New Canon Project
The New Canon Project (NCP) is a joint venture of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), the American String Teachers Association (ASTA), and Rising Tide Music & Arts (RTMA). Launched with support from the Sphinx Venture Fund and the National Endowment for the Arts, the project commissions new works by Black and Latine composers for orchestra and choral classrooms. Composers are selected for cohorts that provide inspiration, guidance and support. Through workshops, mentoring and school-based collaboration, composers create works for publication by The Press and worldwide distribution through ArrangeMe, a Hal Leonard Company.
Purchases from this collection support Rising Tide Music & Arts composer pathway and publication initiatives.
My Experience
As a composer considered to be of the underrepresented community, this opportunity has been so monumental to my growth as a composer and my awareness and focus on the repertoire presented in school programs. I grew up through band programs where it wasn’t outwardly questioned (at least to my knowledge) whether students could relate to the content they played in their ensembles or to the composers who wrote their music. This experience gave me, as a participant, access to mentorship, monthly meetings that allowed me to connect with my fellow cohort members and talk about real issues that music and academia have been facing and our roles in them, and it provided access and information to the publication process that comes after the writing of the piece.
The support I experienced and the connections I’ve made will be with me for a lifetime. One of the most important things I’ve taken from this opportunity is my desire to give similar support to others when I have the chance.
I extend my eternal gratitude to Dr. Allyssa Jones (Executive Director, Rising Tide Music Arts; Director of Vocal Ensembles, University of South Florida) for seeing something worthy in my application for this opportunity, and I pray that I can extend the positivity that you gave me to any who cross my path.
