Joe W. Grant

Associate Professor Emeritus (2009) of Music Education

B.M. (voice), Murray State University; M.M. (voice), and Ed.D. (music education), University of Illinois.

Joe Grant teaches choral conducting, methods, and music theater production. He has written for Music Educators Journal, Choral Journal, and the Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education. Professor Grant is the co-author (with professor emeritus Daniel Kohut) of Learning to Conduct and Rehearse.

A frequent guest conductor of choral festivals throughout the country, Professor Grant also has conducted several performances of musicals for Illinois Opera Theatre and teaches a course titled “School/Community Musical Theatre Production.” Professor Grant is an active member of the Music Educators National Conference and a past state president of the American Choral Directors Association. With alumna Lynn Drafall of Penn State University, Professor Grant was co-organizer of the Retreat for Choral Music Education held at the Allerton Conference Center.

Under Professor Grant’s direction the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Women’s Glee Club has been honored with invited performances at national, divisional, and state conferences of the American Choral Directors Association, including a concert at the regional meeting held at Cincinnati in February 2000. In 1999, Professor Grant received the Mary Hoffman Award for Career Teaching Excellence, presented by the Illinois Music Educators Association.

I have the privilege of working with talented young musicians who are planning to become music educators. In preparing them to work in the schools of tomorrow I strive to provide rich experiences in a wide variety of musical traditions, from European classical works to folk, ethnic and the emerging styles of the world. As a choral educator I seek to ensure that students become capable conductors, singers and performers and know how to incorporate those skills into their classrooms. Likewise, I try to help these novice educators mature into thoughtful, reflective teachers capable of engaging their future students in musical experiences that will enrich their lives. As conductor of the Women’s Glee Club I try to provide majors and non-majors alike with expressive experiences with the finest of choral literature from a wide variety of styles and traditions. Through this choir I also try to provide a model to my music education students of high-quality teaching, conducting and choral performance.