B.M. (music education), Carson Newman College; M.M. (conducting), University of Tennessee, Knoxville; D.M.A. (music education), Arizona State University
Jeananne Nichols, Associate Professor of Music Education, was appointed to the faculty of the University of Illinois in 2011. She teaches undergraduate courses in instrumental methods and graduate courses in research, current issues in music education, and advanced wind band pedagogy.
Drawing upon narrative inquiry and other qualitative research designs, Dr. Nichols’ research highlights the lived experiences of persons whose voices may otherwise be muted in the prevailing discourses of music and music education. Her specific projects include participatory music experiences with incarcerated youth, the United States Air Force WAF Band, and the experiences of LGBT students in school music. Dr. Nichols’ work has been published in the Journal of Research in Music Education, The Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, Research Studies in Music Education, The Music Educator’s Journal, The Mountain Lake Reader, and The International Journal of Education and the Arts. She is a member of the Research Studies in Music Education editorial board and has served as guest editor for two issues of the Bulletin for the Council of Research in Music Education.
Dr. Nichols has been invited to present keynote addresses for Nacional Educación Artística in Copiapó, Chile and Kunstfag mot verden, hosted by the Center for Arts, Communication and Culture at Bergen University College in Bergen, Norway. She has presented her research throughout the United States and internationally in Canada, China, France, Greece, Norway, and the United Kingdom. In May 2016, she hosted the Fifth International Conference on Narrative Inquiry in Music Education.
Prior to her appointment at the University of Illinois, Dr. Nichols was Associate Professor of Music and Director of Instrumental Studies at Olivet College in Olivet, Michigan where she conducted the Olivet College Wind Ensemble, directed the pep band, and taught music education courses and conducting. She served as conductor of the Cereal City Concert Band from 2010-2011. A school music educator for many years, Dr. Nichols taught middle and high school band in the Tattnall County schools in Georgia and the Roane County schools in Tennessee. In 1994, she founded the Knoxville Youth Concert Band, a pioneering effort to provide instrumental music education to home schooled students in the East Tennessee region.
Dr. Nichols maintains an active schedule as guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator of bands. She is regularly invited to conduct the Illinois Summer Youth Music Junior Symphonic or Senior Concert Bands. Illinois Bands has welcomed Dr. Nichols as guest conductor of the Hindsley Concert Band and the Illinois Summer Band. Since 2010, Dr. Nichols has directed the Marshall Rotary Band in Marshall, MI for a concert as a part of their regular summer series.