Dr. Belva W. Prather


Role: Faculty Emeritus
Campus: Springfield

Details

Education

  • Doctor of Education, University of Arkansas, College Teaching and Administration
  • Master of Music, Northwestern University, Music Performance
  • BA, Arkansas Tech University, Music Education

Teaching

  • MUS 175 Wind Ensemble/Concert Band
  • MUS 275 Wind Ensemble/Concert Band
  • MUS 375 Wind Ensemble/Concert Band
  • MUS 475 Wind Ensemble/Concert Band
  • MUS 675 Wind Ensemble/Concert Band
  • MUS 689
  • MUS 720 Directed Study in Music Education
  • MUS 780 Practicum in Advanced Conducting
  • MUS 790 Research Project
  • MUS 798 Graduate Recital - Conducting

Research and professional interests

Dr. Belva Worthen Prather is Professor of Music at Missouri State University where she conducts the University Wind Ensemble, the University Wind Symphony, and the University Concert Band.  She is coordinator of Wind and Percussion Studies for the music department and teaches Graduate Research, Advanced Conducting, and Wind Band Literature.  Recently, Dr. Prather was selected by her colleagues to receive the College of Arts & Letters award for "Excellence in Teaching", and she received the University Foundation's "Award for Teaching." Dr. Prather's thirty-eight year career has included teaching and administration on the elementary, junior high, high school, and university levels.  She is active as conductor, adjudicator, and clinician, and has served in that capacity in twenty-eight states and nine European countries.  Dr. Prather has conducted the Honor Band for the Ark-La-Tex Tri-State Clinic and the Arkansas All-State Band.  In addition, she recently served as district clinician for Oklahoma Music Educators and Kansas Music Educators.  She appeared as the keynote speaker at the Kappa Kappa Psi four-state Regional Convention, and served as clinician for the District College Music Educators and for the Missouri Music Educators.  In 2005, Dr. Prather was the keynote speaker for the Arkansas Bandmasters Association Convention, and was awarded the Arkansas Traveler Accommodation for Distinguished Accomplishment by the Arkansas Board of Education.  She received the Bachelor of Arts Degree from Arkansas Tech University, the Masters of Music in Performance from Northwestern University, and the Doctorate of Education from the University of Arkansas.  Her primary teachers in performance and music education were Russell Langston, Gene Witherspoon, Robert Bright, Eldon Janzen, John Paynter, and Walfrid Kujala. Dr. Prather holds membership in the following professional organizations: the Missouri Music Educators Association, the College Band Directors National Association, National Band Association, National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors, Missouri Bandmasters Association, Women Band Directors International, Music Educators National Conference, Pi Kappa Lambda, Kappa Kappa Psi, and Mu Phi Epsilon.  She was honored to be among the first women inducted into the Missouri Chapter of Phi Beta Mu (1996), honored once again in the spring of 2002 when she was inducted into the National Chapter of Tau Beta Sigma, and in the fall of 2003 when she was selected by the Honors College for induction and lifetime membership in Golden Key Honor Society.

Awards and honors

  • Arkansas Governor's Ambassador Award, Arkansas Bandmasters Association, 2005
  • University Teaching Award, Southwest Missouri State University, 2004
  • First Woman Band Director Inductee, Phi Beta Mu, 1996
  • Excellence in Teaching Award, Southwest Missouri State University Foundation, 1995