James David Feiszli

Professor of Humanities and Director of Music Activities, Dr. Feiszli hails from Sandusky, Ohio and began his professional music career as a tuba player in a Dixieland jazz group at a local amusement park.  He earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Mount Union College, studying with Bruce Browne, Carl Kandel, and Lewis Phelps and taught public school music for six years - elementary band, junior high general music, and high school band and choir.

While earning a Master of Music degree in Music History and Literature at the University of Akron, he began to focus on choral music under the tutelage of Frank Jacobs, also studying voice with Clifford Billions and musicology with John MacDonald. He earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Arizona State University, working with Douglas McEwen, David Stocker, and George Umberson in choral music and with Robert D. Reynolds in musicology.  His dissertation Performance Editions from Heinrich Isaac's Choralis Constantinus detailed a method for transcribing and editing early renaissance motets into modern notation and was nominated for the Julius Herford dissertation award of the American Choral Directors Association.

He created the SDSMT music program - adding courses, ensembles, and staff.  He was also the first chair of the Department of Humanities, supervising over twenty faculty members in Art, Communications, Drama, English, Foreign Language, Philosophy, and Music. That experience gave him an interest in organizational management and led into work as a consultant in communications and management training.

In 1993 Feiszli and Walter Collins - former president of the American Choral Directors Association and the International Federation for Choral Music - founded Choralist, an email exchange forum for choral musicians.  That effort developed into ChoralNet, a non-profit organization funded by the major choral associations of the world and dedicated to providing online networking and resources for the global choral world. Feiszli serves as president of the ChoralNet board of directors.

Professional and personal interests

Heinrich Isaac's Choralis Constantinus

2008 marked the Quincentennial of the commissioning of the this important anthology of Renaissance motets composed for the Konstanz Münster. Feiszli was on sabbatical leave in the spring of 2008 presenting lectures and performances at the North Central Division convention of the American Choral Directors Association convention (March) and the University of Zurich (June). He lived in Konstanz from April through June preparing scores, rehearsing, performing, and writing articles as part of the 500th anniversary celebrations. His work in early music has led into related areas such as musicology and Gregorian chant performance practice, including a stint in England in 1993 singing chant at Pershore Abbey with the Schola Gregoriana Cambridge and studying with one of the foremost authorities in this field - Dr. Mary Berry, professor emeritus of Cambridge University.

Discantus part of Christmas motet Puer natus from original 1550 print
First page of Puer natus, Musikhaus Publications
Cover of Alleluia. Veni Domine, Broude Brothers, Ltd
First page of Ecce sacerdos, Randall M. Egan, Publisher
First page of Judica me Deus, Broude Brothers, Ltd.

 
ChoralNet - In 1993, as one of the few choral directors in the country with Internet access and because South Dakota is so isolated from major cultural centers, Feiszli co-founded an e-mail distribution list for choral musicians. That list grew into the major portal on the Internet for choral music, sponsored by major choral associations of the world.  ChoralNet is incorporated as a non-profit entity under South Dakota law  and he serves as president of the Board of Directors.

 

Webmaster, SDACDA - Feiszli served three years as President of the South Dakota American Choral Directors Association, serving on the Board for eight years, and remains active as the SDACDA webmaster.

 music studio.
Established because of a need for quality private vocal instruction in the Black Hills, Musikhaus is jointly operated by Dr. Feiszli and his wife Michelle, who is the primary instructor.  There are about 50 private students ranging in age from 11 to 55 studying voice and piano.  Three of the past five first-place winner of the Black Hills area Young Vocal Artists Competition have come from Musikhaus.  Students from MusikHaus have won awards in other competitions and earned music scholarships to Augustana College, Black Hills State University, Gonzaga University, University of Missouri-KC, SDSMT, South Dakota State University, and the University of Wyoming.

Dakota Voices is an ad hoc recording and performing vocal ensemble specializing in one-on-a-part ensemble music. Selected by Feiszli from professional and semi-professional singers in the Black Hills region, the ensemble is assembled specifically as the occasion presents itself. Dakota Voices has appeared in public schools, in professional recitals, in concert with the Black Hills Chamber Orchestra, at state and regional conventions of the American Choral Directors Association, and professionally in international venues.

Family
 Michelle is the premier soprano in western South Dakota and a major voice teacher in the Black Hills area. Jackson is a fifteen-year-old who sings in the high school and church choir (and also SD Junior Honors Choirs for four years, and in the SD All-State this year as a sophomore), plays piano, and holds a black belt in Tae-Kwan-Do. Rachel is a eleven-year-old version of her mother, displaying musical abilities that scare both of us with her singing, piano, and cello.  She dreams of becoming a prima ballerina but likes gymnastics also.  Connor, the pound puppy, is a gigantic Lab/Greyhound cross who spends his time mediating between Stuart, the old cat and Dusty, the newest arrival to the household. Many more photos of the family can be seen on the Europe photo album.