Singers in the Lincoln Academy Concert Choir and Lincolnaires during the American Choral Directors Association Festival at Scarborough High School
On Thursday, 4/29, Lincoln Academy’s Concert Choir and Lincolnaires Honor Choir travelled to Scarborough High School to perform at the adjudicated American Choral Directors Association Festival. Each ensemble performed two pieces for a panel of three judges, and received ratings, comments, and a live clinic with one of the judges, culminating in a final rating and award. Each ensemble also participated in a judged Sight Reading assessment to demonstrate music literacy and tonality skills.
The Concert Choir, who has never performed outside of Newcastle, performed incredibly well – their beautiful sound filling a much larger venue than they are used to. They worked toward exemplifying 25 different performance criteria outlined on the ACDA rubric, encompassing skills from phrasing to musical expression to pitch accuracy and rhythmic precision. Just barely missing the rating of Excellent, this wonderful choir of mostly beginners earned the solid rating of Good.
The Lincolnaires performed exceptionally well, too, earning the highest possible rating of Superior with Distinction (the distinction earned through their accomplished 4-part sight reading performance). The group performed two incredibly difficult pieces, utilizing contrasting vocal tone, register, and expression in each.
This experience was extremely beneficial to the choral program, as the singers hone their skills and gain more live performance practice and feedback. They will use this positive momentum and constructive feedback to perform their full program to the public on Sunday, May 5 at 6:00 pm at St. Patrick’s Church in Newcastle.
Below: the Lincoln Academy Concert Choir (left) and Lincolnaires (right) performing at the American Choir Directors Association Festival at Scarborough High School in April 2024.
