Melissa Spraggs
Performance - Choral Conducting
Office: TC 416
Email: mspraggs@uwo.ca
Melissa is a music educator, conductor, and singer from Brandon, Manitoba. She is pursuing her DMA in Choral Conducting at the Don Wright Faculty of Music, under the tutelage of Dr. Mark Ramsay. Melissa is currently assistant conductor of Western Singers. Her doctoral research uses a cognitive musicology lens to investigate emotional communication and its impact on positive choral singing environments. Additional research interests include the use of Kodály-inspired teaching in choral settings and voice change throughout the lifetime.
In 2020, Melissa obtained her Master of Music (Education) Degree from Brandon University. Her research explored strategies for engaging grade 3 boys in singing. Here she earned the Governor General’s Gold Medal and the Brandon University Gold Medal in Master of Music. Her research has been published in the Canadian Music Educator (63.3) and she has presented at numerous Manitoba and Ontario music education conferences and events. In August of 2025, Melissa travelled to Hungary to present on Kodály-inspired sight-singing strategies in choirs.
Melissa is active as a choral clinician and adjudicator. Currently, she instructs Choral Conducting Foundations at Western’s Don Wright Faculty of Music. At the Brandon University School of Music, she has enjoyed opportunities as Faculty Advisor and Sessional Instructor in choral studies and elementary music education, most recently directing the BU Concert Choir.
For over a decade, Melissa taught K-12 music and choir in the Manitoba public school system. She has directed adults, children, and youth in a variety of choral settings, as well as serving on local boards that support the arts. Melissa currently serves as Secretary on the board of the Manitoba Kodály Society.
