Music Faculty Biographies
Julie Megginson, D.M.A.
Dr. Julie Megginson is Associate Professor of Music and Chair of the Department of Music at GSW. She teaches Voice and directs the GSW Concert Choir and Chamber Singers. The latter group performs often for university functions, civic groups and schools, and has performed for Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter at the Carter Historical Center in Plains, GA.
Vocal students from Dr. Megginson’s studio have placed in the State National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Student Auditions and won the Regional Literary Vocal Competition. Dr. Megginson is also the choir director at Calvary Episcopal Church in Americus, GA.
Julie has sung as Soprano soloist throughout the region in opera, oratorio, choral and solo recitals, including performances with Mobile Opera singing the role of the High Priestess in Verdi’s Aida, and with OperAlbany (GA), singing Rosalinde in Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, and the Mother in Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors. With the Albany Symphony, she has sung the Soprano solo in Brahms’ German Requiem, Haydn’s The Creation Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang and the Requiem and Coronation Mass by Mozart.
Dr. Megginson received the Doctor of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance from the University of South Carolina and the Master of Arts in Vocal Performance and Bachelor of Music Education from Eastern Michigan University.
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Mark Laughlin, D.M.A.
Dr. Mark Laughlin is Assistant Professor of Music at Georgia Southwestern State University. He teaches courses in Applied Piano, Group Piano, Music Theory, Aural Skills, and Music History. He also serves as Director of the GSW Jazz Band, and Coordinator of the Community Music Program.
Dr. Laughlin holds the Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from the University of North Alabama, the Master of Music degree in piano pedagogy from the University of Memphis, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano pedagogy from the University of South Carolina-where he was the recipient of the coveted William H. Nolte Graduate Teaching Award, one of two winners in a university-wide competition, and he received the Two Thumbs Up Award for teaching and mentoring students with disabilities. Dr. Laughlin's performance and pedagogy teachers have included Gail Steward, Sam Viviano, Yukiko Whitehead (Suzuki Piano), John Valerio (Jazz piano) and Scott Price. He has also studied music theory and music theory pedagogy with Dorothy Payne and composition with Samuel Douglas.
Dr. Laughlin is the author of numerous publications and is in high
demand as a guest lecturer, performer and teacher. He has presented recitals,
master classes, workshops, and research on local, state, national, and
international levels.
Dr. Laughlin’s presentations have included topics such as improvisation
(classical and jazz), curriculum development in group piano and American
composers. His research and teaching strategies on improvisation have been
featured at the national conferences of the
National Association of Schools of
Music, The College Music
Society, and the
National
Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy.
Dr. Laughlin has presented at the International Conference of the College Music
Society in Bangkok and Ayuthaya, Thailand. He has also presented at the
Mid-Atlantic, Southern, South Central, Great Plains, Pacific Central, Northeast,
Great Lakes, and Pacific Northwest Regional Conferences of the College Music
Society, and has been the featured clinician on teacher education in
improvisation at the Alabama, Maryland, Massachusetts and South Carolina Music
Educators State Conferences.
He has written articles for Clavier and the Piano Pedagogy Forum, and his current research includes authoring two books, The Life and Music of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (University Press of Mississippi), and The History of Improvisation in Western Art Music (Ashgate Publishing, UK).
As a jazz pianist, Dr. Laughlin has performed throughout the United States, Canada, and Asia including performances in Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. He has performed with various big band, jazz and country artists including Roger Thorpe, Paul Langosh, Daniel Carwile, Lorrie Rivers, Harvey Thompson, and Charles Rose. He has also opened for such artist as Diane Reeves, Billy Taylor, Phil Woods, Charlie Byrd, Herb Ellis, Mundell Lowe, and comedian ANT. Dr. Laughlin has performed at many legendary venues including performances at the Grand Ole Opry, B.B. King's Blues Club, and Mr. Handy's Blues Hall on Beale Street, and at the Alabama and Princess Theaters. He has also worked as a studio musician, recording at the legendary Fame Studios.
Dr. Laughlin maintains an active adjudication schedule judging state and regional competitions across the United States. He also maintains active memberships in Pi Kappa Lambda, Music Educators National Conference, Music Teachers National Association, The College Music Society, and is a life member of Kappa Kappa Psi.
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Richard L. Swope
Mr. Richard Swope is a native of Pennsylvania and holds a B.S. and M. Ed. in music education from the Pennsylvania State University. He is also a graduate of the United States Navy School of Music and served as a trumpeter in the U.S. Navy Band for four years. Mr. Swope has worked as a high school band and orchestra director in both Pennsylvania and Maryland. For two years he was the assistant band director and instructor of instrumental music at Penn State. He is currently the band director and instructor of instrumental music at Georgia Southwestern State University.
While doing graduate work at Penn State, Mr. Swope had several articles published in professional music magazines and the Pennsylvania State Music Education Research Journal. When teaching in Montgomery County, Maryland, his concert bands, string orchestras and jazz ensembles consistently received superior ratings at the county and state levels festivals. Mr. Swope also served as conductor of various all-county ensembles in Montgomery County. He performed in a variety of instrumental groups while living in the Washington D.C. area that included brass ensembles, concert bands, a British style brass band that competed nationally, and an eighteen piece swing band.
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Alwen Yeung
Alwen Yeung was born in Hong Kong and came to the United States in 2000. Ms. Yeung studied piano with Gabriel Kwok, at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts under a government scholarship. She won various awards at the “Hong Kong Schools Music Festivals,” including piano solo in Faure and Schubert class, piano accompaniment for Soprano Solo, Aria and Opera college divisions. Ms. Yeung received her M.M. degree in piano pedagogy from Florida State University, where she studied with Carolyn Bridger and Leonidas Lipovetsky, and received her graduate teaching assistantship for different levels of group piano classes. She was also the staff accompanist for the Florida State University Honors Vocal Camp and as a staff accompanist in NATS since 2001. In January 2004, Ms. Yeung served as an accompanist for Opera del sol performing Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata at the Monticello Opera House.
Ms. Yeung moved to Americus with her husband Dr. Brian Parkinson (GSW History Professor) in fall 2005. She was a staff accompanist in Columbus State University Schwob School of Music before she started to teach various music classes and also served as a piano accompanist in Georgia Southwestern State University. She taught Early College Class Piano, Kids’ College Class Piano and Continuing Education Adult Class Piano through University. She is an active freelance accompanist, playing for various recitals, juries, auditions and competitions for vocalists and instrumentalists. Currently, Ms. Yeung is the pianist/organist in Americus First United Methodist Church and owns her private piano studio. Her former piano students won scholarship to London Royal School of Music, and placed in various piano competitions in Hong Kong.
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