Young Voices Festival

​The Alabama ACDA Young Voices Festival is a unique opportunity for 4th-10th grade public school, homeschool, community, and church choir students in the state of Alabama. The Young Voices Festival offers choral students a supportive opportunity to perform a variety of choral literature under the direction of nationally recognized music educators.

Held every spring since 1993, 4th - 10th grade students from across the state come together for two days to participate in one of three choirs: Mixed Choir, Girls' Choir, and a Boychoir. Rehearsals begin Friday afternoon, and students present a final public concert on Saturday afternoon. Students gain valuable musical and social skills, and leave with a love for singing that lasts throughout their lives. Many former Young Voices singers are now Young Voices parents--or even choral directors now bringing their own students. Young Voices Festival is glad to be part of building the legacy of excellent choral music in the state of Alabama.

Young Voices 2026 will be held at the Moody Music Building at the University of Alabama, on April 24-25, 2026. Choirs will be under the direction of:

Boychoir: Charlie Tighe (recently retired from Kennesaw State)
Girls Choir: Janel Huyett, Pheonix Children's Choir
Mixed Choir: Victor C. Johnson, Shiloh Baptist Church

All directors of Young Voices participants should be current members of the American Choral Director's Association.  This information will be checked before students are allowed to audition.  Please pass this information along to teachers in your areas, and feel free to contact Meredith DeVore, Festival Coordinator, with any questions.

Choirs

​BOYCHOIR
All boys in 4th - 6th grade may participate in the Boychoir. Treble music is performed by this group. ACDA member directors may select up to twelve boys to register for this choir. Students selected to participate should exhibit appropriate attitude, behavior, musicality and the ability to sit through long rehearsals Vocal parts should be equal. Please check the vocal parts listed with the songs to be performed. Sixth grade students may not participate in the Junior High Girls or Mixed Choir.

GIRLS CHOIR
All Girls in 4th - 6th grade may participate in the Girls Choir. Current ACDA members may register up to twelve select girls to participate in this choir. Students selected to participate should exhibit appropriate attitude, behavior, musicality and the ability to sit through long rehearsals. See the list of songs to be performed for the correct voice parts needed. Students should be evenly divided between voice parts. Sixth grade students may not participate in the Junior High Mixed Choir.

MIXED CHOIR
The Junior High Mixed Choir is for students in 7th - 10th grade and performs SATB music. Directors may bring an unlimited number of students to audition, however, directors are encouraged to balance the audition group by voice parts. Voice parts are indicated with the songs to be performed. Directors must be ACDA members. Please check the voicing of songs to be performed by the Junior High Mixed Choir.

All choirs combine to perform one song to conclude the performance.

Festival Auditions

7th-10th graders audition for the Mixed Choir; 4th-6th grade students do not participate in auditions and should be selected by their directors. Directors should register those younger students for the festival beginning in March.

To register for auditions, directors should fill out a Director Registration form for themselves, a Student Registration form for each student, and submit payment to treasurer Jordan Banks by the last Friday in January.  Rehearsal recordings are then sent through Google Drive upon receipt of payment.

AUDITION FEE: $12.00 PER STUDENT

Mail payment to:
Young Voices Festival
Attn: Jordan Banks, ACDA treasurer
13401 Cooper Boyd Road
Cottondale, AL 35453

DIRECTOR AUDITION REGISTRATION FORM: NOW OPEN!

Student Audition Registration Form: NOw open!

**PLEASE check with your bookkeeper to ensure that your check is mailed to the correct address, not an old treasurer's address or the national office.**

You may pay with a credit card by emailing Jordan Banks at [email protected] and requesting an online invoice. There is a fee of 3.5% +15¢ for all credit card transactions.

7th-10th grade students will audition in groups and will audition on a portion of every song. Students will hold music for their audition, should be very familiar with all of the music, should be able to match pitch, and should sing with confidence. Students must have original copies of each piece at auditions. Unlimited students may audition from a school, but we ask that directors do their best to bring a balance of voice parts to audition.

Auditions are planned in the following locations:

• Birmingham – Saturday, February 21, 2026
• Mobile – Saturday, February 14, 2026
• Huntsville – Saturday, February 21, 2026
• Florence –  TBD 

An audition schedule for each location will be emailed by February 1st.  

We welcome auditions from all over the state.  If the city closest to you is listed as TBD or is not listed, please be assured that we want your singers to participate. Email [email protected] to work out an audition location.

Festival Registration

​Registration is submitted by Google Forms, and they will be available here on the website. The forms will be active by March 1 and all forms should be submitted by the third Friday in March.  Registration fees include rehearsal recordings, festival fees, festival t shirt.
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7th-10th grade singers selected to the Mixed Choir will be notified of audition results by March 1. Directors bringing Mixed Choir singers should wait until after audition results to register students for the festival.
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Students in 4th-6th grades wishing to participate will be chosen by their directors. Directors should ensure that the students they register for the Boychoir and Girls Choir are able to match pitch, follow their part in the score, maintain appropriate rehearsal behavior for the rehearsals, and can sing their part confidently.

SCHOOL REGISTRATION FEE: $45.00
STUDENT REGISTRATION FEE: $50.00 PER STUDENT

A director may bring a maximum of twelve students for each of the two children's choirs. If a teacher teaches at two schools, or at a school with an elementary and middle school campus, a director may bring twelve from each school or section of the school.

DIRECTOR FESTIVAL REGISTRATION FORM: Not Yet Available

STUDENT Festival Registration FORM: Not yet available

Repertoire & Practice Tracks

All music lists are available on J.W. Pepper. Pepper is making our music available as a packet this year, and directors should order a full packet for every student. You may find the LIVE 2026 Packets below:

Boychoir Packet

Girl Choir Packet

Mixed Choir Packet

​Please note: You are strongly encouraged to order packets for each student, not individual pieces. Some pieces may not be in stock if ordered individually, but all the packets are pre-assembled and in stock.

• Two Boychoir pieces, “I’m Gonna Sing” and “Hamba Nathi” are available from Dr. Tighe as PDFs and will be included in your registration.
  
  

Practice Tracks will be sent to participating directors via Google Drive upon receipt of payment for auditions (Mixed Choir) or registration (Boy/Girls Choirs). Directors should distribute tracks to their students after receiving them so that students can be well prepared for the festival.

This year, we have a new combined song -- "When I Sing," composed by Alabama composer/conductor and Young Voices alum, Harrison Hornsby. Please ensure to adequately work this piece with your students. It will be included in auditions and must be memorized before the beginning of the festival.

Lodging

A hotel block has been reserved for Young Voices at the Hotel Capstone in Tuscaloosa.  Call Annette Smallwood in Group Sales department at 205.343.1113 and ask for the Young Voices Festival rate.   Hampton Inn Tuscaloosa has also given us a block of rooms and a festival rate of $TBD/night; call the front desk and ask for Carrie Peck or email her at [email protected].