Featured Presenters:

Jean S. Applonie — Alexander for Choirs: Better Sound, Better Life

I have been a professional choral music conductor and teacher for 38 years. I received my bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Brigham Young University where I taught for twenty years, directing the BYU Women’s Chorus and teaching music education.  I also co-founded and served as artistic director of Viva Voce! a community women’s choir in Salt Lake City.   

My “Alexander Technique” life began when I attended an Alexander workshop as a college student.  I knew this was something I would like to pursue at some point.  Years later, while singing in the Tabernacle Choir, where the rigor of rehearsals, performances, and teaching began to take a toll on my voice, I reached out to find my first Alexander teacher, Cathy Pollock.  The work was so transformative for me that I knew teaching Alexander Technique would be the next chapter of her life.  I trained with Luc Vanier and Cathy Pollock in the charter group of graduates from the Salt Lake City Alexander Teacher Training course, certifying with the American Society for the Alexander Technique.

ALEXANDER FOR CHOIRS:  Better Sound, Better Life

 Whether we are singing, conducting, or leading a rehearsal, we often engage in excess effort and wind up getting in our own way.  Alexander Technique can teach you and your singers how to get out of your own way.  

∙      Feel less effort singing, breathing, standing, and conducting  

∙      Learn tools to release tension in your larynx, tongue, and jaw

∙ Experience constructive rest for your body and mind

Dr. Yu-Feng Huang — How to Sing in Chinese Authentically & Overview of the Chinese Choral Repertoire

A citizen of Taiwan, Yu-Feng Huang (黃育峰) earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting from the University of Utah. He has performed with numerous groups that make up the choral landscape of Utah. He currently serves as the music director of the Salt Lake Chinese Choir.

As a conductor, Yu-Feng has served as music director for more than ten choirs, including Taiwan’s National Chiao-Tung University Chorus, National Cheng-Chi University Law Department Chorus, as well as several high school and community choirs across Taiwan. He has performed with international award-winning choirs and introduced contemporary Asian choral music to American audiences as a guest conductor of the Choral Arts Society of Utah.

Dr. Huang’s dissertation topic is creating easy-to-understand guidelines for non-Chinese speakers to sing Chinese authentically. With the support of the Salt Lake Chinese Choir, he created the Chinese Choral Repertoire Promotion Project to enhance intercultural communication. Through teaching Americans to sing in Chinese, this project introduced Chinese literature and culture via choral music and additionally brought current Chinese choral scenery to American singers and audiences.

During his time at the University of Utah, Yu-Feng studied under Dr. Barlow Bradford, served as a teaching assistant with the University of Utah Chamber Choir and A Cappella Choir, and was an instructor of the undergraduate conducting class. He received his Master of Fine Arts in Choral Conducting under Dr. Ai-Kuang Sun (孫愛光) at the National Taiwan Normal University, considered the best choral program in Taiwan. Yu-Feng learned as a protégé of famed choral conductor Fang-Pei Lien (連芳貝) with the National Taiwan University Chorus for more than 10 years.

More information can be found at yufenghuang.pro

How to Sing in Chinese Authentically / Overview of the Chinese Choral Repertoire

Have you ever chosen a Chinese song for your choir? The written Chinese characters might frighten you, and the English spelling can be difficult to pronounce. In this session, we will address the essential concepts of singing in Chinese, such as how to deal with diphthongs and triphthongs, how to produce the nasal sound, and how to execute particular vowels and unfamiliar consonants. In this session, the presenter will discuss authentic Chinese choral music pronunciation and performance practice while attendees sing through excerpts from contemporary Chinese choral works. The presenter will also briefly introduce representative Chinese choral composers and their work, which will expand and refresh the attendees’ existing repertoire by incorporating the music of diverse cultures and languages.

Dr. Erin Bailey — Building Beautiful Voices: A Constructivist approach

Erin Bailey is an Assistant Professor of Music Education at Brigham Young University where she teaches elementary and choral music practicum courses. Erin received her Ph.D. in Music Education from The University of Utah and her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Choral Music Education from Brigham Young University. Her research interests include music and mental health, music teacher education, vocology, and choral conducting. Erin taught for over a decade in middle and high schools in Utah and California. In addition, she served as director and co-founder of Cantemus Youth Chorus and Encore Community Choir in California. She currently conducts the American Heritage Treble Chorus in American Fork, Utah.

Building Beautiful Voices: A Constructivist Approach

Here we will explore hands-on ways to increase student perception of their own voice to make informed musical choices in rehearsal. This session will walk through various tools to help singers build their individual vocal skills through awareness and guided response.

Dr. Melissa Mills — “Level-Up!”: Second-Level Score Analysis for Choral Teachers/Conductors

Dr. Melissa Mills is an award-winning composer, conductor, and enthusiastic music educator. She earned her bachelors degree in music education from the University of Utah, her masters degree in music education from Brigham Young University, and her Ph.D. in music education from Michigan State University in Lansing, Michigan. Her composition, “Singing,” was awarded first place in the 2021 American Choral Director’s Association Utah Chapter Composition Competition, and was premiered by the BYU Women’s Chorus. She has taught at the University of Maryland–College Park and the University of Maryland–Baltimore County. She has also taught music education and conducting courses at BYU and MSU. While at BYU, Dr. Mills was assistant conductor of the BYU Women’s Chorus, BYU Concert Choir, and the University Chorale, and was also the founder/director of a 45-member adult community choir in Provo. She is the founder/artistic director of the Utah Youth Singers, and the Bel Canto Women’s Chorus, in Davis County, Utah.

Dr. Mills has published two books, “Working with Young Singers: Educational Philosophies of Expert Children’s Choir Conductors” (Vols. 1 and 2) with GIA Publications. Her research focuses on the influence of music participation on students’ musical identities. She has presented at international, national, and local conferences including the International Symposium on the Sociology of Music Education (in Canada and Ireland), American Educational Research Association, College Music Society, Committee for Instructional Cooperation (CIC), Desert Skies Symposium on Research in Music Education, and at MENC state and conferences in Michigan, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Utah. Her research is published in the Journal of Research in Music Education, Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, in Sociological Explorations: Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on the Sociology of Music Education, and the Music Educators Journal.

Dr. Mills’ most influential teachers/mentors include: Franklin Eddings (piano and organ); Linda Margetts (organ); Heidi McKay, Julie Wright-Costa, Anna Braithwaite (voice); Jeanne McGuire, Jon Cooksey, Paul Broomhead, Sandra Snow, Mitchell Robinson, John Kratus (music education); Susan Kenney, Jerry Jaccard, Cindy Taggart (elementary music education), and Sandra Snow, Rosalind Hall, Ron Staheli (choral conducting).

Dr. Mills taught middle school and high school for four years in public and private schools in Utah. She has also worked with many children’s choirs, including the Salt Lake Children’s Choir, the International Children’s Choir School, the Alpine Children’s Choir, the Michigan State University Children’s Choir, and conducted the Howard County Middle School Honor Choir in Maryland. She is also an accomplished pianist and organist.

Dr. Mills particularly enjoys adjudicating clinics and choral festivals. She is known for her gentle and upbeat teaching style, and for her unquenchable optimism. She loves working with less-experienced singers, helping them to achieve more than they thought possible. She is the founder and artistic director of Utah Youth Singers and the Bel Canto Women's Chorus.

“Level-Up!”: Second-Level Score Analysis for Choral Teachers/Conductors

We all learned the joys of roman numeral/figured bass analysis in undergraduate music theory courses, and probably still remember enough to confidently label most chords (well, maybe we’re a little rusty at labeling the augmented 6th chords, but I digress…). Roman numeral/figured bass (or “first-level”) analysis is still the gold standard for traditional contrapuntal analysis. However, if we want to understand more than chord “names” or “labels”, if we’re interested in the function of a particular chord (a fairly relevant matter for those of us who are in the business of making technical and artistic performance decisions), then we need additional tools.

In this presentation, we will learn about “second-level” analysis, and how this tool can be used to inform interpretative decisions. By the end of the presentation, attendees should be able to:

· Describe the strengths and weaknesses of first level (roman numeral/figured bass) analysis

· Explain the purpose of second-level analysis

· Identify the three “tonal families” and how they function in a “phrase model”

· Understand each of the three steps in second-level analysis

· Do a simple second-level analysis

· Consider ways to use second-level analysis discoveries when making artistic and technical decisions (i.e. rubato, phrase shaping, breath placement, dynamics)

· Feel more confident in making artistic and technical decisions

· Say “I never thought music theory could be so relevant to what I do!”