Gary Packwood

 

Gary Packwood, Associate Professor and Associate Director of Choral Activities at the University of Montevallo, teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in choral music and music education, as well as conducting the Chamber Singers and University Chorus. He also serves as the Head of Music Education, and has received a Distinguished Teacher Award for the College of Fine Arts at UM.  

He is an active conductor of all-state and honor choirs across the United States. During the 2009-2010 school year, Dr. Packwood has been named the Distinguished Alumni & Conductor for the 75th anniversary of the Department of Music at Southeastern Louisiana University; the inaugural conductor for the Louisiana Men's All-State Chorus, as well as conductor for the Garland Independent School District Men's Festival, the Cook Middle School Girl's Choir, both in Texas, the Madison County High School Honor Choir (AL), and the Escambia County All-County High School Honor Choir (FL).  

His international conducting and choral performance credits include guest conductor and lecturer for the 2006 Festival Internacional de Musica da UFPI (Brazil), the 2007 artist-in-residence and guest conductor at the Conservatory of Music at the University of Uberlandia (Brazil), and invitational choral performances in Notre Dame Cathedral, Chatres Cathedral, La Madeleine Church, Sacra Coeur Church, and The American Cemetery at Omaha Beach, Normandy.  

Dr. Packwood frequently presents workshops and clinics for teachers, and his research interests include strategies for the beginning adolescent singer, effective and efficient rehearsal techniques, and multicultural music. He has published in the Teaching Music (MENC publication), the Choral Journal (ACDA publication), and is currently the Editor of Reprise, the official publication of Alabama ACDA.  

Dr. Packwood earned music degrees from Louisiana State University (D.M.A.), Florida Atlantic University (M.A.), and Southeastern Louisiana University (B.M.Ed.). From 1992-2000, he led the choral program at William T. Dwyer Community High School in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and is the founding conductor of Montevallo Chorale, a small, but dedicated group of community singers, as well as Music Director at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Birmingham. He has served in numerous leadership roles with the American Choral Directors Association including membership on four consecutive divisional convention-planning committees, and is currently the R&S Chair for Ethnic & Multicultural Perspectives for the Southern Division. Dr. Packwood is a member of Golden Key International Honour Society, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and Pi Kappa Lambda.