"Working with the MTC Women’s Prison Glee Club was life-changing, taking women who had never been in a choir, teaching them about head voice, consonants, vowels, and diction and all the musical things that we talk about all the time in choir. We went down to the very basics and that was remarkable for us as conductors to see you have the ability to teach anybody if you learn how to sequence and understand where people are and how you can take them to the next level."

Dr. Brandon A. Boyd is the Director of Choral Activities, Graduate Choral Conducting Program Director, and Associate Professor of Music at the University of Missouri, where he conducts MU University Singers, Sankofa Chorale, and Choral Union Symphonic Chorus. In addition to his conducting duties at the university, he teaches graduate courses in choral conducting, choral literature, and choral arranging.

As a proponent of choral singing to build community, his research interests include organizing choirs for the homeless, identifying the social and physical effects of choral singing on senior citizens, creating authentic field experiences for music therapy and choral music education students. For three years, Dr. Boyd co-directed three choral community partnerships in Florida: The Tallahassee Senior Choir, RAA Middle School Partnership Choir (university students and middle school singers), and the MTC Women's Prison Glee Club (university students singing with women housed in a correctional facility).

As an active composer and arranger, his music is sung regularly by ensembles throughout the United States and abroad. Dr. Boyd served as Santa Fe Desert Chorale’s Composer-in-Residence and Community Engagement Leader for their program Giving Voice to the Voiceless. As a global collaborator in the orchestral world, Dr. Boyd has served as chorus master, assistant conductor, and guest pianist with the London Symphony in London, England. He has made multiple performances at Carnegie Hall in the capacity of guest conductor, composer, and collaborative pianist.

He holds two degrees from Florida State University (Ph.D. in choral music education and M.M. in choral conducting) and earned a B.S. in music education (emphasis in piano) from Tennessee State University.

To get in touch with Brandon, you can find him on Instagram (@baboydmusic) or email him at boydba@missouri.edu.

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“Transitions are key to all of the rehearsals that I run. We lose a lot of very valuable rehearsal time when we switch from one task to the next, whether they’re taking their music out or they start talking to a neighbor. Every time we switch tasks, there’s a ‘switch cost,’ which is the time it takes for our brain to transition from one experience to the next experience. I’ve developed transition strategies that help minimize that time. The goal of a transition is to continue the music making through that changing experience.”

Morgan Luttig is a dynamic choral conductor, music educator, and clinician known for her philosophy of "make serious music unseriously." She currently serves as Director of Choral Activities at the University of Alabama where she conducts University Singers, Treble Chorus, and Druid City Chorus while overseeing undergraduate and graduate conducting programs. Her innovative approach to teaching and rehearsing has been recognized through national and state performance invitations, award nominations, grant acceptances, and fellowships. During her tenure, the University of Alabama choral program has nearly tripled in enrollment.

To get in touch with Morgan, you can find her on Facebook (@morgan.luttig) or Instagram (@m.luttig) or email her at mluttig@ua.edu.

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“The work that we do as choral people matters. The art matters. The music is the engine that drives the experience for everybody. In community organizations, they yearn for high level artistry. They don’t want it to be a hobby. They want to be challenged and fulfilled. I want the experience for them to be fun, but I don’t want it to be ‘for fun.’ There’s no bench in a choir. Everyone is contributing all the time, and we need everybody’s best effort all the time.”

Dr. Matt Hill is a choral composer and conductor who specializes in community and collegiate ensembles. In a typical week he conducts five auditioned choirs, including a 7th-12th grade treble choir, undergraduate treble and mixed choirs, and two semi-professional adult ensembles, along with a volunteer church choir.

He founded Sing Omaha in 2007 and serves the nonprofit as Artistic and Executive Director. The organization now reaches approximately 500 musicians a year: roughly 350 singers across nine choirs from kindergarten through adult, plus a private lesson studio of 150 students at two locations. He is also Director of Choral Activities at Creighton University and Director of Worship Arts at Divine Shepherd Lutheran Church.

His forthcoming book, The People-First Conductor, argues that choirs exceed every expectation placed on them when their singers are regarded as people first. Rather than a conducting primer or a repertoire guide, it offers a framework for designing the whole choral experience, from first rehearsal to final bow. The work that happens around the singing determines whether singers will invest in the process and risk the vulnerability that a meaningful social, spiritual, educational, and artistic experience demands.

Hill has twice been named Nebraska Choral Director of the Year, and serves as Executive Director of the Nebraska Choral Directors Association. He has represented community choirs on the national ACDA board since 2021, and has published six articles in Choral Journal.

As a composer he has been commissioned by ensembles across the country and was selected for the International Choral Composers Institute in 2026, where Great is the Sun! closed the final concert and will be published by Choristers Guild in 2027. His catalog with perusal scores and recordings is available at www.MattHill.music.

He lives in Omaha with his wife, Jen, and their 7-year-old son, Walter.

To get in touch with Matt, you can visit MattHill.music, email him at matthill@creighton.edu, or find him on Facebook (@MattHillComposer), Instagram (@matthillcomposer), or X (@matthillmusic).

Email choirfampodcast@gmail.com to contact our hosts.

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Photo in episode artwork by Trace Hudson