Clinics with MasterClass Faculty
American Classic is providing one-time clinics for high school varsity bands, choirs, and orchestras in select locations!
A. Jan Taylor
A. Jan Taylor, educator, pianist, singer, and choral conductor is a native of Houston, Texas. Dr. Taylor received the Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Houston, the Master of Arts degree from Prairie View A&M University, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting from the University of Houston. She served as Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Prairie View A&M University from 1996 until her retirement in 2022.
As an educator, Dr. Taylor has taught general music, piano, and trained choirs in elementary, middle, and high schools in the Houston Independent School District. She has served as adjudicator and choral clinician for numerous choral competitions, festivals, and regional choirs throughout the United States. Taylor frequently lectures on the performance practices and preservation of the Negro Spiritual.
Dr. Taylor has traveled throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia as a singer and conductor, is former Assistant conductor of the Houston Symphony Chorus, serving under Charles Hausmann, and has prepared choruses and collaborated with renowned conductors and composers. For the Houston Ebony Opera Guild, she has coached and accompanied singers, and has conducted the Guild’ Chorus in concerts of spirituals, African American choral art music, and operatic works. Dr. Taylor has conducted the ”105 Voices of History” HBCU National Choir in performances at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and in Memphis for the performance on the nationally televised MLK50 Commemoration event presented by the National Civil Rights Museum.
Under Taylor’s direction, the Prairie View A&M University Concert Chorale and PV Chamber Singers have performed throughout the United States and abroad, including performances with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, international music festivals in Poland, Germany, and in South America. Taylor holds memberships in the Texas Music Educators Association, American Choral Directors Association, National Collegiate Choral Organization (board member), and Sigma Alpha Iota Music Fraternity or Women. Taylor is a 2023 recipient of the TCDA Choral Master Award.