Grammy Nominee Spotted on Campus

Photo by Robert Jordan/Ole Miss Communications

Nancy Maria Balach Schuesselin (center). Photo by Robert Jordan of Ole Miss Communications

A 2015 Grammy nominee has been spotted on campus.

In fact, one of the university’s very own music professors has been selected as a Grammy quarterfinalist out of nearly 7,000 nominees for the 2015 Grammy Music Educator Award.

Nancy Maria Balach Schuesselin, an associate professor of music, joins music educators from prestigious music education programs around the country who were nominated.

Schuesselin has been a faculty member at UM since the fall of 2000 and teaches studio voice, undergraduate diction, graduate pedagogy and vocal methods for instrumentalists.

She also is the creator/editor of www.livingmusicresource.com, an online video library on vocal subjects, and she hosts the Beat, an interactive interview series live streamed from the Ford Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Mississippi.

Schuesselin was nominated by UM music student Heather Higginbotham, a rising junior who has been working with her on the living music online resource. She was notified that she was a nominee in March.

“I was flattered beyond measure when I was notified that Heather had nominated me.  I love teaching and what I get to do each day at Ole Miss. We have amazing students!” Schesselin said.

According to the Grammy Foundation website, one recipient will be selected from 10 finalists and will be recognized for his/her remarkable impact on students’ lives. The winner will be flown to Los Angeles to accept the award, attend the Grammy Awards ceremony and receive a $10,000 honorarium. The nine finalists will each receive a $1,000 honorarium and the schools of all 10 finalists will receive matching grants. The honorariums and grants provided to the finalists and schools are made possible by the generosity and support of the Grammy Foundation’s Education Champions Converse, Disney Performing Arts, Ford Motor Company Fund and Journeys.

“Of course I would be thrilled to win, but it wouldn’t simply be me winning,” she said. “The ‘win’ would be for the University of Mississippi and all of the wonderful students and teachers we have here in Oxford.  Most importantly, I would be elated to have the Music Department at Ole Miss showcased on such an enormous platform.”