203 FACULTY & STAFF REPEATS HISTORY ITSELF Dr. Susan Shirel becomes the second female director of Harding Chorus and Chamber Singers in the University’s history. Senior Camille Overman, who studied voice with Shirel and was completing her student teaching in music education, said watching Shirel step into this role was inspiring for her. “One thing I really learned from her is even though as a woman, at times it may be more challenging to get some of the things that you want, if you are assertive and aggressive enough and have the talent to back up your claims and fight for yourself, you can get what you want,” Overman said. One of the biggest things Shirel took away from this experience was that sometimes others saw strengths that people may not have immediately seen in themselves. “Sometimes we have blind spots where other people can already see us in roles that we don’t necessarily have the ability to see us doing,” Shirel said. “For me, doing this felt like a real stretch. But since I’ve been doing it … there’s a joy and an energy that has come into what I’m doing. That is, I think, what people were seeing that I couldn’t see. Recognizing that about yourself and about other people is good, but it’s also really humbling.” Written by: Morgan Wrigley LIFT YOUR VOICE Dr. Susan Shirel leads singing. Though her degree was not in choral conducting, she led the group with poise. Photo courtesy of: Jeff Montgomery Florence Henry Changes in the music department in fall 2022 resulted in big adjustments for students and faculty alike as they stepped into new roles. Dr. Susan Shirel, director of Harding Chorus and Chamber Singers, never imagined she would be in this role. In spring 2020, after Dr. Cliff Ganus retired, Shirel and former Chorus and Chamber Singers director Kelly Neill decided how to move forward with the choral program. At that time, Neill planned to step out of teaching to go into full-time ministry, but they did not know when that would be. “Whenever we were having those conversations, we were talking about our skill sets and the whole situation,” Shirel said. “I could not envision myself being the director of Chorus, in part because I’m female, and in part because my advanced degrees, my master’s degree and my doctorate, are not in choral conducting.” But when Neill left teaching after the spring 2022 semester, Shirel’s experience made it clear that she was the best person to step into the role. Shirel was the second woman to direct the Chorus. The first was Florence Fletcher Jewell Powell Henry in 1945. Henry stepped into the role of Chorus director when the previous male director left teaching, just as Shirel did nearly 80 years later. Shirel said a friend recently asked her if she was living her dream. “My response to her was, ‘No, not really. I feel like I’m living somebody else’s life,’” Shirel said. “Because, in part, I was never given permission to dream that I would be able to be the director of Chorus because of my gender, because of being female. It’s exciting. It’s daunting. It’s humbling. It’s an experience where I’m acutely aware of the areas that I need to grow.” Shirel said her students were generous in allowing her space to grow into the new role, and the students recognized Shirel’s gifts in leadership and connection. “I knew from taking one-on-one lessons with her that she is really good at understanding the people that she is teaching,” Chorus president Keller Montgomery said. “She can kind of get on their level and speak to them in a way that makes sense to them. Being in an ensemble with her lets me see that she can do that, not just one-on-one with somebody, but with a whole group.”
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