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 all of the University’s choral ensembles. Prior to this appointment, she held the position of Assistant Director of Choral Studies at Texas Tech University, where she served both the music education and conducting areas. 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.
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-nominated professional choral ensemble, Conspirare, under the direction of Craig Hella Johnson.
Huffman regularly serves as a choral clinician and adjudicator in Texas, as well as 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 article on Shaw’s warm-ups can be found on the Singer Network website, and an article on Shaw’s rehearsal techniques appears in the February 2013 issue of TMEA’s professional journal, Southwestern Musician.
Dr. Huffman is a member of TCDA, TMEA, ACDA, and Pi Kappa Lambda.
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 thirty 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
Publications
Essential Building Blocks: The Rehearsal Techniques of Robert Shaw (Southwester Musician; February 2013); The Choral Warm-ups of Robert Shaw; Eleanor Smith (Women Building Chicago; Indiana University Press)