Music's Jeffrey Murdock Is Finalist for 2021 Grammy Education Music Award

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Jeffrey Allen Murdock

The University of Arkansas' Department of Music is pleased to announce that Jeffrey Allen Murdock, associate professor of music education, has been announced as one of only 10 finalists nationwide for the 2021 Grammy Music Educator Award.

The Grammy Music Educator Award, presented by the Recording Academy and Grammy Museum, recognizes current educators who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the field of music education and who demonstrate a commitment to the broader cause of maintaining music education in the schools.

Each year, one recipient is selected from 10 finalists and recognized for their remarkable impact on students' lives. They will receive a $10,000 honorarium and matching grant for their school's music program. The nine additional finalists will receive a $1,000 honorarium and matching grants. The remaining 15 semifinalists will receive a $500 honorarium with matching school grants. 

"This is absolutely surreal," Murdock said. "There are so many deserving music educators in this country who are in the trenches doing this work. I'm honored to have been chosen from among them."

Murdock is internationally known as a conductor, clinician, and adjudicator. He currently serves as associate director of choral activities and associate professor of music education at the U of A, where he conducts the Inspirational Chorale, the Men's Chorus, and teaches courses within the choral music education curriculum. He is a 2016 Connor Endowed Faculty Fellow in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

His research interests include cultural hegemony in choral music education, social justice in music education, culturally responsive pedagogy in music education, and music in urban schools. Murdock holds both a Bachelor of Music Education and a Master of Music in Conducting degree from the University of Southern Mississippi and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Music Education from the University of Memphis.

The Music Educator Award recipient will be announced during Grammy Week in January 2021. The 63rd annual Grammy Awards ceremony will take place Jan. 31, 2021.

For more information, please visit www.grammymusicteacher.com.