Choir directors consistently struggle with finding time to train our singers in theory, sight singing and musicianship, while still having ample time to prepare the choral repertoire. Dr. Lucas Tappan will offer practical tips on growing your choral program, engaging young singers and moving them from beginners to fully proficient singer/musicians, using the repertoire unique to your choir.

Presented by: Lucas Tappan, DMA

Lucas Tappan is Director of Liturgy and Music for Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Topeka, KS, as well as the founder and director of the Most Pure Heart of Mary Schola Cantorum, an after-school choral foundation in the tradition of the European cathedral choir school. The Schola Cantorum serves 70 children from the parish and surrounding area, serving to pass on the Church’s great musical and liturgical heritage. In 2022 he founded the Catholic Academy of Sacred Music to spread the work of the Schola Cantorum to other parishes and communities.

Dr. Tappan graduated in 2004 from Benedictine College in Atchison, KS—where he studied organ under Fr. Blaine Schultz, OSB, and Dr. Ruth Krusemark—earning degrees in Music and Theology. He earned his Master of Music in Church Music (organ performance) in 2009 from the University of Kansas and in 2014 was granted a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Church Music (choral conducting) from the same institution. His teachers included Michael Bauer (organ), James Higdon (organ), and Paul Tucker (choral conducting). In 2012, Dr. Tappan was privileged to spend six weeks observing the training of choristers at the Madeleine Choir School at the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City, Utah—an experience that has greatly shaped the way he trains choristers.