Pamela Elrod Huffman
Associate Professor of Music, Director of Choral Activities
Pamela Elrod Huffman’s conducting career spans all levels – from elementary and secondary schools to university, symphonic, and church choirs – and has included positions in Texas, New York, Illinois and Georgia. Since 2007, Dr. Huffman has served as the director of choral activities at SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts, where she oversees the M.M. Choral Conducting program and directs the University’s choral ensembles.
An accomplished vocalist, Huffman has appeared as a guest artist with numerous university, professional, community and church choirs throughout the country. From 1988 until 1999, she sang with the late Robert Shaw, performing and recording with the Robert Shaw Festival Singers, the Robert Shaw Choral Institutes, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus and the Atlanta Symphony Chamber Chorus. Since 2003 she has been a member of the Grammy Award-winning professional choral ensemble, Conspirare, under the direction of Craig Hella Johnson.
Huffman regularly serves as a choral clinician and adjudicator in Texas and throughout the United States. In addition, she is a sought-after workshop clinician, particularly in the area of the choral techniques of Robert Shaw. Her articles on Shaw’s warm-ups and rehearsal techniques can be found on the website dedicated to the late maestro, robertshaw.website.
Huffman holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from the University of Texas at Austin and a D.M.A. in choral conducting from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. She is a member of TCDA, TMEA, ACDA, NCCO, Chorus America and Pi Kappa Lambda, and is Past President of TCDA.
Education
D.M.A. in Choral Conducting, University of Illinois, 2001
M.M. in Choral Conducting, University of Texas at Austin, 1982
B.M. in Music Education, University of Texas at Austin, 1979
Research
Hull House Music School; Eleanor Smith (composer, music educator); Chicago choral music, 19th and early 20th centuries; Robert Shaw rehearsal techniques
Professional Experience
Over 30 years of conducting and teaching experience at all academic levels; professional singer
Teaching
Meadows Chorale; Meadows Concert Choir; Diva Dolce; graduate choral conducting; graduate choral literature; graduate choral techniques