History of TTCCDA

The Texas Two-Year College All-State Choir (TTCASC) was born as a festival chorus that sang for the Texas Two-Year College Teachers Association Convention. In 1973, its directors voted to establish a festival independent from the TTCTA Convention, and invited Dr. George Lynn from Colorado to serve as clinician. The goals of the then-named Texas Junior College Choral Festival (TJCCF) were to provide community and junior college students the opportunities to perform larger choral works than would be possible locally, to sing in a large choir, and to glean experience and inspiration from distinguished conductors.

For twenty-five years, the Festival venues shifted yearly, hosted by colleges in all parts of Texas. Eventually, through the perseverance of dedicated directors and inspiration from renowned clinicians such as Weston Noble, Rene Clausen, Joseph Flummerfelt, Eph Ehly, Charlene Archibeque, and Jo-Michael Scheibe, the two hundred-voice choir made its 1998 Texas Music Educators Association Convention debut with Andre Thomas under its new name, Texas Two-Year College Choral Festival. The Festival was a homeless orphan no longer; San Antonio and TMEA invited TTCCF to join the family.

The 2000 TMEA convention was a milestone for the Festival Choir and its directors. Under the masterful leadership of Dr. Jerry McCoy, TTCCF presented a fine concert that culminated with a commissioned work, “Ring Out Wild Bells,” by Michael Cox. The nearly nine-minute piece was a celebration of the new century and new millennium, calling for an end to war and strife with twentieth-century harmonies, shifting meters, and dramatic, fluctuating tempos accompanied by brass, percussion, and keyboard. With this achievement, the directors agreed that the choir had grown to a new level, and TTCCF adopted its current name, Texas Two-Year College All-State Choir.