Episode 208: Choir is Not my Family, Do I Still Belong? With Dr. Jason Dungee

Choralosophy

Often in choral instruction, we utilize the word “family” to describe the cohesiveness of our ensembles. But what about the students who don’t view choir as their family? Can we be ok with the idea that singers come to us for many different reasons?

But what happens when students DON’T want to be in the family? What if you have students that truly just want to treat it like a class? Or what if they are a talented student who is an introvert? What about a choral director whose MAIN reason for doing the job is the love of the music? (gasps, clutches pearls.)

We can over personalize the rejection.

Jason Dungee joins me to add some nuance to what is often a very misunderstood and oversimplified concept in education more broadly, as well as in choral music. If we are honest, aren’t we a bit offended when a singer doesn’t LOVE singing for us? Don’t we take it a little personally? What if you have students that are really talented, but you don’t like THEM? Sometimes we unintentionally marginalize or isolate the students who have rejected us. For many choir directors, our definition of success includes “making our kids FEEL what we felt as kids.”

I also ran some of my ideas about belonging in groups by Jason. Those episodes are linked below.

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Tune in, and have your thinking stimulated and challenged. Then, weigh in yourself with your related ideas and experiences on Facebook in the Choralosophers group or over on choralosophy.substack.com.

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Conductor, tenor, and music educator, Dr. Jason A. Dungee, is the Director of Choral Activities at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He has earned degrees from the University of Arizona, Westminster Choir College and Hampton University.

Since arriving in the Charlotte region in 2021, Dungee has come in demand as a clinician and as guest conductor for several All-County Choral events, as well as serving as clinician for the NCMEA Eastern All-State Choir in the Fall of 2023.
Dungee’s article “A Pedagogy for Living: Applying Restorative, Anti-Racist Pedagogy to the Choral Classroom” was published in The Choral Journal and has led to him being in demand as a presenter for organizations and Universities across the U.S. In March of 2020, Dungee was Co-Conductor of the first HBCU Tribute Choir for the Southern Division ACDA Conference.

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Dr. Dungee has found success in popular music and entertainment as well. He was selected for 2 consecutive years to prepare choirs for the southeast leg of HBO’s internationally acclaimed touring production of The Game of Thrones Live Experience, featuring music from the hit TV program. In February of 2022 and April of 2023, Dungee was asked to prepare an ensemble for the rock band the Eagles for their performances in Charlotte and Greensboro, respectively. In 2024 he served as choirmaster for the AWR Productions presentation of Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy during their tour stop in Charlotte. He conducted sold out, critically acclaimed performances as guest conductor of the Charleston Gospel Choir and sang the tenor solo with the London Symphony Orchestra as they premiered Andre Thomas’ Mass.
His pride and joy, however, is found in his wife Crysta, and their three children, Jordan, Andrew and Langston.
Youtube: Find Jason’s channel!
Facebook/Instagram: @clt.universitychorale

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