Dan Commerford has taught thirty-four years in the state of Kansas and recently retired from the teaching at the secondary level. Before teaching in Manhattan, where he has been the past twenty-two years, he taught in Wamego and Colby. He received his Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Music Degrees from Kansas State University.
Dan’s choirs have performed at the KMEA In-Service Work Shops in 1980, ’87 ‘89, ’91 and 1995. In 1982, his Colby Choir participated in the International Youth and Music Festival in Vienna, Austria. His Manhattan Choirs have also performed in numerous State Music Festivals. He has taken his choirs to perform in the Florida and Walt Disney World “Magic Music Days” in 1990, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006.
Dan has served as an adjudicator and clinician for various music festivals in Kansas and Nebraska and has served on the staff of the “Kansas State Summer Choral Institute” at Kansas State University. He served as President of the Kansas American Choral Director’s Association and is a member of several professional organizations, including KMEA MENC, ACDA KNEA, and NEA.
Dan and his wife Ann have been married for thirty eight years. They have two children, Jennifer Wright of Wood Bridge, Virginia and Brian of Overland Park, Kansas. Dan and Ann have four grandchildren, Sarah and Tim Wright and Hadley and Ella Commerford.