Fun Facts

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 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. 

What is your go-to song? 
"I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor

What is your go-to snack?
Chocolate. Chocolate ice cream. Chocolate chip cookies. Chocolate coffee. You get the picture. 

What are your hobbies? 
Traveling, drinking coffee, listening to audiobooks, taking photographs, and writing songs and poetry. 

Areas of Expertise

Courses taught

• Applied Voice
• Vocal Literature
• OBU Connections: Becoming the Beatles
• Vocal Diction 2: German and French
• Ouachita Sounds (Show Choir)
• From Sight to Sound: The Journey Stories Take Becoming Musicals and Operas (Honors Seminar)
• Revolutions and Revelations: 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 (Southern Region Assistant Auditions Chair
• Sigma Alpha Iota (Epsilon Delta Faculty Advisor and Treasurer)
• Musical Theatre Educators’ Alliance College Music Society
• The Voice Foundation
• National Opera Association
• Arkadelphia Philharmonic Club
• The New York Singing Teachers' Association
• Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society

Artist Bio

Faculty Recitals 

• Caffeinated: My Senior BMMT Recital (2019)
  • Based on the Bachelor of Music in Musical Theatre senior recital
  • Classical songs and arias, vocal chamber music, musical theatre songs and duets, a song and tap dance number, and a scene by Shakespeare
• Everything Changes: A Motherhood Cabaret (2017)
  • Autobiographical musical theatre cabaret about motherhood
  • OBU professor John Alec Briggs served as pianist and music director
  • Co-written and directed by Broadway veteran Kelli Barrett (Liza Minelli – Fosse/Verdon)
  • Presented at the 2018 National Association of Teachers of Singing National Conference (Las Vegas, NV), OBU (2017 & 2018), Arkansas Tech University (2017), and Blue Mountain College (2017).

Operatic Performances

• Gems of French Opera/Opera in Concert
• Mary, the Mother of Jesus/Rendezvous with Destiny (World Premiere) 
• Mabel/Pirates of Penzance
• Laurie/The Tender Land
• Sandrina/La Finta Giardiniera
• Little Red Riding Hood/Little Red Riding Hood
• Polly/Polly Patchwork/IU Opera Educational Tour
• Worldly Spirit/The Obligation of the First Commandment
• 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
•  Indiana University Opera Theater
  • Suor Angelica, La bohème

Oratorio Solos

• Handel’s Messiah
• Mendelssohn’s Elijah
• Fauré’s Requiem
• Haydn’s Creation
• Brahms’ German Requiem
• Bach’s Magnificat
• Vivaldi’s Gloria
• Vaughan Williams’ Pilgrim’s Progress

Orchestral Solos/Chamber Work

• Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate
• Glière’s Concerto for Coloratura Soprano and Orchestra
• Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre

Theatre/Musical Theatre

• It’s a Wonderful Life/Hot Springs Bathhouse Dinner Theatre
• Matilda/The Studio Theatre
• A Little Night Music/Bloomington Music Works
• My Fair Lady/Davidson Community Players
• The Butterfingers Angel/Davidson Community Players
• Play It Again, Sam/Davidson Community Players

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