Vance Wolverton
Vance Wolverton
Professor
Music Education, Literature & Appreciation
D.M.E. and M.M.E., University of Iowa
B.A., Wayne State College
Office: FA 370
Phone: 859.572.6043
E-mail: wolvertonv1@nku.edu
Dr. Vance D. Wolverton is a Professor of Music at Northern Kentucky University. He previously served as Professor of Music and Chairman of the Music Department at California State University, Fullerton. During his 16 years at CSUF he also served as the Assistant Conductor of the Pacific Chorale and, for nine years, as Director of Music at Red Hill Lutheran Church in Tustin. For three years prior to joining the CSUF faculty, Dr. Wolverton served as Assistant Professor of Music at the University of New Orleans. While in New Orleans he held the position of Assistant Conductor of the New Orleans Symphony Chorus and directed the Chancel Choir of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church. From 1975 to 1985, Dr. Wolverton directed the Harlan Community Schools choirs. While in Harlan he also directed the Chancel Choir of Immanuel Lutheran Church, the Iowa Western Community College Chorale, and the Bel Canto Singers, a select ensemble comprised mainly of area music teachers. From 1971 to 1974 he conducted the First Infantry Division Men's Chorus and the choir of the Main Post Chapel, Ft. Riley, Kansas.
Dr. Wolverton holds a Bachelor of Arts in music, Magna cum laude, with High Honors from Wayne (Nebraska) State College, and a Master and Doctor of music education from the University of Iowa. He has completed additional graduate work at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Drake University, the University of Missouri, Kansas City, and UCLA. He is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, the Music Educators National Conference, the Kentucky Music Educators Association, and the National Association of Teachers of Singing. In 1984, he was awarded the prestigious Choirmaster Certificate by the American Guild of Organists. In 2001 he received the Eunice Skinner Memorial Award for "excellence in choral music education" from the California Music Educators Association. Most recently, he was recognized as the 2004 Outstanding Alumnus of the School of Arts and Humanities of Wayne (Nebraska) State College.
Dr. Wolverton's research interests include Baltic choral music, choral teaching competencies, error detection skills, and the choral music of Alan Hovhaness. His doctoral dissertation was entitled The Classification of Adolescent Singing Voices. He has had articles published in The Choral Journal, The Music Educators Journal, The American Organists, The Southeastern Journal of Research in Music Education, The Journal of Research in Singing, The Louisiana Choral Advocate, and Cantate California. The Vance Wolverton Baltic Series of choral edition is published by Santa Barbara Music and included seventeen titles for women's voices, four for mixed voices and one of men's voices.