Building Young Voices: Nurturing PK-5 Choral Development

Workshop Description:

What does age-appropriate choral development look like starting in Pre-K?

Join SWOKE president Nick Dolan Saturday, October 21st, for a morning of singing games and choral skill development appropriate for children ages 4-12 and beyond. Nick will share how he guides elementary-age students from joyful exploration to beautiful part-singing using the fundamentals of Kodály pedagogy.

About Nick Dolan

Nick Dolan is an educator, composer, and scholar-in-training, whose research interests include the intersections of Kodály and choral practices, the changing voice, and equity in education. Nick has been a guest speaker and clinician for the OAKE Western Division, Texas Tech University, and Lewis & Clark College, and has presented his research at poster sessions for the Gordon Institute for Music Learning International Conference, the Symposium for Music Teacher Education, and the TMEA Annual Conference. Nick currently serves as president of the Southern Washington and Oregon Kodály Educators (SWOKE), an Affiliate Chapter of OAKE, and on the national Kodály Envoy Committee for OAKE.

Nick is a Ph.D. student at Texas Tech University studying Music Education with a focus in choral and elementary music, studying under Dr. Susan Brumfield, Dr. Janice Killian, Dr. Alan Zabriskie, and Dr. Jacqueline Henninger. Nick received his M.Ed. from Portland State University in 2017, where he studied under Dr. Ethan Sperry and Debbie Glaze, and received his Kodály certification from the Organization of Kodály Educators (OAKE) at Portland State University in 2021.

Nick is a member of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), the Society for Research in Music Education (SRME), the Organization of American Kodály Educators (OAKE), the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), the Oregon Music Educators Assocation (OMEA), and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP).