Welcome to the new and improved website of the College Orchestra Directors Association. CODA is a dynamic and fast growing organization of professionals dedicated to the ideals of artistic excellence, outstanding teaching and mentorship, scholarship, service, and collaboration. CODA members represent over 130 college and university orchestra programs throughout the United States. Among our diverse membership are institutions ranging from large graduate degree granting institutions to liberal arts colleges and even two-year granting institutions. Our family of members includes faculty members at conservatories, professional studies programs, and non-major departments that serve the college/university community.
Our diverse membership stands united in its common purpose as represented in this excerpt from our mission statement:
“The College Orchestra Directors Association is dedicated to the promotion and advancement of college and university orchestra programs through the collaborative assistance, insights, knowledge, creativity, resources and shared vision of its members. CODA champions the art of teaching and performing orchestral music and strives to encourage and support the artistic, professional and personal growth of college orchestra directors and their students.”
Since our creation in 2004, CODA has attracted members through a large variety of opportunities, including regional and national conferences; through a very active list serve through which members share ideas, materials, and announcements; through exchanges that bring us together; through participation in organizational governance; through a website that includes a bowing library, program note library and more; through a scholarly journal offering a wide range of views, experiences, and research; and through a composition contest that offers us collective resources with which to encourage composers to write for our orchestras. We are young and, as such, many more programs are being discussed and reviewed continuously as we continue to find ways to offer our members exciting and meaningful benefits.
At the end of the day, however, our greatest asset is us. For the first time in the history of our profession (and by that, specifically, I mean the dedicated profession of conducting university and college orchestras) we have an organization dedicated only to our work. CODA is an organization where dedication to high artistic standards through teaching and mentorship is held to the highest level of respect and appreciation.
It is my hope that you will use this web site and all related communication tools of CODA as a hub through which to communicate with each other regularly. This is a vital time to be a part of CODA and I thank you for your membership and for sharing your passion for conducting and teaching with us.
Sincerely,
Alex Jiménez, President