Encore: a grass roots music advocacy initiative for choral music

"If a man is dying at your feet, you don't kneel down and talk with him about his diet--you use a defibrillator to shock him back to life. When music education is cut from a community's schools, you need to use a tool to shock the community into action by reminding them how important music is to traditional education."

Those are the words of Terry Taylor, a minister of music in Birmingham, Alabama who has created a program called "Encore" -- a grass roots advocacy initiative for music education.  Taylor created the program while at First Baptist Church in Dothan, Alabama. 

You'll likely be hearing more about this initiative in the coming weeks and months. This initiative ties in directly with ACDA Executive Director Tim Sharp's vision for the 21st century:

I envision a twenty-first century ACDA that establishes the opportunity for every child in the United States to sing in a choir. We have new research that continues to support the fact that music forms an important piece of a child's education and development. We know choral singing has the fewest barriers for entry of any music-making and music-teaching opportunity. Further, there is not one area in ACDA that will not benefit directly from every initiative we take in this direction. ACDA has an advocacy statement poised to take us in this direction.

Terre Johnson, minister of music at Vestavia Hills Baptist Church, sponsored a "Children's Summit" to build on the Encore initiative. It's being moderated by Jamie Baker of Reverb Consulting, an expert facilitator popular in ACDA circles. (I'm typing this blog post from the event right now)

It's an exciting event with a huge initial impact. Music educators from neighboring states are meeting here to discuss music education and how this idea can spread to other communities. Pictured here are Martha Shaw and Craig Hurley talking with Tim Sharp about the program.

More, I'm sure, will follow.