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Conducting excellence: Music Professor William Powell recognized for student-centered teaching

William Powell, professor of music and director of choral activities in the Department of Music, has received Auburn University’s highest teaching honor.

The Gerald and Emily Leischuck Endowed Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching recognizes two faculty members each year for effective and innovative teaching methods and a continued commitment to student success through advising and mentoring.

More honoring than the individual award, Powell said, were the letters of support written by his current and past students.

“It’s an honor that is more about my students and their impression of the experience they have with me,” Powell said. “Based on where they are, where they were, somehow or another, God allowed me to speak into them what they needed to hear at the moment, and it stuck with them, and therefore there was some benefit in that.”

Powell was called to teach during his undergraduate years. His educators throughout high school and college inspired him by setting a standard, guiding with expert knowledge and being passionate about making a positive impact. He knew it wasn’t a glamorous life – his own father was a teacher – but he felt the calling.

At Auburn, Powell teaches choral-related courses. Providing students the space and time to develop and gain better understanding characterize his teaching philosophy. Powell guides students through stages of discovery, inquiry and application, giving them the right tools, allowing them room to grow, make mistakes and learn how to fix them.

In his conducting course, students spend the fall developing technique, then apply it in rehearsals in the spring. The course emphasizes practice, method and application, which helps students get comfortable with seeing what it takes to get results from a group and how coordination translates from classroom to stage.

He also helps develop their leadership skills, carefully and methodically, by exposing them to real-world choirs and professionals, thus allowing them to visualize the possible futures ahead of them.

Most important, Powell said, is seeing the student as a whole person who will carry these lessons with them to their next destination.

“I do like to be engaged with the student, and I'm willing to meet them where they are to try to get them to where I want them to be,” Powell said. “I try to encourage where I see potential; and where I see less potential, I try to encourage good work habits. I want them to have that space to grow.”

Powell conducts the Chamber Choir, Men’s Chorus, Concert Choir and Gospel Choir at Auburn. In this role, he mentors students from all majors and encourages them to apply lessons from choral activities to whatever they do.

For example, students in commercial music can benefit from the ways in which the conducting experience increases leadership ability with their pop groups, and any singing career can be elongated by learning how to take care of your voice through vocal techniques.

Though it’s hard for students to see, Powell said as an educator, he knows something they don’t: the horizon is full of opportunities ready for the taking.

“They absolutely have no idea what their future is going to be. Good, bad or indifferent, your life could take a certain kind of turn, and you just don't know what is going to be happening for you down the road,” Powell said. “So, I try to convince them of the value of what they’re going to gain from what I get to teach them, and that the skills they learn can be applied to what they do.”

Powell earned a Bachelor of Music from Alabama State University, a Master of Music from Westminster Choir College and a Doctor of Philosophy in Music Education from Florida State University. Prior to Auburn, he served as Philander Smith University’s director of choral activities.

He also serves as a regular adjudicator for various choral festivals, such as Festival Disney, and holds membership with the National Association for Music Education. He has guest conducted throughout the U.S. and abroad, including in Australia, Italy, the U.K. and Eastern Europe.

His former students have gone on to be public and private school music educators, university professors, conductors, church musicians, arts administrators and professional performers.

Throughout his decades-long career, Powell said he’s learned the importance of adapting his approach to ensure each student succeeds. Some students may need more time to process all of the information and experience they gain, while others assimilate to the teaching methods more smoothly.

“Always read the room and be ready to make adjustments,” Powell said. “A lot of students are coming in with a whole lot more baggage than we used to come in with. They don't always have the tools to deal with it. We had the same sort of baggage, but culture didn't allow us to unpack it as readily as is done now. Culture is bringing certain things more to the surface, and applying more sensitivity and balance, is key.”

It’s the kind of willingness to walk with people and share their emotional burdens that defines the Auburn Family, and for the Powells, it holds special meaning.

Powell’s wife, Rosephanye, is also a professor and the coordinator of voice studies in the Department of Music. They’ve raised their own family on the Plains, and William points to her example as one who, like himself, began from modest means who is now a world-renowned composer.

Like the many high school and college educators Powell learned from, he said his wife is one of his best teachers.

“I wouldn't be the teacher that I am or the man that I am were not for her,” Powell said. “I have learned so much from her because she's a very, very competent and natural teacher and leader. If I could have an impact half the way that she does, then I feel like I'm doing okay because she has a tremendous, tremendous impact.”

Powell will receive the Gerald and Emily Leischuck Endowed Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching at the Faculty Awards ceremony on Nov. 16.

Learn more about Auburn Music at the College of Liberal Arts website.

Tags: Music Faculty