Debra Spurgeon

Debra Spurgeon is associate professor of music at the University of Mississippi where she conducts the Women's Glee and teaches choral methods and conducting. She has conducted high school and collegiate honor choirs in Oklahoma, Tennesse, Georgia, and Texas. In 2011 she conducted the Louisiana Music Educators All State Women's Choir. Prior to moving to Ole Miss she taught at Southwestern Oklahoma State University for eighteen years and in 1999 was named Oklahoma Choral Directors Association's "Director of Distinction." Her choirs have performed on state and division conventions; recently the Women's Glee performed on the southern division ACDA conference in Louisville, Kentucky.

She has been actively involved in leadership roles in the American Choral Directors Association. From 2007-2010 she served as the National Chair for women's choirs repertoire and standards with the American Choral Directors Association. She was president of the Oklahoma Choral Directors Association and president-elect of the Southwestern Division of ACDA before moving to Ole Miss in 2001. Dr. Spurgeon's numerous articles have appeared in the Choral Journal, Teaching Music, The Journal of Singing, and The Journal of Music Teacher Education. She is the editor, compiler, and co-author of the 2012 GIA publication Conducting Women's Choirs: Strategies for Success, which features the writing of many conductors and composers.

Read more...