About
Dr. Maggie Garrett has taught at Ouachita since 2008. She teaches Studio Voice and Vocal Literature
regularly and has also taught Vocal Diction II: German and French, The Ouachita Sounds
(show choir), Sight to Stage: The Journey Stories Take Becoming Operas and Musicals
(Honors Seminar), and OBU Connections: Becoming the Beatles. In spring of 2021, she
and Dr. Barbara Pemberton will co-teach an Honors Seminar about the Beatles and Religion.
Her previous positions have been at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville,
Ky.; Boyce College, Louisville, Ky.; and Lindsey-Wilson College, Campbellsville, Ky.
Her vocal teachers have included Arnold Rawls, Heather and Edward Crafts, Patricia
Stiles, Mary Ann Hart, George Shirley (Aspen Music Festival), Carla Lefevre, Marilyn
Taylor, and Marjorie Halbert. She has had the privilege of working in seminars and
master classes with Sheri Sanders (Rock the Audition), Edrie Means Weekly (CCM Vocal
Pedagogy Institute), Robert Edwin (Bach to Rock), Jeannette LoVetri (Somatic VoiceWorks),
Richard Miller (Vocal Pedagogy Workshop at IU), Julianne Baird (Early Music Institute
at Eastman), and Dawn Upshaw (2008 NATS National Convention).
Dr. Garrett loves to travel, drink coffee and write songs and poetry. She relaxes
by listening to audiobooks and coloring. Her son enjoys video games and acting, having
been in plays and musicals in central Arkansas, some of which they have performed
in together. Keeping it in the family, her husband, a web developer, helps on the
technical side.
Full CV
Fun Facts
What do you like most about your field?
What I love most about teaching is helping others find freedom in a form of self-expression.
What is a favorite moment of working with students at Ouachita?
Any time a student has an “ah-ha!” moment and grasps a concept that they then apply
to their singing, resulting in a vocal, physical, or mental “breakthrough.”
What is your go-to song?
"I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor
What is your go-to artist?
The Beatles, U2, The Indigo Girls, Amy Grant, Dawn Upshaw, Mozart, Debussy, and Broadway
soundtracks.
What is your go-to book?
The "Harry Potter" series by J. K. Rowling.
What is your go-to snack?
Chocolate. Chocolate ice cream. Chocolate chip cookies. Chocolate coffee. You get
the picture.
What is your go-to movie?
"Star Wars." All of them.
If you were anything other than a professor/staff position, what would you be and
why?
If I were anything other than a music professor, I would be a Disney travel agent
so I could get discounts to Disney attractions.
What is your favorite place on campus and why?
When I have a little spare time, I love to take walks along the Ouachita River by
the Speer Pavilion. It is so serene.
Areas of Expertise
Courses taught
- Applied Voice
- Vocal Literature
- OBU Connections: Becoming the Beatles
- Previous courses: Ouachita Sounds, Vocal Diction 2: German and French, From Sight
to Sound: The Journey stories Take Becoming Musicals and Operas (Honors Seminar);
Upcoming: The Beatles and Religion (Honors Seminar)
Representative Publications/Presentations
- “Operatic Influences on the Hymn Tunes Used by John and Charles Wesley”, Amazing Love! How Can It Be: Studies on Hymns by Charles Wesley, ed. Chris Fenner
and Brian G. Najapfour, Biblical Spirituality Press, 2020.
- Everything Changes: A Cabaret. Presented with John Alec Briggs at the National Association
of teachers National Convention, Las Vegas, NV, 2018.
- Dissertation: A Director’s Guide to staging the Song Cycle, Songs of Fields and Prairies,
by Jocelyn Hagen, 2008.
Involvement
- National Association of Teachers of Singing (Arkansas Auditions Chair)
- National Opera Association
- Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society
- Sigma Alpha Iota (Epsilon Delta Faculty Advisor and Treasurer)
- College Music Society
- Classical Singer
- The New York Singing Teachers' Association
- Arkadelphia Philharmonic Club
- Musical Theatre Educators’ Alliance
Artist Bio
In September of 2019, Dr. Garrett performed Caffeinated; a recital based on the Bachelor
of Music in Musical Theatre senior recital. It included classical songs and arias,
vocal chamber music, musical theatre songs and duets, a song and tap dance number,
and a scene by Shakespeare. In 2016, she co-wrote and performed an autobiographical
musical theatre cabaret about motherhood, Everything Changes, with OBU professor John
Alec Briggs serving as pianist and music director. The show was co-written and directed
by Broadway veteran Kelli Barrett (Liza Minelli – Fosse/Verdon) and has been presented
at the 2018 National Association of Teachers of Singing National Conference (Las Vegas,
NV), OBU (twice), Arkansas Tech University, and Blue Mountain College.
She was a featured artist in a program entitled, Gems of French Opera, presented by
Opera in Concert in Dallas, Texas, in 2014. Other opera credits include the title
role in Little Red Riding Hood, Mabel in Pirates of Penzance, Sandrina in La Finta
Giardiniera, Laurie in The Tender Land, Emmie in Albert Herring, Worldly Spirit in
The Obligation of the First Commandment, and Mary, the Mother of Jesus, in Rendezvous
with Destiny (World Premiere). She has also performed with the Kentucky Opera (Dialogues
des Carmélites, Les pêcheurs de perles, Madama Buttlerfly, La bohème), Piedmont Opera
(Cavaliere Rusticana/I Pagliacci, Il Trovatore, Don Giovanni, L’elisir d’amore), Opera
Carolina (La bohème), and the Indiana University Opera Theater (Suor Angelica, La
bohème) and IU Opera Educational Tour (Polly in Polly Patchwork).
She has performed as an oratorio soloist in Handel’s Messiah, Mendelssohn’s Elijah,
Fauré’s Requiem, Haydn’s Creation, Brahms’ German Requiem, Bach’s Magnificat, Vivaldi’s
Gloria, and Vaughan Williams’ Pilgrim’s Progress. As an orchestral soloist, she has
performed Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate, Glière’s Concerto for Coloratura Soprano and
Orchestra, and Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre.
Her theater credits include It’s a Wonderful Life, Matilda, My Fair Lady, A Little
Night Music, The Butterfingers Angel, The Most Happy Fella, Once Upon a Mattress,
Play It Again, Sam, Jonah and the German Whale, and Grease.
DR. GARRETT PLAYLIST
STUDENT PLAYLIST
SELECTED ACHIEVEMENTS BY DR. GARRETT’S STUDENTS
Professional Performances
- Million Dollar Quartet National Tour
- Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios (Orlando, FL)
- Jedi Training Program (Nedriss)
- Indiana Jones Stunt Show (Marian)
- The Great American Movie Ride
- Sight & Sound Theatre (Lancaster, PA)
- Prima Theatre (Lancaster, PA)
- Arkansas Children’s Theatre (Little Rock, AR)
- Wayside Theater (VA)
- TEXAS Outdoor Musical (Canyon, TX)
- Horn in the West (Boone, NC)
- Missoula Children’s Theatre (Missoula, MT)
- Trumpet in the Land (New Philadelphia, OH)
- Six Flags over Texas (Dallas, TX)
- Silver Dollar City (Branson, MO)
- Murry’s Dinner Playhouse (Little Rock, AR)
Summer Programs
- Musica nellle marche opera in Italy program
- Opera in Italy
- OBU’s NYC Professional Intensive for Musical Theatre
- Broadway Artist Alliance Workshops
- University of Miami Salzburg Program
Awards
- Arkansas District Metropolitan Opera Encouragement Award Winner Winner
- Trinity Presents Collegiate Performance Showcase (2013)
- Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Musical Theater Initiative (KCFTCF)
Music Theatre Winner
Graduate Program Acceptances
- University of Arkansas
- University of Alabama
- North Texas University
- New York University
- Indiana University-Bloomington