Teacher

Daniel is in his sixteenth year at Southwestern, serving as director of choral studies, teaching applied voice, applied conducting, and the choral music education sequence to performance, education, business, and music therapy majors. He also teaches the Southwestern summer choral camp for OkMEA/OkCDA preparation and other workshops during the academic year that work to further enrich and improve the audition skills needed for successful placement in the state-level honor choirs.

Raised in the strong choral tradition of west Texas music education, Daniel completed a Bachelor of Music with all-level teacher certification at Angelo State University and taught at the junior high and high school levels in San Angelo, TX, and Arlington, TX, respectively. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting with related fields of music theory and musicology from the University of North Texas.

Daniel is a regional and international scholar with focused interests in choral conducting pedagogy, score study/editing, and modern language diction, having presented at international and regional conferences on these topics. In his tenure at Southwestern, he has conducted workshops, taught classes as a visiting professor, and presented at various conferences and universities in the United States, central Europe, and southeast Asia.

Daniel’s choirs have performed as honor choirs at conferences in Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. Daniel is an active clinician, adjudicator, and conductor. In the summer of 2022, the Southwestern Chamber Choir won best chamber ensemble at the Leonardo da Vinci International Choral Festival and Competition in Florence, Italy.

Daniel’s private studio in Oklahoma City area, Farris Music Studios, regularly has high school students placing and winning their state National Association for Teachers of Singing competitions.

For more information or questions about the vocal/choral division and study in Southwestern’s Music Department, email daniel.farris@swosu.edu or daniel.king.farris@gmail.com or call 580.774.3208.