Dodson, Keith

Dr. Keith Dodson is currently Director of Orchestral Activities and Assistant Professor of Conducting at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Additionally, he is the founding Music Director and Conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of the Smoky Valley, a professional orchestra based in Central Kansas. Dr. Dodson completed the PhD in Music Education with an emphasis in Orchestral Conducting at the Florida State University College of Music, where he concurrently completed the Specialized Study in Music Theory Pedagogy program. 

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As a conductor, Dr. Dodson was selected to participate as a conducting fellow at the Conductor’s Institute in South Carolina under the direction of Dr. Donald Portnoy. He was a conducting participant in the College Orchestra Directors Association’s Conducting Masterclass with Bruce Hangen in Boston, Massachusetts. Since the summer of 2021, Dr. Dodson has served on the orchestral conducting faculty at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Michigan.  He was a finalist for the American Prize in Collegiate Orchestral Conducting for the 2021 to 2022 academic year and was a finalist honorable mention for the American Prize in Professional Orchestral Conducting for the 2023 to 2024 academic year. In the fall of 2022, Dr. Dodson served as a guest conductor for the University Symphony Orchestra at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. His conducting teachers include Alexander Jiménez (Florida State University), Michael J. Garasi (University of Central Florida), and Joseph Kreines. As a proponent of new music, Dr. Dodson has conducted works by Michael Gordon, Jennifer Higdon, Roger Zare, Victoria Bond, James Primosch, Richard Maltz, Avner Dorman, Ash Stemke, Aaron Houston, Brian Junttila, and Eunseon Yu. Prior to his career in higher education, he held secondary instrumental positions at Space Coast Junior/Senior High School and Matanzas High School in Central Florida. 

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At Central Michigan University, Dr. Dodson serves as Music Director of the Central Michigan University Symphony Orchestra. This flagship ensemble hosts top performing undergraduate and graduate music majors, in addition to talented non-majors at CMU. A passionate educator, Dr. Dodson serves as co-director of the Michigan American String Teachers Association chapter at Central Michigan University alongside Dr. Jamie Fiste where he mentors future string music educators. He previously served on the faculty of Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas where the program grew from one to seventeen music majors over the course of four years. He is the founding music director of the Chamber Orchestra of the Smoky Valley (COSV). COSV is comprised of faculty members from Kansas State University, the University of Oregon, Oklahoma City University, the University of Kansas, and also personnel from the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, the Topeka Symphony Orchestra, and the Kansas City Symphony. As an active clinician, Dr. Dodson has conducted middle school and high school honor orchestras in Kansas, Michigan, and Missouri as well as led clinics for numerous middle school and high school bands and orchestras in Florida, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, and Texas.

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Dr. Dodson earned bachelor’s degrees in Music Performance and Music Education from the University of Central Florida, Orlando. He completed a master’s degree in Music Education from the Florida State University, Tallahassee. Dr. Dodson is an active member of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), KMEA, the College Orchestra Directors Association (CODA), the Michigan American String Teachers Association (MASTA), and Pi Kappa Lambda.