Performing Arts Department Chair and Director of Choral Activities
Dr. Jay Dougherty is an Associate Professor at Drury University and serves as the Performing Arts Department Chair, and Director of Choral Activities. Jay holds a DMA and MM in Choral Conducting from the University of Colorado Boulder, and a BM in Choral Music Education from Brigham Young University.
Jay has served as the director of various community and youth ensembles, many of which have competed and earned the high honors and awards including the City of Flags Chorus in Canton, Ohio, and the Alliance Chorus in Columbus, Ohio. While in Denver, he directed the Longs Peak Chorus, a community men’s chorus. Under his direction, they competed in a 9-state Rocky Mountain Competition, taking home the title of “Plateau II Champions” and “Most Improved Chorus.” Jay also served as the assistant director of the world-renowned, and internationally competitive, Sound of the Rockies Chorus, and as the director of the 52eighty Youth Chorus, which took first place honors under his direction in the international youth chorus competition in 2014.
Jay’s areas of research are varied and include the perception and enjoyment of tuning various tuning practices, how to help introverts succeed in the music classroom, and the ways imposter syndrome affects musicians, among others. Other professional activities include 100+ conference presentations on a variety of topics surrounding conducting skills, tuning techniques, audition procedures, silent rehearsal planning, introverts in ensembles, imposter syndrome, a cappella warm up techniques, unbiased audition procedures, and vocal production techniques, among many others.
A published arranger and composer, his recent publications include his Phoenix Cantata (MusicSpoke), Love Casts Out Fear (Melkim Publishing), and Let it Be (Barbershop Harmony Society).
Jay is in demand as a clinician, arranger, judge, coach, presenter, conductor, and adjudicator for festivals, ensembles, honor choirs, conventions, and competitions around the world. He lives in Nixa, Missouri with his wife and five daughters.
Drury University faculty member since 2024
Education
B.M., Choral Music Education, Brigham Young University
M.M., Choral Conducting, University of Colorado Boulder
D.M.A., Choral Conducting, University of Colorado Boulder
