Re-Envisioning Choral Warmups
Dr. Christopher Peterson
This class will focus on how we can use choral warm ups to teach proper vocal technique, encourage mindful listening and breathing habits, and ways to make the warm up a connected part of the rehearsal experience. I will explain and provide examples of warm up sequences as well as tips for teaching musicianship and beautiful tone through gesture, engagement, and kinesthetic exploration.
Meet Your Professor
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CHRISTOPHER W. PETERSON is a teacher, conductor, choral clinician, author, editor, and choral arranger of music and books published in the United States and around the world. In his over thirty years as a music educator, Dr. Peterson has taught in elementary, middle school, high school, church, community, festival, and collegiate settings.  A professor at California State University Fullerton since 2007, he trains and mentors undergraduate and graduate choral music educators and conductors and directs the Concert Choir and the Singing Titans Chorus.
In May of 2019, he was honored as the university-wide recipient of the CSUF Carol Barnes Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has served the profession as State Choral Representative and Southern Section President for the California Music Educators Association (CMEA), as well as the Western Division Representative for the National Association for Music Education’s (NAfME) Council for Choral Education. He has also served the California Choral Directors Association in various offices including CCDA State President. His choral methods textbook "RESONANCE: The ART of the Choral Music Educator" is published by Pavane and distributed by Hal Leonard and is used across the country to train pre-service music teachers.Â
He has been invited to teach, judge, and conduct choirs in more than thirty US states, five Canadian provinces, and nine countries including China, England, Sweden, Japan, Germany, New Zealand, and Holland, and has conducted All-State Choirs across the nation including Maine, North Carolina, Oregon, Wisconsin, and California. Dr. Peterson also holds the position of Director of Music at Irvine United Congregational Church in Irvine, CA. His “hobby” for many decades has been enjoying singing barbershop harmony, and he is a BHS District Quartet Champion baritone, a top-five medalist chorus director, and a four-time gold medalist with the Masters of Harmony, nine-time International Men’s Chorus Champions of the Barbershop Harmony Society.
He earned a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from the University of Southern Maine in choral and instrumental music education. He earned a Master of Music in Choral Conducting degree at the University of Maine, and the Doctor of Philosophy in Music Education and Choral Conducting at Florida State University.