PATRICK K. FREER is head of the music education division at Georgia State University. He has been the Director of Choral Activities at Salisbury University (MD), the Education Director of Young Audiences of New Jersey, and, for 11 years, taught public school music at all grade levels. Dr. Freer holds BM and MM degrees from Westminster Choir College of Rider University and an Ed.D. from Teachers College, Columbia University. He is the author of Getting Started with Middle-Level Choir and a new series of DVDs, Success for Adolescent Singers: Unlocking the Potential in Middle School Choirs. Dr. Freer is a frequent guest conductor for all-state and regional honors choruses. His research is focused on the relationships between teacher language use during middle school choral rehearsals, student experience, and student transition to high school programs.
During the 2004-05 academic year, Dr. Freer presented at the international and/or national conferences of the American Choral Directors Association, the American Educational Research Association, the International Society for the Philosophy of Music Education, the College Music Society, and the National Middle School Association. He presently represents the field of music education on the boards of the Southern Chapter of the College Music Society and the Georgia Music Educators Association; he also serves on the Editorial Committee of the Music Educators Journal.
Alan L. Raines, Georgia State University, GA
ALAN RAINES joined the faculty at Georgia State University in the fall of 1999. Prior to that, he held the position of Director of Choral Activities at the University of La Verne in La Verne, California. He received the M.M. and D.M.A. degrees in Choral Conducting at UCLA as a student of Donald Neuen. Alan also served as the Assistant Conductor of the Angeles Chorale for two years.
A frequent guest conductor and sought after clinician with choruses throughout the United States, Alan has conducted All-State Choruses in three states and guest conducted honor choruses in Nebraska, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Virginia this academic year alone. Under his direction, The University Singers of Georgia State University have quickly emerged as one of the “finest choral ensembles in the southeast” with performances for conventions of the American Choral Directors Association and the Georgia Music Educators Association. They have performed throughout most of Great Britain and most recently completed a tour that included engagements in Helsinki, Tallin, St. Petersburg and Moscow. Alan’s professional engagements have taken him throughout western and eastern Eurpope and South Korea. He is the first American invited to conduct the Chonan City Choir and Orchestra in Chonan City, South Korea. He is also a member of the conducting faculty of La Musica Lirica in Urbania, Italy
As Director of Choral Activities, Alan conducts the Georgia State University Singers, the Women’s Chorus, teaches graduate conducting and administrates the graduate choral program at GSU. He is a member of MENC, GMEA, Pi Kappa Lambda and ACDA. An active arranger, his publications of chansons and lieder are under the auspices of Alliance Music Publications, Inc.
