Moving On to a "New Normal" CCDA Update

by Christopher Peterson, Ph.D.

President, California Choral Directors Association Professor of Choral Music Education, Cal State Fullerton

As I start my two-year term as CCDA President, I am (as I bet you still are) a bit shell-shocked from the past year and a half. We all did our utmost to keep music alive for our students across the state, and I hope you experienced some successes among the challenges. COVID-19 and a world-wide pandemic was the last thing we expected to happen, and it was the worst possible scenario for our benevolent art form. As we begin our transition to a post-COVID world, I want to thank every music teacher in our state for hanging in there and doing their best during this challenging time. I also want to thank Jeffrey Benson, CCDA Past President, for his steady and inspiring leadership during these isolating, virtual times. I am excited and optimistic to start a new school year with some semblance of normality, music making in person, and possibilities for new growth and collaborations across our musical disciplines.

The CCDA Board of Directors and staff members remain committed to championing policies and practices of equity that empower diversity, equity, inclusion, and access (DEIA) in choral music throughout our state. We recently announced our new CCDA Choral Equity Scholarship to benefit BIPOC (Black and Indigenous people of color) and/or underrepresented California choral directors. Additionally, our CCDA DEIA committee has created a social justice resources page on our website that includes recommended articles, repertoire, advocacy, webinars, podcasts, and diversity and social justice music organizations/ensembles in the United States. You can find this page HERE: www.calcda.org/ resources/social-justice/

Last summer we had a surprisingly successful virtual summer event, so this summer we are holding a “CCDA Summer Choral Summit 2.0.” Our headliner will be Dr. Judy Bowers, Professor Emerita in the College of Music at Florida State University. The dates are July 26-27, 2021 and the cost is only $25 for professional educators and it’s FREE for students! Registration is already open, and CCDA / ACDA Membership is not required to participate. We fully expect to return to our in-person summer ECCO conference in Oakhurst, CA next July 31–August 3, 2022, and we are also working to finalize upcoming honor choir events as well.

Finally, I want to say how excited I am to be leading CCDA for the next two years. As a former CMEA Board member and a thirty-year music educator, I sense an incredible opportunity for positive connection, communication, and cooperation between CCDA and our partner organizations: CMEA, CBDA, CAJ, SCVA, and CODA. We have strong and collaborative leaders in all of these groups, and together we can do amazing things for the students in our state through the power of transformative musical experiences. As we chart this path to a “new normal,” I want to extend my gratitude to every person reading this for all you do to change lives through music.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.