Dr. Keith Wheeler

Dr. William Keith Wheeler not only serves as the pastor at First Presbyterian, he also serves as associate professor of music and director of music education studies at Tennessee Wesleyan University, where he has been a faculty member since 2002. Dr. Wheeler has served as a church musician conducting groups of all ages in Louisville, KY; Singapore; Denver, CO; and Misawa, Japan. While in Louisville, he performed with Kentucky Opera. He was a conductor for the “Continental Singers” for eight years, performing in 36 countries including events such as Billy Graham’s Amsterdam ’86 Evangelism Conference, the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, the 1992 World’s Fair in Seville, and the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Dr. Wheeler led the Tennessee Wesleyan Concert Choir on the “Yellow Ribbon Tour” to Ramstein Air Base, Germany in 2005 and the choir performed in 2007 at the “Wesley Choral Festival” in Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall. He was the founding conductor of the newest choral ensemble, Vox Humana.

Dr. Wheeler holds degrees from Carson-Newman University, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and the Graduate Theological Foundation. While at SBTS, he was named the “Outstanding Graduate Male Recitalist” for 1987-88. He also holds certification levels in both the Kodaly and Orff-Schulwerk philosophies of music education from New York University, Belmont University, and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Dr. Wheeler traveled to Uganda and Rwanda in the summer of 2007 to work with the African Children’s Choir organization. His other research/teaching interests include vocal pedagogy, church music/worship studies, and popular music studies. He maintains memberships in the National Association for Music Education, Tennessee Music Educators Association, Organization of American Kodaly Educators, American Orff-Schulwerk Association, National Association of Teachers of Singing, Tennessee Association of Music Executives of Colleges & Universities, Pi Lambda Theta, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. He just completed a two-year term as President of the Southeast Chapter of Kodaly Educators as well as serving on the National Advisory Board for OAKE. He has recently presented research at the TMEA conference in Nashville and the OAKE conference in Denver.

Dr. Wheeler has recently sung tenor with the Knoxville Choral Society and the Knoxville Chamber Chorale. He has performed as a soloist in Karl Jenkin’s The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace, J.S. Bach’s Sleepers, Wake! Cantata No. 140 and Handel’s Messiah. He is a director for Sound Company: the Children’s Choir of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, which recently performed with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra.