Nathan Payant

Contact Information

Phone: (970) 491-2346

Email: Nathan.Payant@colostate.edu

Office: UCA 303B

Role: Faculty

Position: Instructor of Music; Administrative Coordinator of Music Education; Director of Concert Choir

Biography

Dr. Nathan Payant is a devoted conductor, educator, and professional singer who strives to cultivate long-lasting connections with others through the choral arts. He has choral teaching and conducting experience at the middle school, high school, college, community, and professional levels. Nathan is an Instructor of Music at Colorado State University, where he directs the Concert Choir, teaches Conducting, Voice Skills for Music Therapists, Foundations of Music Education, and Music Appreciation. He is also the Director of Music and Arts at First United Methodist Church in Fort Collins.

A dedicated advocate for choral music education, Nathan is involved in NAfME, CMEA, ACDA, and CoACDA, placing special emphasis on encouraging lifelong singing. He is frequently invited to present lectures and reading sessions at state conferences, as well as visit and clinic at local high schools throughout the Front Range in Colorado. He has served on the Colorado All-State Choir Board, the Vocal Music Council of CMEA, and the Colorado ACDA Council as the Women’s Choir R&R Chair. He fully believes in promoting standards of the choral repertoire, as well as discovering and supporting newly composed works.

Nathan is a very active member of the professional choral community in Colorado. Currently, he is the artistic director of the Fort Collins community choir, Laudamus Chamber Chorale, as well as the Chorus Personnel Manager and singer in Colorado Bach Ensemble. He also has a passion for composing/arranging and has several choral arrangements published through Hal Leonard Publishing.

A native of South Dakota, Nathan is a proud alumnus of Northern State University in Aberdeen, SD, where he earned a Bachelor of Music Education. He received his Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Colorado State University and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting and Literature from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Outside of his professional responsibilities, Nathan enjoys traveling and spending time with his beautiful wife, Natalie, and three daughters, Faythe, Ava, and Lilian.

Education

Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A)- Choral Conducting and Literature, University of Colorado, Boulder ; Master of Music (M.M.) - Choral Conducting, Colorado State University; Bachelor of Music (B.M.) - Music Education, Northern State University in Aberdeen

Courses

MU 305 Concert Choir

Fall and spring semesters

MU 100 Music Appreciation

Fall semester

MU 510 Online Intro to Music Ed

Spring semester

EDUC 493 Student Teaching Seminar

Spring semester