Dr. Micah Bland

Education

• Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A.), Choral Music 
  University of Southern California
• Master of Music (M.M.), Choral Conducting
  University of Texas at San Antonio
• Bachelor of Music, Vocal Music Education
  Abilene Christian University

Biography

Dr. Micah Bland is Assistant Professor of Music and Assistant Director of Choral Activities at the University of South Alabama, where he directs Concert Choir and teaches courses in choral music education. As an accomplished choral musician and educator, Bland previously directed ensembles at the University of Southern California, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, University of Texas at San Antonio, The University of Toledo, and secondary schools in Texas, in addition to professional leadership positions in community and religious organizations. 

During his three-year tenure as Director of Choral Activities at The University of Toledo, the Chamber Singers were invited to perform at the Ohio Music Education Association’s Professional Development Conference, the ensemble’s first conference invitation in twenty-eight years. At the University of Southern California (USC) Thornton School of Music, Bland served as the choral department’s Senior Teaching Assistant and Associate Conductor of the USC Chamber Singers, the university’s premier choral ensemble. His work as a conductor can be heard on their 2021 album, Gregorian Meditations: Choral Works of Forgotten French Masters. 

Bland is an active author and clinician with nineteen articles published in academic and practitioner journals including Psychology of Music, Choral Journal, Music Educators Journal, The Choral Scholar, International Choral Magazine, The Journal of Film Music, and Tactus. His passion for music educator training led to the creation of ChoralEd, a video podcast on YouTube, which is also a monthly blog feature on the American Choral Directors Association’s (ACDA) Choral.Net. Bland currently serves ACDA as editor of the “Student Times” column for the Choral Journal and member of the Education and Communication National Standing Committee. Additional honors include first place at the Barbershop Harmony Society’s International Chorus Competition (2003) with the Vocal Majority Chorus, with whom he has recorded three albums, recipient of the Music Teaching and Learning Award from the Thornton School of Music, and first place in the ML Daniels Composition Competition.

Bland holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Southern California, a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from the University of Texas at San Antonio, and a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Music Education from Abilene Christian University. He has studied conducting with Jo-Michael Scheibe, Cristian Grases, Tram Sparks, John Silantien, Michael Scarbrough, Vance George, and Craig Hella Johnson, and choral arranging with Nick Strimple and Morten Lauridsen. He is an active member of ACDA, NAfME, NCCO, WMEA, and WCDA.