Marysville to Host NCKL League Vocal Clinic
On Wednesday, Feburary 10th, Marysville will be hosting the Vocal League Clinic. Approximately 180 students from the six league schools of Abilene, Chapman, Clay Center, Concordia, Marysville, and Wamego will be participating. The student’s will be working with a clinician from the Olathe School district preparing five songs. Tam Johnson will be the piano accompanist for the rehearsals and performance. I find it invigorating to see these schools work together for a common goal of music when many of these students are usually in competition, whether it be Athletics, Scholars Bowl, Debate, Forensics or other activities.
This large Choir will be giving a concert in the H.S. Auditorium for the student body and guests at 2:15. Parents and community are invited and encouraged to attend. This is a fabulous opportunity for students and community members to hear a large choir sing some outstanding literature. The music at times is divided into 8 parts which makes for a very full, rich sound which is hard to attain with small groups.
This experience only comes around once every six years, so don’t miss the opportunity.
Dwayne Dunn
Dwayne Dunn is in his ninth year as Director of Choral Activities for Olathe East High School. During his time at Olathe East, the Chorale, Women’s Choir, and Madrigal Choir were each named “Best in Class” at the 2002 Alamo Showcase of Music in San Antonio. In addition, the Madrigal choir performed as a State Honor Choir for the 2007 convention of the Kansas Music Educators Association in Wichita, and as a National Honor Choir for the 2008 convention of MENC: The National Association for Music Education in Milwaukee. Olathe East choirs have performed with a professional orchestra at the Linz (Austria) Invitational Choral Festival in 2005, and toured Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal, Canada in 2008. He previously spent seven years teaching choral music in the Grand Prairie and Harlingen, Texas public schools, and served for five years on the music education faculty at the University of Arizona. In Tucson, he was the founding director of the UA Senior High Outreach Choir, which performed for the Arizona Music Educators Association in 2000. His choirs have performed with such artists as ANONYMOUS 4, The Chieftains, and Paco Peña, and he has conducted honor choirs in Arizona, Louisiana, and Texas. He holds degrees in music education and choral conducting from Texas Christian University, Texas State University, and Louisiana State University, and has studied conducting with Ronald Shirey, John Paul Johnson, and Kenneth Fulton. Dr. Dunn is an active member in the American Choral Directors Association, the Music Educators National Conference and their state-level organizations, and belongs to Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and Pi Kappa Lambda. Currently, he is the high school State Vocal Chair-elect for KMEA. He makes his home in Lawrence, with his wife Cindy, 10-year-old son Bryce, and 6-year-old twins, Cuyler and Cassidy.
Dr. Dunn conducts four choirs at Olathe East, is co-director of the 5th and 6th grade Junior Hawks Honor Choir, and team-teaches the Musical Theater Repertory class. He also serves as vocal director-conductor for the annual school musical and participates in Kansas City area theater productions as a performer and musical director. With research interests in teacher effectiveness and student conceptual transfer, Dr. Dunn has presented his research at conferences across the United States and been published in the Journal for Research in Music Education, Choral Journal, Southeastern Journal of Music Education, Update: The Applications of Research in Music Education, and was a contributor to The Choral Director’s Cookbook. In 2007-08 he was the Olathe East nominee and one of three Olathe District Semi-Finalists for Kansas Teacher of the Year, and has mentored nine student teachers during his tenure at Olathe East. He maintains an active schedule as a teacher, researcher, choral clinician, adjudicator, and guest conductor.
