Location

Berea, KY, U.S.A.

Specialisms

African American Music: Gospel, Spirituals, Freedom, Civil Rights; and
Womans Suffrage Songs

Additional information

Dr. Kathy Bullock is an educator, scholar, singer, accompanist, arranger and choral conductor who specializes in gospel music, spirituals and classical works by composers from the African diaspora.  A Professor Emerita of Music from Berea College, Berea, Kentucky, Dr. B. currently teaches, performs, and conducts workshops and other programs on African American music and music of the Women’s Suffrage Movement, throughout the United States, Europe, and Africa.

Dr. Bullock earned a Ph.D. and M.A. in Music Theory from Washington University in St. Louis, MO, and a B.A. in Music from Brandeis University, MA.  At Berea College she taught Music Theory, African-American Music, World Music, and other courses in music and general studies. She also directed Berea’s Black Music Ensemble, a choral ensemble that specializes in African American sacred music, developing a small student-run ensemble into an accredited, diverse, and exciting course that averaged seventy students each semester.  Additionally, Dr. Bullock designed and led new international study courses in Ghana, Zimbabwe, and Jamaica. Although she has now retired from fulltime teaching, Dr. Bullock recently served as Visiting Professor at Bennington College, Bennington, Vermont and as an adjunct Professor, at the University of Kentucky, School of Music.

Dr. Bullock’s presentations include workshops on spirituals and gospel music and explorations of musical connections between African American culture and West African and Appalachian cultures. Other research areas include the Music of the Civil Rights Movement and African American Women’s Contributions to the Women Suffrage Movement. Other research projects include the completion of an edition of art songs by contemporary African-American composers.

Being a consultant to and participant in the planning and implementation of the BLM Composers project through NVN has been an honor and privilege and she looks forward to the next stages in that exciting journey.  Indeed in all of her work, Dr. Bullock shares infectious joy and inspires heartfelt connections as she celebrates the transcending power of love and spirit through music.