With a new year, many new faculty members are joining the Southwestern community, shaping our classes, clubs, and campus with new expertise and ideas. This year, students at the Sarofim School of Fine Arts welcomed in a new visiting assistant professor. To get to know the new direction in our university’s choir, The Megaphone visited the Fine Arts building to sit down with the new Director of Choral Activities.
Daniel Arredondo II, or “Dr. A”, as his students call him, is currently the director of the two vocal ensembles at SU, Southwestern University Singers and Chorale. He will also teach two more classes in the Spring: “Intro to Music” and “Conducting”. He’s previously taught choir at many levels, including elementary and secondary, as well as at the university level in Texas and Ohio. Dr. Arredondo comes to us from Westminster Choir College, Texas State, and earned his Doctorate of Musical Arts at UT.
When asked about the difference in experience at a school like Southwestern when compared to his time spent at larger state schools, Dr. Arredondo mused, “I’m an Austin native, so I’ve been aware of Southwestern, but it’s not until this year that I’ve gotten to really explore campus.” He continued: “One thing that’s stuck out to me is the relationships that are fostered between the professors and the students. It’s been very welcoming. I’ve not seen it on this level at any other campus I’ve been on.”
With almost six weeks of teaching at Southwestern already in the books, Dr. Arredondo was eager to talk about the future of Choral Activities and the many events that the semester has in store.
“We’ll have our fall concert this coming Saturday [the fourth of October]. The title is ‘The Sound of Sincerity’, S.O.S., in the sense of how music can help people. We’re using music of all different traditions; we’ll be singing Japanese, Spanish, Korean, West African– there’s a lot of different cultures that we’re pulling from to start off and celebrate the year,” Dr. Arredondo said, adding that the concerts are always free and open to the public should anyone want to turn up to support the choir students’ work.
The busy schedule for choir performers won’t end there. In the holiday season, Dr. Arredondo hopes to encourage caroling at the local high schools and also on campus to promote some of Southwestern’s long-standing traditions, as well as in preparation for the winter concert and candlelight service that defines many choir students’ fall semester experiences. Dr. Arredondo even hoped to find the time and resources to do a performance in the rotunda of the Texas Capitol.
Moving on to his focus on student and teaching activities, Dr. Arredondo shared some of his teaching experience, with a focus on educating future music educators, and touched on the student leadership he’s seen at Southwestern.
“We’re starting a chapter of Texas Future Music Educators that can be done through TMEA [Texas Music Educators Association]. So, we’re starting to give the student body the resources for going on into music education. There’s still some more time and room for me to explore how I can be of help to other organizations on campus. There’s some event that I’m curious about called– SING?” Dr. Arredondo ended by reiterating his love of music, his love of people, and his strong desire to be a positive influence on campus: “I’m always open to being a resource to help.”
When asked about some of the dream projects he’s hoping for at Southwestern, Dr. Arredondo answered; “Some things that I intend to help facilitate–and are in the works already–are things that promote vocal music in the Latino community. There’s a lot of organizations for African American and Black culture around the country, but there’s not a whole lot [for Latino culture], especially vocal ensembles. I feel like there’s a niche to fill with that.”
Dr. Arredondo’s future plans for choir activity on campus demonstrated his personal philosophy on and passion for music education, including enabling Southwestern to be a place for future college students and high school choirs in statewide competitions.
“When All-State camps are hosted for [choir] ensembles, they’re hosted on different campuses, so I’d love to have something like that on campus, especially those that don’t have the financial means to go to one of those overnight camps. Finances shouldn’t be a barrier to music education.”
While getting to know the Southwestern community, Dr. Arredondo shared his insights and inspiration behind becoming a music educator, alongside his wishes to build that pathway to a lifelong love for music for others.
“I’ve always loved music. My dad was a Pentecostal minister, so I grew up with the oral tradition, and my dad was passionate about education. Here in Texas, there’s the TEMA; they have this regional competition, the top chairs all come together. The first time I was part of that, [I was in] a room of a hundred plus colleagues, all singing together. I remember that first chord, that huge sound– I told myself, ‘I want to do what that conductor is doing’.”
If anything can be said from this brief talk with Southwestern’s newest voice in our arts, it was Dr. Arredondo’s enthusiasm and resolve for education, and his drive to make this transformative power available on our campus. “The thing I think I’m most passionate about is sharing the gift of music and passing that on to the next generation. That fulfills me the most.”Be sure to check out the upcoming performance on the fourth of October and visit the Fine Arts calendar on Southwestern’s website for future events.