About Us
Claflin University Music Department
The Department of Music is housed in the newly constructed University Music Center. The 1.8 million dollar structure is home to the University Bands, the University Choral Studies area, and the departmental administrative office. It also houses several teaching studios, classroom space, practice rooms, and a state-of-the-art audio/visual technology center.
Adjacent to the Music Center is the Whitaker V. Middleton Fine Arts Center. This facility contains several teaching studios, classrooms, and practice rooms. It also houses the Daniel C. Moss Auditorium, a 600-seat performance hall used for concerts, theatrical productions, recitals, and lectures.
In close proximity to the Fine Arts Center is Minister’s Hall, the University’s newly renovated Performing Arts Center and one of our most historic campus structures. It contains the 200-seat Ernest E. Finney, Jr. Auditorium, which provides an additional forum for master classes, chamber performances, faculty and student recitals, guest artists, workshops, and lectures.
Dr. Eric Crawford, Interim Music Department Chair
Email: ercrawford@claflin.edu
Phone: 803-535-5076
Biography
Eric Crawford is interim chair of the music department at Claflin University in Orangeburg, South Carolina. He holds a Ph.D. in musicology from The Catholic University of America. His research focuses on the rich tradition of Gullah music, specifically the retentions and alterations that have occurred since the antebellum period. Beginning in 2007, he conducted extensive field recordings on Saint Helena Island, site of the historic Port Royal Experiment, and his transcriptions are held at the Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. An outgrowth of this work was the Saint Helena Island Gullah Spirituals Project, which brought together noted scholars and students to preserve and foster the study of the earliest recorded Negro spirituals. In 2013, the Athenaeum Press at Coastal Carolina University published his field interviews in a CD and accompanying booklet entitled Gullah: The Voice of an Island.
His work on historic Sandy Island led to the 2017 publication At Low Tide: The Voices of Sandy Island. This booklet and interactive multi-media project highlight the rich history of Sandy Island and the need to ensure this island’s continued survival. As part of this effort, the National Park Service awarded Coastal Carolina University an African American Civil Rights grant to rebuild the island’s historic school and create an interactive cultural center. Since 2018, Crawford has worked on the Gullah Geechee Digital Project, which digitizes more than 6,900 historic records from plantation journals, musical transcriptions, and contemporary oral histories. In 2021, he appeared in Henry Louis Gates’ miniseries “The Black Church” and was music consultant for the Amazon miniseries “The Underground Railroad.” His books are Gullah Spirituals: The Sound of Freedom and Protest in the South Carolina Sea Islands (University of South Carolina Press, 2021) and Gullah Culture in America (Blair Publishing, 2023). He is currently working on a book documenting the rich history of the HBCU band tradition.
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Music Department Faculty
Dr. Laura Keith, Associate Professor of Music
Email: lkeith@claflin.edu
Phone: 803-535-5298
Biography
As an experienced public school music educator teaching first thru twelfth grades, with a distinguished record of accomplishments, Dr. Keith is very much interested in spreading her knowledge of music education to her students.
Dr. Laura J. Keith is an accomplished music educator, having taught elementary general music and as a middle and high school choral director. She currently serves as Associate Professor of Music at Claflin University, Orangeburg, South Carolina, teaching music education, piano, and honors thesis. Recently, Dr. Keith has been awarded a grant from the Humanities Council SC and has presented lecture-recital series in the spring of 2013. Prior to joining Claflin, Dr. Keith was the Choral Director at Westside High School where her students performed for the school, the community, participated in the South Carolina All-State Chorus and choral festivals in Florida, New York, New Orleans, and the Bahamas. She has served as the middle school clinician for Richland County School District One in Columbia, South Carolina, Spartanburg District Number Seven in Spartanburg, South Carolina and the Lower Region High School Choral Festival at Claflin University, Orangeburg, South Carolina. She was voted “Teacher of the Year” for Anderson School District Number Five in Anderson, South Carolina, 1980.
Several of her former students are presently music teachers on various levels. During the fall of 2001, she traveled to the People’s Republic of China as a guest lecturer and spent two weeks in Beijing teaching courses on American music at Capital Normal University. Dr. Keith received the Bachelor of Music Education degree from Howard University, Washington, DC, the Master of Music Education degree, and the Doctor of Philosophy in Music Education degree from the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina. She is a member of College Music Society and National Association for Music Education.
Dr. Eunjung Choi, Professor of Music
Email: echoi@claflin.edu
Phone: 803-535-5355
Biography
Pianist Eunjung Choi, a native of Seoul, South Korea, currently serves as Professor of Music at Claflin University in Orangeburg, South Carolina, where she administers the keyboard program as well as teaches applied piano, class piano, piano pedagogy/literature, and music appreciation courses. Most recently, Dr. Choi was selected to be one of four recipients for the FY 2023 Fellowship award from the South Carolina Arts Commission. In addition, she was awarded a 2022 SC Humanities Major Grant to present lecture-recital series to South Carolina audiences. She was also awarded a 2021 South Carolina Arts Commission Arts Project Support Grant to make her CD, titled “Celebrating Women Composers.” Other performance projects have included a 2016 South Carolina Arts Commission Quarterly Grant to make her solo CD, titled “Inside Out: A Journey,” and a Major Grant from The Humanities Council SC for the lecture-recital series, “Promoting South Carolina African-American Composers' Classical Music.” Videos from the lecture-recital series may be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKy570QZxUg.
Dr. Choi has presented numerous performances to international, national, and regional music audiences in the United States and South Korea. She has been selected to perform in many conferences, including the College Music Society’s Regional, National, and International Conferences, Boston University African-American Music in World Culture International Conference, African Diaspora Symposium, The National Association of Negro Musicians Annual Conference, and The Korean Association of Piano Pedagogy Annual Symposiums in Seoul, South Korea. She has also been invited to perform in various venues such as Georgia College & State University Concert Series, Edward Waters College Concert Series, Steinway Galleries of Greenville and Charleston, Greenville Women’s Music Club, Stevenson Auditorium Concert sponsored by the Orangeburg Music Club, Pensacola Music Teachers Association, Texas A&M University-Commerce Concert Series, Midwestern State University Concert Series, The Korea Opera Society, Gimpo City Opera Association, and The Korea Piano Society in South Korea. In addition, Dr. Choi has been appeared as a concerto soloist with the Limestone College Wind Ensemble, Claflin University Wind Ensemble, and Georgia College & State University Concert Band.
Her research presentations have included topics such as multicultural music performance and teaching strategies and curriculum development to incorporate interdisciplinary approaches in music higher education. Her articles have been published in International Journal of Humanities and Applied Social Science, Piano Magazine, American Music Teacher, the Journal of Music Education Science, published by the Korean Society of Music Educational Technology, and the Korean Association of Piano Pedagogy Press.
In addition to her active schedule as a soloist, collaborative artist, masterclass clinician, and adjudicator, Dr. Choi is very active in the South Carolina Music Teachers Association, serving as President-Elect. She is also on the board member of the Korean Association of Piano Pedagogy.
Dr. Choi holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Pedagogy from the University of South Carolina, a master's degree in Piano and Organ Performance from Ball State University, and a bachelor's degree in Piano Performance from Dongduk Women's University, Seoul, South Korea. In addition, she completed a Management Development Program at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. Her principal teachers include Charles Fugo, Scott Price, Robert Palmer, Kirby Koriath, and Myung Hye Bang.
Dr. Jeremy Robins, Assistant Professor of Music Theory
Email: jrobins@claflin.edu
Phone: 803-535-5320
Biography
Dr. Robins joined the Department of Music at Claflin University in 2018 following a year teaching at his alma mater, Stetson University, in DeLand, Florida. He earned his Masters and Ph.D. in Music Theory from Florida State University after spending six years teaching high school band in Central Florida.
Dr. Robins’s primary research area is popular music, but he also has extensive interest in form and music theory pedagogy. As a former high school teacher band director, he values the musical skill sets he imparts to his students, particularly in aural skills classes.
Ms. Julie Welch, Visiting Assistant Professor, Voice
Email: jwelch@claflin.edu
Phone: 803-535-5236
Biography
Soprano Julie Welch has performed at the regional level with the Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma where she performed the role of Mulan in the brand-new stage production of Disney’s When You Wish: A Celebration of The Disney Song Book. She also originated and premiered the role of Julia Howe in the new opera A Porcelain Doll by James Vernon. She has sung the role of Belinda from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and performed the role of Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. She recently premiered a children’s opera with FBN Productions called The Red Song Bird by Zach Redler and Marquita Lister. She has been a Concerto Aria Competition winner at Oklahoma Baptist University and was a featured performer at the Wooloroc Outdoor Concert hosted by the OK Mozart Music Festival. With several years of dance training, she has been a featured dancer in Hello, Dolly! (Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma), The Addams Family (OBU Theater), and The Music Man (OBU Theater). Welch holds a Bachelor of Music in voice performance from Oklahoma Baptist University and a Master of Music in Performance and Pedagogy from Nazareth University. She has just finished all her coursework for a doctoral degree in voice performance at the University of South Carolina and is currently researching the impact of ballet on singing performers. She regularly teaches music appreciation, lyric diction, the history of musical theatre, and incorporates innovative vocal pedagogy strategies in her voice studio encouraging movement, breath energy, honesty, and enjoyable learning experiences.
Mrs. Christine Powell-Thomas, Adjunct Vocal Instructor
Email: cpowellthomas@claflin.edu
Biography
Christine Powell-Thomas, a Jamaican Mezzo-Soprano, initiated her musical journey at age 4, excelling in piano and violin alongside her academic pursuits. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biotechnology and Management Studies from the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, where she actively engaged with renowned performing arts companies, including Father Ho lung and Friends, the Nexus Performing Arts Company, and The University of the West Indies Singers (UWI Singers). Christine's multifaceted talent encompassed singing, acting, and dancing, and she showcased her skills in various productions across Jamaica and the U.S.A.
During her university years, Christine also exhibited her sporting prowess in Netball and Basketball, representing her high school and club teams. She secured Five Passing Certificates in Piano Performance from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) between 2002 and 2007 and earned recognition from the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission for her accomplishments as a Violinist and Actress from 2010 to 2012.
While pursuing a scientific degree, Christine's passion for music and performance deepened, compelling her to contemplate a career change. Encouraged by her parents, she persevered, completing her studies while working in the BPO industry. Following her graduation from UWI, she received a scholarship to embark on her dream of Vocal Performance at Alcorn State University under the tutelage of Dr. Byron Johnson.
At Alcorn, Christine contributed as an assistant stage manager for "Motown Musical" and participated in various musical events, including the Natchez Musical Arts League and the Black History Month Music Festival. She delivered solo recitals at Nichols State University, Louisiana, and performed excerpts from Handel's Messiah with her school choir in 2019. Christine also presented successful junior and senior recitals in 2019 and 2021, respectively, and served as the choir section leader at the First Presbyterian Church in Natchez. Her academic excellence was acknowledged through her status as a Presidential Scholar each semester and her recognition as the most outstanding graduating senior in the Fine Arts department. Christine Powell-Thomas was selected to perform the national anthem the year before she graduated and the year of her graduation at Alcorn State University. Her rendition was exceptional, and she represented her school well.
Christine actively engaged in vocal competitions, including the Classical Music Singer Vocal Competition (2019 & 2020) as a Semifinalist and the National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition (NATS), where she achieved 1st place in 2020 and 2021. In July 2020, she entered marital bliss with her beloved.
Continuing her educational journey, Christine earned a Masters in Vocal Performance at the University of Mississippi in 2023, studying under the guidance of Dr. Bradley Robinson and coaching of Professor Amanda Johnston. Her notable achievements during this period included performances at various events, serving as the music ambassador for 'Dawn of the Arts,' and collaborating with concert pianist Bruce Levingston. Christine portrayed the roles of Grace in UM Opera Theatre's world premiere of Linda Lister's opera State of Grace and Ruggiero in Handel's Alcina.
Christine presented a successful Masters recital in 2023 and served as the choir section leader at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Oxford. She was selected to perform the national anthem at her graduation ceremony, where she aptly represented her graduating class with distinction. Her rendition of the national anthem showcased her exceptional musical talent and added a memorable and dignified touch to the graduation proceedings, leaving a lasting impression on all in attendance. Christine's commitment to excellence and her ability to shine in such important moments underscore her dedication to both her academic and artistic pursuits.
Christine is currently pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A.) in Vocal Performance at the University of South Carolina, under the guidance of Professor Rachel Calloway. She serves as a Carolina Music School Instructor, was a former writing coach with SPARK Music Leadership, and now teaches Music Appreciation at USC as a Graduate Teacher. Christine is also an Adjunct Instructor of Voice at Benedict College and Claflin University. A finalist in the 2023-2024 USC Music Concerto Aria Competition, Christine was featured in the Vocal Arts Honors Recital twice. In 2024, she played Taller Daughter in USC Opera Theatre's production of Proving Up by Missy Mazzoli. In the Spring (2025) Christine will play the roles of Guccio in Gianni Schicchi by Puccini and Madam Kirsten in Dan Shore’s The Beautiful Bridegroom. With several exciting performances on the horizon, Christine continues to create captivating musical experiences.
Dr. Almond S. Ponge, Visiting Instructor/Staff Accompanist
Email: aponge@claflin.edu
Phone: 803-535-5564
Biography
Pianist Almond Ponge is a dedicated artist committed to expanding the reach of classical music and to explore the unknown. A native of the Philippines, he is passionate about showcasing underrepresented works and lesser-known composers, integrating them into his performances since 2015. His recent repertoire includes works by Carl Vine, Nikolai Medtner, Nikolai Kapustin, Miłosz Magin, Antonio Molina, William Albright, Alfredo Buenaventura, Lucrecia Kasilag, Ramon Santos, and Antonino Buenaventura.
An accomplished performer, Almond has earned top prizes in numerous international competitions. He was awarded the grand prize at the Adria Art Fest (2021) and the Royal Sound Music Competition (2021). He also secured first prizes at the Tiziano Rossetti International Music Competition (2022), the Lams Matera Award (2021), the Danubia Talents International Competition, and the Canadian International Music Competition, among others. Almond has performed extensively across the United States, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Serbia, and the Philippines. He made his orchestral debut with the Manila Symphony Orchestra in 2013 and has since participated in prestigious events such as the Southeastern Piano Festival, UST Sampung Mga Daliri, and Piano Teacher’s Guild of the Philippines (PTGP) programs, including Forte@40 and Paco Park Presents. Recently, he was a winner of the 2023-2024 USC Concerto-Aria Competition, performing with the University of South Carolina Symphony Orchestra in March 2024.
Almond’s artistic development has been enriched by masterclasses with celebrated pedagogues and performers, including Anton Nel, Carol Leone, John O’Conor, Walter Hautzig, Pascal Rogé, Dorian Leljak, and Sofya Gulyak, among others.
He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance with a double minor in Piano Pedagogy and Music Theory from the University of South Carolina. His academic journey also includes a Master of Music in Piano Performance from Winthrop University and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines. Almond’s primary mentors include Marina Lomazov, Phillip Bush, Charles Fugo, and Matthew Manwarren, with additional guidance from Eugene Barban, Perla Suaco, and Patricia Lim.
Apart from his position at Claflin University, Almond serves as the Director of Music at Columbia United Methodist Church in Columbia, South Carolina.
Ms. Courtney M. Henderson, Administrative Assistant to the Music Department
Email: cohenderson@claflin.edu
Phone: 803-535-5679
Fax: 803-535-5735
Biography
Courtney Henderson is a graduate of Johnson C. Smith University and a dedicated member of Tau Beta Sigma National Honorary Band Sorority. As the Media Director for GNONA (Gullah Nation of North America), she leverages her expertise in communication and digital media to amplify the organization’s mission and impact. A passionate advocate for women entrepreneurs, Courtney actively supports initiatives that empower women in business. She is also a steadfast proponent for the advancement of music programs, championing their importance in education and community development.