Arkansas ACDA 2025 Summer Conference
Adrian Macline (Secondary Headliner)
Adrian Maclin is in his thirteenth year as director of choirs at Cordova High School and nineteenth year of teaching. As a product of Memphis City Schools, Maclin was inspired by his middle and high school choral directors to become a music educator. Adrian is a graduate of Philander Smith University, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Music with emphasis on vocal performance. He was recently named the 2025 Grammy Music Educator of the Year.
While at Cordova, his groups have performed at the Southern Division of the American Choral Directors Association conference, the Tennessee Music Educators Association conference, Carnegie Hall, and in numerous halls throughout the country. His ensembles are widely known for their inspiring, thought provoking, and moving performances. Adrian works hard to not only produce outstanding performing ensembles, but he is committed to educating and cultivating the total musician and student that inspire the next chapter in their lives. In addition to Adrian’s work at Cordova, he serves the Memphis- Shelby County School district on the Music Leadership team. In this role, Adrian’s primary focus is to support his choral colleagues and novice directors in professional development planning and presentations, and opportunities to organize team teaching and mentoring. Adrian also serves on the board of the West Tennessee Vocal Music Educator Association as Past-President, State Choral Chair for the Tennessee Music Educators Association and has served on the board for the State Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association. Through these roles Adrian hopes he fulfils his part to aid in every child having access to a strong choral music education.
Maclin has faithfully served his home church of Mount Moriah -East Baptist Church 19 years as the Minister of Music. He also serves as the Assistant Artistic Director for the Memphis Choral Arts as primary conductor for the Memphis Men’s Chorale. Adrian has adjudicated festivals as well as served as guest clinician in the Memphis area, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, and for the National Baptist Convention Lucie E. Campbell Music Workshop. Maclin has two daughters, Madison and McKenzie, who are the apples of his eye.
Frank Eychaner (10-12 Symposium Chorus Clinician
Dr. Frank Eychaner is an internationally celebrated conductor, teacher and communicator. He is recognized for his enthusiastic and engaging teaching style, artistic ensemble leadership and his depth and breadth of content knowledge. He believes in a collaborative process that provides authentic learning situations through engaging the whole person while celebrating different perspectives and facilitating individual growth toward achieving personal and professional goals.
Eychaner is Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at the University of Central Arkansas where he conducts the Concert Choir and award-winning Chamber Singers. The UCA choirs frequently concertize, collaborate and tour. They toured high schools in Central Arkansas in 2024 and the Concert Choir will perform in Carnegie Hall in May 25. He says, ‘my favorite part of my job is working with the UCA choirs, especially when I’m collaborating with student conductors building their skill and artistry.’ Dr. Eychaner is the Director directs the MA in Choral Conducting degree at UCA and he is actively seeking highly qualified candidates to join the program.
He is frequently engaged as a guest conductor. He will conduct a world premiere performance of the Xantoló Requiem by Mexican composer Julio Morales in Carnegie Hall in May, and he will spend 10 days as guest artist and conductor with Promotora de las Belles Artes in Tijuana, MX in October, an organization that serves young women at risk of falling prey to sex trafficking by providing safety and training in musicianship and choral performance.
Eychaner is frequently engaged as a clinician. He has presented more than 150 interest sessions on dozens of topics across the US, in Mexico, Cuba and Korea. He is the author of ‘Foundations of Conducting Technique’ with GIA Publications.
Clorese Porter (7-9 Trebe Honor Choir Clinician)
Clorese Porter is in her seventh year as the head choral director at Plano Senior High School, and is in her 19th year of teaching choral music. Prior to PSHS, she was the head choral director at Grapevine High School. Choirs under Clorese’s direction have consistently received sweepstakes awards at UIL Concert and Sight-Reading and she served as music director of multiple musicals on campus. Prior to Grapevine high school she was the associate choral director at Newman Smith High School where she co-directed on the 2010 A Cappella Choir invited performance at TMEA. A graduate of Paul Dunbar High School in Fort Worth, Clorese attended Texas Christian University, earning a Bachelor of Music in Education degree. While at TCU, she was a member of the Women’s Chorus, Choral Union, and Concert Chorale and participated in performances for the TMEA and SWACDA conventions and at Carnegie Hall. Clorese holds a Master of Music in Music Education from UNT. Clorese is a member of TMEA, TCDA, and TMAA, and she is the 2010 recipient of TCDA’s Distinguished Young Director Award. She resides in Lewisville with her wonderfully patient husband, Patrick Porter.
Alice Hammel (Elementary Headliner)
Alice Hammel, Virginia (USA) Grammy Award Nominated Music Educator, 2023 National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Lowell Mason Fellow, Virginia Music Educators Association Outstanding Music Educator of the Year (2018) and current President of the Virginia Music Educators Association, is a widely known music educator, author, and clinician whose experience in music is extraordinarily diverse. She a member of the faculty of James Madison University and has many years of experience teaching instrumental and choral music in public and private schools. She also teaches online courses through many institutions throughout the United States. She has maintained a large, independent flute studio for over 35 years.
Dr. Hammel travels widely to universities during the school year to serve as in-residence scholar in the area of students with special needs. This travel, combined with state, national, and international conference headline and keynote presentations keeps Dr. Hammel well informed of the needs of both pre-service and in-service music educators. During summer months, Dr. Hammel teaches in graduate programs for music educators around the United States. Her expertise in those teaching situations ranges from musicianship, pedagogy, and teaching students who learn differently. This wide demand places her in close collaboration with PK-12 music educators who are seeking to become better teachers and musicians.
Dr. Hammel has put these varied experiences to great use while compiling a large body of scholarly work. She is a co-author for four texts: Teaching Music to Students with Differences and Disabilities: A Label-free Approach (third edition), Teaching Music to Students with Autism (second edition), Winding It Back: Teaching to Individual Differences in Music Classroom and Ensemble Settings, and Teaching Music to Students with Differences and Disabilities: A Practical Resource (second edition) available through Oxford University Press. Dr. Hammel has contributed chapters to several other Oxford University Press publications. She has also written chapters for GIA and Routlege Publication resources. Dr. Hammel is a contributing author to a variety of resources available through the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) and has published widely in music, arts, special, and general education journals.
Dr. Hammel has been affiliated with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for several years and has presented multiple workshops for arts educators and arts administrators through this association. She serves on the committee for the Kennedy Center National Forum: Examining the Intersection of Arts Education and Special Education, and serves on the planning committee for their annual national conference. Dr. Hammel is a member of the Equity Committee and the National Executive Board for the National Association for Music Education. She was on the Editorial Board of the Council for Exceptional Children – Division for the Arts, was a member of the Teacher Education and Editorial Board Committees, and is a former Member at Large for the Organization of American Kodály Educators. In addition, she serves as an expert with the National Association for Music Education’s Solutions Music Group and is a Conn-Selmer Clinician. Dr. Hammel is currently Past-President of the Council for Exceptional Children – Division for the Arts and was recently awarded their Past President Award for Excellence.
Dr. Hammel is a proud alumna of Shenandoah Conservatory (BME – magna cum laude and DMA) and Florida State University (MME). She holds post-doctoral certifications from the Organization of American Kodály Educators and the Gordon Institute for Music Learning. Dr. Hammel is a multiple award recipient honoring her commitment to music education and music teacher education. In 2016, Shenandoah University honored her with their Alumnae of Excellence Award. In 2017, James Madison University created a named award in her honor celebrating her years of scholarship and service dedicated to the inclusion of all students in music education. Dr. Hammel is a proponent of Modern Band and Music Will.
Rebecca Lakes (ArkMEA Elementary Honor Choir Clinician)
Rebecca Lakes is the Assistant Choral Director at Eisenhower Middle School in North East ISD. Rebecca is the Past-President of the Kodály Educators of Texas and also serves on the board for the Organization of American Kodály Educators. She has presented workshops for school districts across the country and at state and national music education conferences. Rebecca earned her B.A. and B.M.E. from Cedarville University, an M.M. from Belmont University, and her Principal certification from Schreiner University. She is fully certified in both the Kodály and Orff approaches to music education, and serves on the national board of the Organization of American Kodály Educators. In the summers, she instructs music teachers in Kodàly certification programs at Midwestern State University and the Rio Grande Valley.