Dr. Black’s primary research focuses on the intersections between gospel music and European choral traditions. His 2024 dissertation used the choral music of composers Isaac Cates, Dr. Diane L. White-Clayton, and Dr. Raymond Wise to demonstrate these musical intersections, provide pedagogical guidance for conductors to perform the gospel style, and included added insight from composer interviews.
PRINTED RESOURCES:
- An article based on this research has also been published in the Fall 2025 edition of The Choral Scholar & American Choral Review, Vol. 62, No. 2 (the online publication of the National Collegiate Choral Organization. This article is available here.
- Suggested Repertoire Lists of Published and Unpublished Gospel Works with European Choral Intersections:
- Score Samples of Choral Repertoire by Cates, White-Clayton, and Wise:
- Conductor’s Analysis Chart: Intersections of Gospel and European Choral Traditions:
VIDEO RESOURCES:
Excerpts of this research were demonstrated in his December 2023 conducting lecture recital below:
University of South Carolina Graduate Vocal Ensemble, December 2023
ADDITIONAL RESEARCH TOPICS:
Black Choral Music: An Overview of Black Choral Artists Throughout the 20th-21st Centuries
A presentation of selected Black choral artists and their ongoing contributions to the choral art
Stinney: A Conductor’s Eye on a Black Tragedy
A discussion of Dr. Black’s experiences conducting Frances Pollock’s original opera, Stinney: An American Execution based on the story of George Stinney, Jr., a 14-year-old black boy wrongfully sent to the electric chair in Alcolu, SC.
Dr. Bryon Black II 