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The Michigan State University College of Music is pleased to announce the addition of Dr. Stuart Chapman Hill to its esteemed Music Education faculty for the upcoming 2024-2025 academic year. Dr. Hill brings a passion for innovative music education that promises to enrich the learning experience for students and elevate the program's reputation.

Dr. Hill has served the past eight years as Director of Music Education at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri. In addition to his experience and leadership in higher education, he has worked as a middle school chorus teacher in North Carolina and at the Governor’s School of North Carolina. His scholarly pursuits relate to musicianship and the way it is expressed in different settings. In particular, he investigates choral conducting-teaching practices that focus on ear training and audiation, the skills and dispositions of multi-musical individuals, and the practice of co-songwriting among Nashville musicians. As a composer, he has earned recognition from publishers and distributors for his choral compositions.

After earning undergraduate and graduate degrees at Vanderbilt University, Dr. Hill studied music education and choral conducting at MSU where he taught courses in music education foundations and songwriting. While completing his Ph.D., he received an Excellence-in-Teaching Citation from MSU. 

He expressed excitement about returning to his alma mater, citing MSU's transformative environment and its commitment to reimagining the future of music education. He views MSU as a hub for innovation and looks forward to contributing to the College's ongoing pursuit of excellence. 

"I have a 'Spartan for Life' button pinned to the bulletin board outside my current office, and I think of it not only as a badge of pride about where I went to graduate school, but also a marker of how being a Spartan changed my thinking about choral music and music education,” Dr. Hill said. “MSU is a place where transformation happens, especially when it comes to challenging received wisdom and being imaginative about the future of music education. Being a part of that transformative work, alongside innovative faculty and talented, driven students, is a dream come true."

As the musical landscape continuously evolves, Dr. Hill takes an approach to music education that emphasizes variety. To instill in students a deep understanding of music, he believes in the importance of examining it from various angles.

"I hope what I bring to MSU students is a real emphasis on musical breadth and versatility, which I think are essential for music educators in today’s world,” Dr. Hill said. “I am a choral conductor-teacher and composer, but also a songwriter and scholar of popular music, and I really value the different understandings of music and musicianship these lenses bring."

Dr. Hill’s addition to the MSU Music Education faculty reasserts the College’s commitment to advancing the field of music education and empowering the next generation of music educators to make a positive impact on the lives of students they serve. Current Music Education faculty like Dr. Karen Salvador, who chairs the area, are enthusiastic about Dr. Hill joining them.

"We are really excited to welcome Dr. Hill. I know he'll continue our longstanding tradition of preparing outstanding choral music educators,” said Dr. Salvador, associate professor of music education. “He will also enhance what we offer through his focus on nurturing future teachers' musical creativity across a variety of genres as well as increasing music educators' ability to foster creative musicianship among the PK-12 students they will teach."

Before they take their skills into classrooms across the country, MSU students will be the first to benefit from Dr. Hill’s creative style. He believes in establishing a spirit of joy in the classroom along with serious study. 

"Students can expect a lot of questions, because I want them to think deeply about how they know what they know and why they believe what they believe. They can also expect high expectations, for them and for me, about staying organized and communicating well,” Dr. Hill said. “And they can expect the former middle school teacher in me to shine through, especially when it comes to embracing the playfulness and joy of learning together. If we’re not laughing together a lot of the time, we’re not getting it quite right."

Dr. Hill officially begins his new position at MSU on August 16.