A few weeks ago I attended my first American Choral Directors Association convention in Oklahoma City. It was a terrific experience allowing me, the accidental chorus conductor the opportunity to network and learn from those in the choral music world.
As I ventured from workshops to concerts, I kept thinking to myself the Army Chorus should be here. The Air Force Singing Sergeants and the Navy Sea Chanters were there in the exhibit hall with booths, and we had a handful of guys from our organization, but there were no performances by military vocalists.
Perhaps because I had no scruples, I went to the ACDA website and fearlessly fired off an email to the Executive Director, Dr. Tim Sharp (going straight to the top–shameless!). The jist of the message: we’d love to be a part of a future ACDA event.
FIVE MINUTES LATER comes the response: he’s coming into DC anyway and would love to see a performance. Well, rats, we didn’t have one during his visit, so I offered a rehearsal as a consolation prize, and he agreed!
The bottom line is that he did come visit, but the bummer was that I couldn’t meet him. My new daughter Allie was born and I was suddenly not so interested in anything but her (I hope no one would fault me for that). But I was delighted to see that Dr. Sharp not only came to see the Army Chorus, but he also brought his family along for some sightseeing, and even did some conducting of the group!
So thank you Dr. Sharp for visiting us in Washington, and I sincerely hope that I will get to meet you in the future!