Daniel M. Huff

Clinical Associate Professor Emeritus

Daniel M. Huff (Clinical Associate Professor Emeritus) did his undergraduate work at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois majoring in voice and piano. He holds Masters and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he studied choral conducting with Robert Fountain and music education with Eunice Boardman Meske and Anthony Barresi.

He was Area Head for Music Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1989 to 2021, where he conducted the UNC Glee Club (Tenors and Basses, formerly known as the UNC Men’s Glee Club), a group which toured regularly in the Midwest, East, Southeast, and Europe. He taught choral conducting and undergraduate and graduate courses in music education in the Department of Music and the School of Education and supervised student teachers in schools. In addition, over his 32-year association with Carolina, he conducted or adjudicated over 165 state, regional or national festivals and workshops involving public school students in communities from the Mid-West to the Southeast and presented over 115 choral clinics and 30 in-service sessions for public school teachers and teacher candidates in local and regional settings. In addition, he was a long-time clinician of the Brightleaf Music Festival in Durham, serving as a member of the Board of Directors for a number of years, founded and directed the first and only Carolina Show Choir, Lighter Shade of Blue, for three and half years, directed UNC’s HS Music Workshop, and founded and conducted the All-Carolina Invitational Male Choral Festival which he ran for 15 years. He received the UNC Undergraduate Teaching Award in 1999 and was inducted into the Order of the Longleaf Pines in 2021 in recognition of his contributions to music and music education in North Carolina. He remains active as a clinician, adjudicator and conductor for festivals, contests and in-services in local and regional schools.

He remains a member of the Music Educator’s National Conference, the North Carolina Music Educators’ Association where he auditioned the Middle and High School Honors Choruses for many years and the American Choral Directors Association and its NC Chapter, serving several leadership positions over the years.