Lynne Gackle

Baylor University
Professor Emeritus

Featured Session Clinician

Lynne Gackle is Professor Emeritus of Music at Baylor University where she served as the Director of Choral Activities, Chair of the Ensemble Division and held the Mary Gibbs Jones Chair of Music.  Prior to her Baylor appointment, Lynne taught at the University of South Florida, University of Mississippi, and the University of Miami (FL).  She received her education from LSU (BME) and the University of Miami (MM/PhD).  

Lynne is an active choral clinician and conductor, nationally and internationally.  She has held various positions within the American Choral Directors Association, including President, Southern Division and ACDA-Florida and served as the TCDA-VP of Collegiate/Community Choirs.  She currently serves on the Past-National President Council for the American Choral Directors Association. 
 
Gackle is the editor of Choral Artistry for the Singer (Walton Music/GIA) and the Lynne Gackle Choral Series  (Colla Voce).  Internationally recognized for her research on the female adolescent voice, Lynne is the author of Finding Ophelia’s Voice, Opening Ophelia’s Heart and is a contributing-author for other books published by GIA, Oxford, and Lead Author for Voices In Concert (Hal Leonard/McGraw Hill).   Most recently, she was a contributing author to the Oxford Handbook for Singing (Oxford, 2019) and Choral Reflections (Insights from American Choral Conductor/Teachers (Hal Leonard Publishing, 2022).  Gackle was awarded Baylor’s Outstanding Faculty Award in Research (2012) and in 2021, received the highly coveted TCDA Texas Choir Masters Award.   In 2023, she received the MacPherson Prize from the San Antonio Chamber Choir for excellence in choral conducting and choral contributions within the state of Texas most recently, she was awarded the 2023 Frost Centennial Medal for Outstanding Alumni in Music Education from the University of Miami (FL).  She holds memberships in ACDA, TMEA, and TCDA.
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She and her husband, Merlin Gackle, reside in Waco, Texas.
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Eric Wilkinson

Wando High School
Choral Director​

Featured Session Clinician

Eric Wilkinson is the director of the Wando High School Choir program in Charleston, South Carolina. Wilkinson’s choirs have consistently earned superior ratings at state and national choral festivals and have performed in Carnegie Hall, St. Peter’s Basilica and the Washington National Cathedral. His pursuit of excellence in teaching and conducting has taken him to London, Vienna, Varna, New York City, and Medomak, Maine. Wilkinson has served on the SCMEA All-State committee for ten years and chaired the audition process for four years. Wilkinson’s choirs have been invited to perform for SCMEA and ACDA conventions.

​He is a National Board Certified Teacher and was awarded the prestigious Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award in 2007. He has also received the SCMEA Outstanding Young Music Educator Award and been named Teacher of the Year. Wilkinson earned his BA from the University of New Hampshire and MM from the University of South Carolina. He and his wife, Emily Wilkinson live in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina with their daughter Mary Catherine.

Aaron Jackson

First Baptist Church, HSV
​Minister of Music & Worship

Ecumenical Service Clinician

​Aaron Jackson is the Minister of Music and Worship at First Baptist Church of Huntsville, Alabama.  In this capacity, he oversees a comprehensive music ministry, which includes both choral and instrumental ensembles.  Before moving to Huntsville in 2023, he was an adjunct professor of music at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC and Campbell University in Buies Creek, NC where he taught conducting courses and improvisational piano. 
 
In addition to ministry and teaching responsibilities, Dr. Jackson appears regularly as a guest conductor and maintains an active schedule as a local and regional choral clinician and adjudicator. He has also been an active leader in both North Carolina ACDA (American Choral Directors Association) and Southern Region ACDA. 
 
He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Conducting from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, a Master of Church Music degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Campbell University.   
 
He and his wife Laura, daughter Julia, and son Barnabas, reside in Huntsville, AL.