Mexican Choral Repertoire
Ryan Fellman
This session aims to shed light on clichés related to the programming of Mexican choral music while providing ideas for the inclusion of repertoire beyond the stereotypical folk song. Participants will gain familiarity for vocal music by Mexican composers from all musical eras and learn how to present them in a historically and culturally informed way.
Considering the rapidly changing demographics of our country, these resources will serve to transform the way we perceive music of Latin America. Through this lens, we can begin to enhance the musical experiences of our students, erase harmful tokenization, and build bridges through meaningful connections in music.Â
Covered during the class:
- My Journey from Embarrassment to Empowerment
- Stereotypes and Clichés
- How did we get here?
- What does the future resemble and how do we move forward?
- Repertoire and Resources in the worksÂ
Meet Your Professor
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Ryan R. Fellman is about to begin his final year of doctoral studies at Michigan State University studying choral conducting with Drs. David Rayl, Sandra Snow, and Jonathan Reed. At MSU, Fellman has served as assistant conductor of the University Chorale, assistant conductor of Choral Union, chorus master of the Opera Theatre program, and instructor of record for class voice. Recent accolades include presenting a session entitled “Navigating through Mexican Choral Music and Recognizing Biased Performance Practices,” at the 2023 National ACDA Conference. Fellman was also selected as a guest conductor of Sinfonietta Memphis in August of 2022. Â
Prior to moving to Michigan, Fellman earned a M.M. in choral conducting from Ithaca College where he studied with Dr. Janet Galván. There he served as co-conductor of the IC Campus Chorus, co-taught courses in choral conducting, and assisted with the Treble Chorale, IC Chorus, Madrigal Singers and Ithaca College Choir. In 2020, Fellman was selected as a finalist in the ACDA East conducting masterclass in Rochester, NY. Â
From 2013-2019, Ryan was a choir director at Oñate High School in Las Cruces, New Mexico where tripled the choral program. A champion of new music, Fellman’s students participated in singing the world premiere of Z. Randall Stroope’s Carmina Pax at Carnegie Hall and the New Mexico premiere of Tim Takach’s The Longest Nights. Ryan earned a B.M. in vocal music education from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota where he sang in The Concordia Choir under the direction of Dr. René Clausen.