Shannon Gravelle (she/her)

Dr. Shannon Gravelle is assistant professor of music in the Conservatory of Music at Lawrence University, serving as Director of Choral Studies and music education faculty. In the summer, she is the Phyllis and Richard Duesenberg Festival Choir Chair at Lutheran Summer Music Academy & Festival, a 4-week-long immersive music experience for high school students across the country. Her current research focuses on conducting pedagogy and how the identity points of young conductors affect the way they learn conducting. She is committed to equity work within her field and higher education, and advocacy is a centerpiece of her community building. Other areas of research also include silenced voices in music, the choral works of Russian composer Sergei Taneyev, the early choral works of Johannes Brahms, the life and works of Barbara Strozzi, and music education advocacy.  

Dedicated to best practices in music education, Dr. Gravelle is dedicated to connecting her work in conducting with her work in music education. She has collaborated with colleagues to present on creative teaching in the classroom and rehearsal space. Dr. Gravelle is the new Bel Canto director, an auditioned 10th-12th grade treble choir housed in the Lawrence Community Girl Choir program.

Dr. Gravelle has been an adjudicator, clinician, and guest conductor for choirs in North Carolina, Minnesota, Maryland, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Illinois, has presented at regional and national conferences, and has led professional development for K-12 music teachers in multiple states. She has served as a church music director, choral conductor, hand bell conductor, pianist, and vocal soloist. Her publications can be found in Notes, Carolina Caroler, The Choral Scholar, ChoralNet, and The Choral Journal. She is a member of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), on which she serves as the Midwestern ACDA Student Activities Chair and as Diversity Initiatives Chair for Wisconsin ACDA. She is also a member of the National Collegiate Choral Organization, on which she serves as a national board member. Her other memberships are in the National Association for Music Education, College Music Society, and Pi Kappa Lambda music honor society. Dr. Gravelle also founded and serves on the leadership team of WiCHEd (Women in Choral Higher Education), an organization dedicated to supporting women-identifying choral conductors as they navigate barriers and successes in higher education. In addition to conducting and scholarly activities, she enjoys singing, playing piano and guitar, identifying ways to collaborate with other musicians, running, and going to baseball games. She has sung at a TED talk given by Eric Whitacre and, true to the life of a rockstar, has sung back-up for the Rolling Stones.

Her conducting mentors include Timothy Stalter, Jonathan Talberg, Tim Peter, Sandra Peter, and Weston Noble. Dr. Gravelle received her Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting and Pedagogy from the University of Iowa; her research took her to Russia to study the music and history of composer Sergei Taneyev for her dissertation. She holds a Master of Music from the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University - Long Beach, where she benefitted from generous podium time and did a deep dive into the music of Barbara Strozzi. Her undergraduate degree is from Luther College, where her areas of study were music, music education, and religion.