Aprill Mangrum Raines is the Director of Vocal Music at Durant High School in Durant, OK, where she conducts three choirs, teaches music theory and history, and directs the choir musical. She has been in this position since the fall of 2019. Prior to her time at DHS, she served Durant Public Schools at the middle school for 15 years. Her choirs have received Superior ratings on the district and national levels and have been praised for their musicianship and tone quality. Her Durant Middle School treble choir performed as an honor choir at the 2013 OkMEA Convention. At the 2019 OkMEA convention, she received the Exemplary Teacher Award for Middle School. Her students are consistently selected to regional, state, and national honor choirs. Mrs Raines is also an experienced adjudicator and a respected clinician. Mrs. Raines received a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance in 2000 from Oklahoma State University, where she studied with Mrs. Julie McCoy and sang in the OSU Concert Chorale and OSU Chamber Choir under the direction of Dr. Jerry McCoy and Dr. Bob Ward. She earned a Master of Arts degree in Vocal Pedagogy in 2005 from Texas Woman’s University in Denton, TX. While at TWU she studied voice and pedagogy with Prof. Joan Wall and was selected to sing on the TWU Women’s Symposium Concert. She is a founding member of the Taylor Festival Choir and Taylor Music Group, a professional 28 voice chamber choir under the direction of Dr. Rob Taylor based in Charleston, SC. She is a featured soprano soloist on TFC’s first CD, This is Thy Hour, O Soul, and on a tour to Ireland which can be seen in the documentary, From the Lowcountry to the Old Country. Mrs. Raines is also an active church musician, leading the choir and playing the piano at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Durant. She holds professional memberships in Oklahoma Music Adjudicators Association, American Choral Directors Association, National Association for Music Education, National Educators Association, as well as their respective state and local chapters, and is the current President-elect of the Oklahoma American Choral Directors Association. She is a board member for the Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival and a member of the Mary Quisenberry chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Mrs. Raines has been very involved with the music and theatre departments at Southeastern Oklahoma State University as an adjunct instructor, musical director, performer, and accompanist. Recent performance credits include soprano soloist with the Concert Chorale under the direction of Dr. Stacy Weger, Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus and The Witch in Hansel and Gretel with Dr. Jeremy Blackwood’s Southeastern Opera program. Mrs. Raines is married to Will Raines, the Director of Technology for Gabbart Communications, and they have three children; Braden, 20, Lydia, 17, and Sophie 12.