Ep. 78 - Optimizing Choral Administration with a Booster Club - Cathy Britton

Choir Fam Podcast

"I didn’t want to do any middle level teaching because of behavior, but I ended up teaching eight years at Patrick Henry Junior High. I loved every moment of it. I learned that if the kids loved and trusted you, they would do anything for you. It was just so much fun to take what they were willing to give and do some good work with them. It all translated into how they behaved in choir."
Cathleen Britton has been making music her entire life. She grew up in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and then studied music at The University of South Dakota, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Master’s Degree in Music Education. Britton has spent her career largely in Sioux Falls directing middle and high school vocal music programs. Her concert choirs have been selected repeatedly to perform at regional conventions, college music festivals and even at Carnegie Hall. Show choirs directed by Britton have received top awards at competitions in a multi‐state area. Outside school, Britton directed the Asbury Methodist Adult Choir for 15 years and was vocal conductor at the Augustana Summer Music Camp. She has served as Clinician and Festival Conductor at numerous conventions and competitions throughout the state and region. She traveled to Muscat, Oman as a festival conductor for the TAISM Festival of Choirs.
Britton has fostered the growth of vocal music programs through her work in the American Choral Directors’ Association where she has served as Repertory and Standards Chairperson for Vocal Jazz and Show Choir, Publicity Chair, and Convention Clinician for the North Central Division of the ACDA. She also held the office of State President of the South Dakota Chapter of ACDA. In 1996, Britton received the Encore Award for excellence and achievement in choral music and in 2008 was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award by her peers in the American Choral Directors’ Association‐South Dakota Chapter. Britton was honored as the South Dakota recipient of the National Federation of High Schools 2011 Outstanding Music Educator Award. She was their North Central regional recipient for the same award in 2017, and in 2020, she received a national citation from NFHS.

To get in touch with Cathy, you can find her on Facebook (@cathy.clark.britton) or Instagram (@catbritton).
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Photo in episode artwork by Trace Hudson