional practices that focus on the development of musical skills lay the groundwork for more advanced concepts and application of those concepts. When these concepts and applications are properly applied, longer-term success of music making is far more possible.

Explore the power of unified choral resonance through the strategic use of vowel families! In this engaging and practical session, we will explore the science behind vowel formation, resonance tuning, and how choirs can achieve a more blended, vibrant sound by aligning their vowels within established resonance groupings.

Based on my dissertation research, this session introduces the concept of Choral Resonance Matching—a systematic approach to vowel modification that enhances blend, intonation, and clarity without sacrificing individual vocal health. Through live demonstrations, participant engagement, and real-world applications, attendees will gain insights into how vowel families function across voice parts and how minor adjustments can yield significant improvements in choral tone.

Whether you’re directing a high school, collegiate, or community choir, you’ve likely encountered mismatched vowels leading to inconsistencies in tone and balance. This session aims to provides a clear, research-backed framework to help you refine your ensemble’s resonance, leading to greater cohesion and expressive freedom.

Come discover practical rehearsal techniques, quick vowel-matching exercises, and effective ways to integrate resonance-based vowel shaping into your daily warm-ups and repertoire preparation that can yield results quickly.

As a new choral director, you’re juggling a lot—lesson planning, rehearsals, performances, emails, meetings, and oh yeah… having a life outside of work. The fast-paced nature of this profession, combined with the pressure to meet high expectations, can make it hard to set boundaries and maintain balance. It’s no surprise that burnout is one of the biggest reasons young music educators leave the field. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

In this session, a panel of first- through fifth-year choral directors will share real, unfiltered stories of their struggles with work-life balance—staying late too often, feeling guilty for saying no, and trying to be everything for everyone. More importantly, they’ll share what they’ve learned: how to set healthy boundaries, manage expectations, and still find joy in teaching without running on empty.

This isn’t just a sit-and-listen session. You’ll have the chance to talk with fellow educators who get it, share your own experiences, and collaborate on real strategies to help you stay in the profession and build a career you love.

If you’ve ever felt stretched too thin, overwhelmed, or unsure how to make this job sustainable, you’re not alone. Let’s have an honest conversation about how to find balance, protect our passion, and create a future in music education that doesn’t come at the expense of our well-being.

Panel Facilitator:  Alden Wagaman

Panelists: Graham Sutton, Ashton McKenzie, Clayton Thomas, Mackenzie Chapman, Anna DeBard

Having commissioned over 70 choral works over the past 40 years, I will discuss the value of commissioning a piece and talk through the process of doing so, from the initial concept to the premiere, giving some practical advice and some examples along the way.