Decker, Harold A. (1914-2003) | University of Illinois Archives

Name: Decker, Harold A. (1914-2003)

Historical Note: Harold Decker (1914-2003) was an American choral director, conductor, speaker, and educator. After studying and working at Oberlin College after graduating Morningside College, Harold Decker was a founding member of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) in 1959, where he served as national president of the organization from 1966 to 1968. Over the course of Harold Decker's musical career, he served as the head of the Music Department at Shurtleff College from 1938 to 1944, the Choral Department at Wichita State University from 1944 to 1957, and the Director of Choral Music at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1957 to 1981. In 1960, Harold Decker established the first doctor of musical arts program for choral conducting in the United States. Decker published Choral Conducting: A Symposium (1973) and Choral Conduction: Focus on Communication (1988), which are widely used to teach conducting in college choral courses. After retiring from the University of Illinois, Decker served as Visiting Professor at California State University Fullerton, Florida State University, and the University of Iowa.