Dr. Black’s primary research focuses on the intersections between gospel music and European choral traditions. His 2024 dissertation used the choral music of composers Isaac Cates, Dr. Diane L. White-Clayton, and Dr. Raymond Wise to demonstrate these musical intersections, provide pedagogical guidance for conductors to perform the gospel style, and included added insight from composer interviews.

• D.M.A. in Choral Conducting, University of South Carolina
• M.M. in Choral Conducting, Kent State University
• B.M. in Music Education, Ashland University

DePauw choir taught:

• Chamber Singers
• Vox Animae
• Putnam County Festival Choir

DePauw Music Topics Courses taught:

• Choral Arranging
• Black Choral Music

Other areas of specialization:

• Undergraduate choral conducting
• Choral composing
• Gospel choir

Choral Recording Projects/Albums:

• Lord, Send Your Spirit - single
• In the Spirit! An Encounter with Spirituals - album
• Walking in Purpose - album

Choral composition publishing:

• Hold On Just a Little While Longer - for Alto solo and SATB choir; traditional spiritual, arranged by Bryon Black II, with additional text by Benjamin I. Black. Published in 2024 by Hinshaw Music, Inc. in the Raymond Wise Choral Series.

• Extensive work in church music, serving in congregations of various denominations; includes six years as the Director of Music at Tallmadge Lutheran Church in Ohio
• Choral composer and arranger (self-published)
• Previous choral faculty positions at Kent State University and Benedict College 
• Guest conductor and clinician for various choral festivals and other events throughout Northeast Ohio, South Carolina, and Indiana

• Henry and Sylvia Yaschik Scholarship, awarded to a University of South Carolina graduate student in the School of Music by faculty nomination (2023)

Professional memberships:

• American Choral Directors Association
• National Collegiate Choral Organization
• College Music Society

Former service:

• Chair, Standing Committee for Diversity - Ohio Choral Directors Association (2020-2021)
• Secretary, University of South Carolina Student Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association (2022)

• November 2024: "Exploring the Intersections Between Gospel Music and European Choral Traditions" A guest lecture given for the Louisiana American Choral Directors Association Fall Vocal Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. The lecture presented an overview of selected works by gospel composers Dr. Raymond Wise, Dr. Diane L. White-Clayton and Isaac Cates.
• February 2024: "Black Choral Music: an Overview of Black Choral Artwork Throughout the 20th-21st Centuries" A guest lecture given for the Siegal Lifelong Learning Program at Case Western Reserve University. The lecture presented an overview of representative works by black choral artists, such as R. Nathaniel Dett, Undine Smith Moore, Moses Hogan, and Zanaida Robles.
• April 2023: "Stinney: A Conductor’s Eye on a Black Tragedy" A lecture given for the Luise E. Peake Music & Culture Colloquium Series at the University of South Carolina School of Music. The lecture presented Frances Pollock’s original opera Stinney: An American Execution from the perspective of a Black conductor.

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