With a focus on African American choral music, the clinician will guide attendees through effective and relatable tools to cultivate expressive musicianship in their students from their very first encounter with new repertoire. Modern choral music educators are tasked with creating immersive learning environments where students move beyond the printed page and bring the musical stories embedded within the notes to life for themselves and audiences alike. Given its richly expressive, profoundly relational, and deeply personal attributes, few genres are better suited to facilitate intuitive musicality alongside technical flexibility than music of the African American diaspora. Centering African American Spirituals and gospel music especially, attendees to this session will leave with adaptable lesson frameworks and rehearsal activities that bring comprehensive musicianship, empathy, and cultural validity to the beginning of the learning process, utilizing notes, rhythms, and texts as collective means of expression rather than separate components in performance.
Target Audience
Secondary Choir
Additional Notes
Clinician Info
Michelle Z. Gibson
California State University, Long Beach
Dr. Michelle Z. Gibson serves as the Assistant Professor for Choral Music Education at California State University, Long Beach. She earned her master’s and doctoral degrees in Music Education from the University of Florida and completed undergraduate music education study at the University of Georgia. A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. Gibson has experience teaching in a variety of educational settings, including elementary and secondary general music and middle school choir. During her time as a music educator in Georgia, Dr. Gibson maintained active leadership roles, serving as the Secondary Choral Music Chair and a member of the Curriculum Writing Team for the DeKalb County School District, as well as a founding member of the Diversity and Inclusion committee of the Georgia Music Educators Association. Dr. Gibson’s research interests include diversity, equity, inclusion and access within music education, culturally responsive music pedagogy, African American Spiritual pedagogy, and music teacher education.