FLORENCE SCATTERGOOD - Lead Director & Co-Founder
Florence Scattergood is a veteran choral music educator whose teaching assignments number 11 schools in 4 districts and vary from 2A rural to 5A urban campuses and include suburban private as well as at-risk public schools. Mrs. Scattergood has been honored as District Teacher of the Year for both Irving and Waco Independent School Districts and as Regional Teacher of the Year for the 81 school districts of Region 10. Her Waco High School choirs were recognized as community builders by a variety of civic organizations and were honored with the Model of Unity Award by the Community Race Relations Coalition and by the Waco Scottish Rite with the Abner B. McCall Service Award. Although her most recent years have been spent in secondary schools, she has taught grades 1 through 12 and has served for many years as a cooperating teacher and field instructor of choral music education on the collegiate level, supervising over 30 student teachers for 5 universities. In 2009, Mrs. Scattergood was the first recipient of the Baylor University Music Education Distinguished Alumni Award. Mrs. Scattergood is a native Wacoan who attended St. Alban’s Memorial School, Hillcrest Elementary, Lake Air Junior High, and graduated from Richfield High School. She earned her BM and MM degrees from Baylor University. Her memberships include ACDA, TCDA, TMEA, and Texas Music Adjudicators Association.
GISELLE VENTO - Assitant Director
Giselle Vento is the Music Specialist at Parkdale, Elementary. Ms. Vento resides in Waco, where she attended Waco High School and was part of the choral program under the direction of Florence Scattergood. She participated in numerous ensembles, musicals, and operas while obtaining her Associate’s degree from McLennan Community College and later her Bachelor's in Choral Music Education Degree at Baylor University. She currently serves with the Choristers and Mini-singers at Seventh and James Baptist Church. Ms. Vento has written for the Southwestern Musician and has been recognized for her performance to contribute to Bellas Artes in Mexico. She was selected for the first 40 under 40 program presented by Yamaha and revieved national recognition for the positive impact for her work in schools and the community. Her memberships include TMEA, TCDA, and AOSA.
LYNNE GACKLE, Ph.D. - Co-Founder & Artistic Director
Lynne Gackle currently is Professor of Ensembles and Associate Director of Choral Activities at Baylor University (Waco, TX) where she conducts the Baylor Bella Voce (Select Women’s Ensemble) and the Baylor Concert Choir. She currently serves as the Director of the Ensemble Division for the Baylor School of Music. Lynne is an active clinician, conductor and adjudicator for choral clinics, honor choirs, workshops and festivals throughout the United States and abroad. Dr. Gackle is the editor of Choral Artistry for the Singer with Walton Music and the Lynne Gackle Choral Series for Colla Voce Music, Inc. She has written several articles for the Choral Journal and contributed to the MENC publication, Music at the Middle Level: Building Strong Programs. Recognized both nationally and internationally for her research on the female adolescent voice, Lynne is the author of Finding Ophelia’s Voice, Opening Ophelia’s Heart: Nurturing the Adolescent Female Voice, published by Heritage Music Press. She was also a contributing author to the GIA publication, Conducting Women’s Choirs: Strategies for Success and a Lead Author on the McGraw-Hill/Hal Leonard text, Voices in Concert. Dr. Gackle was also awarded Baylor’s Outstanding Faculty Award in Research in 2012. In 2013, she and fellow choral conductor, Florence Scattergood co-founded the Youth Chorus of Central Texas. She is a member of ACDA, MENC, the Texas Music Educators Association, the Texas Choral Directors Association, ISME and NATS. Gackle received her BME from Louisiana State University and her MM and Ph.D. from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida.
Board of Directors:
Jane Bounds
Colby Burton
Anna Clark-Martinez
Erin Conaway
Kelly Hollingsworth
Joyce Horn
Susan Li
Jewel Lockridge
Florence Scattergood, President
Edgar Sierra
Vena Williams