OMHS’s Choir Director

Walking the halls of OM, you may run across our choir director and a beloved staff member, Dr. Coleman. Growing up in Alabama and pursuing musical endeavours in church, he was blessed to have very strong musicians as teachers in school for band and choir, as well as having great private teachers for singing, playing trumpet, and playing piano. His band and choir directors in high school had been classmates when they grew up and had a strong connection. Because of this, many of the students were highly encouraged to participate in both programs, which inspired Dr. Coleman throughout his high school experience. He attended Stillman College in Alabama, received his master’s degree at Florida State University, and his doctorate at Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia. He feels that music primarily of the baroque period drove him towards choral music. He does not have one favorite composer, but is fond of George Frederic Handel’s work because of the way his compositions balance with the instruments and choirs.

He loves to see when his students achieve things, especially when they get to places they did not expect. He says, “What you can do and what you can achieve is up to you. I think it’s a frame of mind… if you decide you’re going to go after something and you put everything into it, then nine times out of ten those things work out for you. And if they don’t, then it wasn’t meant for you, and that’s okay too,” Coleman said. He loves teaching so much, and he tells people all the time, “I can’t believe people pay me to do this.” 

Dr. Coleman loves performing with his students, but he says that in a way, concerts are the end-all, be-all for his classes. But what he loves is the rehearsal process – the learning and growing experience every day in the classroom. “The journey is so much more fun for me,” he said. The performance is simply a chance to show people the work his students have accomplished.

He says that he never in a million years thought he would be an author, let alone have his own published piece. Because of the work here at OM, he was invited to the National Conference a couple of years ago and was approached about writing a book centered around his research and his teachings. He decided to take on this opportunity with his best friend, Dr. Marques Garret, another prolific composer and director with his own publishing site. It took about a year and a half to finish, and he was very proud of the work he and Dr. Garret were able to put together. He ensured his love and passion for teaching went into it. “It’s easy for people to grab something that’s really hard… if you have a really great choir, you throw it at ‘em [and] they can sing it—but it’s a different thing when you are—when you’re teaching it every day. It’s one thing to have a professional choir, it’s another thing to have a learning choir… we’re learning together every day how to be stronger musicians… and my book is based on that, with the lesson plans and the pieces that I chose… I want people to not be afraid to learn music,” Coleman said. Their book is titled Accessible and Beautiful. 

He is able to keep his students motivated because of his honesty. He feels that when his students are doing well, he is quick to praise them, but when they are not being their best selves and achieving things to the level he knows they can get to, he considers himself “a holy terror.” He says it’s a part of teaching that sometimes you need to lay down the law and be harsh with your students—and that the same goes for parenting. He hates having to fuss at his students, but feels it is necessary to teach that there are consequences for our actions. He says, “If you want students to be able to succeed, they need to be able to trust you.”

He loves to cook and watch all kinds of movies, especially horror films. He says if he could not teach, he probably would have gone to culinary school. He has taught at every level of education, from elementary to college, and his advice for people who want to go into music is to get yourself competitive and take private lessons. Dr. Coleman always ensures his passion shows in everything he says and does. Period, point-blank, fullstop.