UTC to host summer institutes for music educators and ensemble directors

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Department of Music announced its lineup of acclaimed clinicians participating in the inaugural Summer Music Institutes.

Taking place on the UTC campus during the weeks of June 12-16 and June 19-23, the UTC Summer Pedagogy and Conducting Institutes are for music educators and ensemble directors who want to enhance and perfect their conducting and rehearsing techniques while studying from renowned clinicians.

Both the choral and instrumental tracks have two one-week institutes. Participants can register for three hours of graduate credit (two weeks required) or select the non-credit option for 35 or 70 professional development hours (one week or two weeks, respectively).

The institutes will have morning lectures, exercises and drills and afternoon ensemble rehearsals. Participants in the conductor masterclass will receive daily podium time and feedback from UTC music faculty and visiting clinicians.

“The Summer Institutes are geared toward active teachers who are out in the field and are looking to eventually pursue a master’s degree,” said Dr. Kenyon Wilson, interim department head of Performing Arts at UTC. “Our focus is local public school teachers and music educators looking for a way to get continuing education credit or graduate credit, and it’s designed for working teachers—which is why it’s being held in June.

“This event is brand new at UTC, and we have brought in four big-name clinicians to provide hands-on training.”

Clinicians coming to UTC to lead the sessions include:

• Week 1 Choral Pedagogy and Conducting Institute (June 12-16): “Conducting and Performance Practice of Motets, Masses, and Spirituals” will be led by Dr. André Thomas, an associate artist with the London Symphony. He is a professor emeritus at Florida State University and previously served as a professor of conducting at Yale University. Thomas is president of the American Choral Directors Association.
• Week 1 Instrumental Pedagogy and Conducting Institute (June 12-16): “Engaging the Modern Student, Musician and Audience” will be led by Dr. Cynthia Johnston Turner, Dean of the Faculty of Music at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Before Laurier, she was at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music at the University of Georgia, serving as Director of Bands from 2014 to 2021.
• Week 2 Choral Pedagogy and Conducting Institute (June 19-23): “Developmental Teaching in Choral Settings” will be led by Dr. Judy Bowers, professor emerita in the College of Music at Florida State University. After almost three decades at Florida State, she spent four years as Biedenharn Endowed Chair in Music at the University of Louisiana Monroe.
• Week 2 Instrumental Pedagogy and Conducting Institute (June 19-23): “Repertoire, Programming and Performance Practice for the Modern Wind Band” will be led by Col. Lowell Graham, music director for the Greeley (Colorado) Philharmonic Orchestra. He has served as the Director of Orchestral Activities and Professor of Conducting at the University of Texas at El Paso and Commander and Conductor of the United States Air Force Band in Washington, D.C.

Ten spots per area per week are available for podium time with the clinicians, Wilson said.

“We have the ability for people to audit as well, but to get that podium time—which is invaluable—they need to register for the 10 spots available,” he said.

Other music department faculty bringing the Summer Music Institutes to UTC include Associate Professor Ali Allerton; Director of Choral Activities Kevin Ford; Director of Bands Randall Coleman; Professor Lee Harris; and Assistant Director of Bands Rob Truan.

For more information and registration links, go to utc.edu/summer-institutes.