ARKANSAS ACDA 2013 CONVENTION SCHEDULE

This summer's ArACDA conference in Hot Springs has a lot to offer!

• new music reading sessions
• technology in the music classroom
• an exciting headliner, Anthony Trecek-King, of the Boston Children's Choir
• a session on vocal production for junior and senior high students
• reminders about setting priorities in the choral classroom
• a performance by the ArACDA Honors Choir
• opportunities to visit, interact, brainstorm, and learn with and from each other

Make your plans now to attend!

Information about our clinician, Anthony Trecek-King

As Artistic Director of the Boston Children's Chorus, Anthony Trecek-King shares his passion for choral music with a new generation of musicians.  Since he joined in 2007, BCC has earned a reputation as an ensemble of high musical excellence.  

The Boston Globe calls the choir "angelic and dazzling," while His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan heralds it as "superb." Federico Cortese from the New England String Ensemble lauds BCC as "one of the emerging forces in Boston music life."  Under Mr. Trecek-King's leadership, BCC has performed with the Boston Pops under the direction of both John Williams and Keith Lockhart (who calls Mr. Trecek-King "extremely talented") for the Fourth of July Celebration at the Esplanade.

As a conductor and clinician, Mr. Trecek-King has earned international acclaim conducting choirs and orchestras throughout Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. His most recent activities have included conducting choirs and festivals in Germany, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. In March of 2013 Mr. Trecek-King will conduct the ACDA National Junior High/Middle School Honor Choir in Dallas.  Previously he has worked with the University of Cologne Chamber Choir, the National Youth Choir of Great Britain,  members of the Schola Cantorum de Venezuela, the Juvenil Schola Cantorum, the University Simón Bolívar, Omaha Symphony Chamber Orchestra, and Polifonija, a state chorus of Lithuania, on a national tour highlighting American music. Additionally also spent a semester in residence at the Technische Universität Braunschweig in Germany as a guest conductor of both choir and orchestra. He participated in both the Eric Ericson Masterclass in the Netherlands and the Eric Ericson Award, an international conducting competition, in Sweden.

At BCC, Mr. Trecek-King has established a unique music education curriculum that fosters independent thinking among young musicians. Students as young as seven develop musical skills, such as sight-reading and ear training. They also receive leadership and life-skills training, including mentoring, fundraising, running workshops, and giving back to the community through charity work.

Before joining BCC, Mr. Trecek-King was a Professor of Music at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the Artistic Director of the Nebraska Choral Arts Society, the state's oldest and largest community choral organization.  He earned a B.A. in Cello Performance from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and an M.A. in Orchestral Conducting from Florida State University.  Currently he is completing his D.M.A. in conducting at the Boston University.

Gretchen Harrison to conduct Arkansas' 2013 Honor Choir in Hot Springs this summer

Gretchen Harrison is in her 26th year of teaching junior high and middle school students. She is the choir director at Frontier Trail Middle School in Olathe, KS, and directs one of the choirs in the Allegro Community Children’s Choir program. She assists with the other choirs in that vibrant program.

She earned her BME from Wichita State University and her Masters’ degree at University of Missouri-Kansas City. Additional trainings and certifications have been completed through CME, Baker University, Emporia State University and MidAmerica Nazarene University.
Professionally, Mrs. Harrison has served in clinician, presenter or conductor capacities in Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, Illinois and Missouri.

She has been nominated for Who's Who Among American Teachers three times, has served as the middle level choral chairperson for the Northeast District of Kansas Music Educators Association, has been selected as a building-level Master Teacher twice (1998, 2005), and was chosen as KMEA NE-District Outstanding Middle Level Choral Music Educator in 2003 and 2009.

After completing a 2-year term as the American Choral Directors Association Kansas Chairperson for Repertoire and Standards for Junior High and Middle School Choral Music, Gretchen has served as the current National Chairperson for ACDA Junior High and Middle School Repertoire and Standards since 2009.

Personally, Mrs. Harrison is married to a busy high school band director and is the mom of a music education-degree seeking college freshman (Kansas State), and a music technology-degree focused high school senior. She also has a dog (Riley) and a cat (Sunshine).

Phyllis Thomas has taught elementary music for twenty-four years, the last fifteen of which have been at Bridlewood Elementary in Flower Mound, Texas. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado and a Master of Music degree from what is now the University of North Texas in Denton. She completed three levels of Kodaly training and one level of Orff training at UNT.

Phyllis is a past “Teacher of the Year” on her campus, a “Model Technology Classroom” Teacher, a recipient of the Lewisville Foundation Award, and has been a SMART Exemplary Educator since 2010. She is a member of the state committee that selects the repertoire for the Texas UIL Music Memory competition, and is coauthor and editor of the Music Memory Passport, published by the University Interscholastic League of Texas.

An author of interactive white board lessons and activities for seven volumes of Interactive Now, published by Heritage Music Press, she is a regular contributor to Activate! magazine, and most recently completed the first collection of IWB lessons for middle school choir, entitled Mi in the Middle. Phyllis is currently an author of elementary and middle school music lessons and activities for the Online Learning Exchange™ Interactive Music curriculum series powered by Silver Burdett, a new online all-digital program developed jointly by Pearson and Alfred Music Publishing.

Phyllis has presented a variety of music, technology, and SMART Board sessions at district and regional workshops across the state of Texas, in North Carolina and Arkansas, and at the TMEA Convention, and the TI:ME National Convention.

Phyllis' sessions are:

11:00 SMART Interactive Teaching in the Music Room, Part 1 —
IWB’s are much more than glorified projection screens! Great organizational and instructional tools for teachers, IWBs are most engaging and motivational for students when used interactively. Ms. Thomas will share examples of interactive SMART Board lessons and activities that make the elementary music classroom an exciting learning environment for students, where the teaching is engaging, efficient, and effective.

1:30 SMART Interactive Teaching in the Music Room, Part 2 —
Description: Interactivity is the name of the game! The “I” in IWB stands for “Interactive.” The reason to have an IWB should be so that students can interact with the material. In this continuation of the first session, Ms. Thomas will share more examples of interactive SMART Board lessons and activities that make the elementary music classroom an exciting, inspiring learning environment for both the students and the teacher.