Faculty Profiles

Donte´ Alexander Ford is a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and serves the Wheaton College community as Assistant Professor of Music and Associate Chaplain for Worship Arts. He is an alumnus of Penn State University (BA), Southern Methodist University (MSM, MM, MDiv), University of Arizona (PhD), and is best described as a musician, minister, and scholar. At Wheaton, Donté teaches Principles in Music and Worship Ministry, coaches Chapel Bands, oversees the music and worship arts offerings in Chapel worship, and serves as the director of the Worship Arts Certificate.

Donte’s many musical talents have afforded him the opportunity to serve as guest clinician/conductor, lead pianist, opera chorister, resident percussionist, and Minister of Music. His musical activities also include composing, as he is a published composer with GIA Publications, Inc. He is the founder and Artistic Director of Sankofa Chorale, a multi-ethnic choral ensemble that preserves and perpetuates African American Choral music while performing that music alongside choral masterworks of the Western European choral canon. 

A Christian minister, Donté is a gifted preacher, holding ordination and ministerial credentials in the Holiness-Pentecostal and Baptist traditions, respectively. Though a life-long Pentecostal, Donté is committed to the diversity of the body of Christ. As a scholar, Donte focuses his efforts on the history and preservation of Black American concert and popular music, church hymnody, congregational song, and the history, theology, and music of African American Pentecostalism. His scholarly work includes lectures on African American choral art forms and contributions to the Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology and UM Discipleship Ministries’ History of Hymns.

University of Arizona
Ph.D., Musicology; Minor: Choral Music Studies

Southern Methodist University
M.Div; M.M., Choral Conducting; M.S.M. (Choral Conducting)

The Pennsylvania State University
B.A., Music (tuba)

• African American Choral Music  

• Black American Composers 

• Black Pentecostalism 

• Choral Conducting 

• Christian Hymnody  

• Music History  

• Sacred Music 

• American Choral Directors Association 

• American Guild of Organists 

• Chorus America 

• James Abbington Church Music Academy 

• Society of Christian Scholarship in Music 

• Society for Christian Scholarship in Music – “Jesus Only…Help Me Sing”: Messages of Jesus and Holiness in the Hymnody of C.P. Jones (Lecture-Recital) 

• Arizona ACDA Summer Conference – Gospel Music in the Classroom 

• University of Arizona – What is Gospel Music? Experiencing the “Music” of African American Gospel 

• Allen Public Library – What is Gospel Music?   

• “Deeper, Deeper, in the Love of Jesus.” The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology.           Canterbury Press, 2020.  

• “Jesus Only is My Motto.” The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press, 2020. 

•  “Lift Him Up,” History of Hymns, 2019. https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/articles/history-of-hymns-lift-him-up  

•  “See How a Great Flame Aspires,” History of Hymns, 2015.  https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-see-how-great-a-flame-aspires 

• “Still I Sing!” in Worship the Lord: Sermons from the 2018 National Festival of Young Preachers. Dwight A. Moody (editor). St. Louis, Missouri: Chalice Press, 2018. 106 – 109. 

• “What is Gospel Music? A Brief Historical Sketch.” Antiphon, vol. 23 (Spring 2020):7 – 9.  https://issuu.com/azacda/docs/antiphon_spring_2020  

• “When Memory Fades,” with Dr. C. Michael Hawn, History of Hymns, 2015. https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-when-memory-fades 

• Essence of Joy, African American Music Festival, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA – Guest Conductor/Composer in Residence  
• Essence of Joy Concert Tour, Spain and France – Percussionist 
• Gospel Music Workshop, St. John Institutional Baptist Church, Phoenix, AZ – Guest Clinician 
• International Tuba-Euphonium Conference, Linz, Austria – Tubist, w/ Penn State Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble 
• Tucson Big Sing!, DeMeester Outdoor Performance Center, Tucson, AZ – Accompanist 
• Wading Home Tour, South Africa – Opera Chorister 
• When Worlds Collide: The Fusion of Spirituals, Jazz, and Gospel, Allen Public Library, Allen, TX – Conductor w/ Sankofa Chorale 

“Standing In the Need of Prayer” - SATB 

“Arise, Look Up, and Go On” – TBB, Solo 

“Come Everyone that Loves the Lord” – SATB, Narrator  

“Just As I Am” – Harp & Piano 

“A Choral Triptych: 3 Spirituals” – SATB, Solo 

“You’ve Kept Me So I Must Praise Your Name” – SATB, Solo 

Mid-Concert Lecture: A Brief History of the Foundation of African American Gospel Music 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xkfh7RSr2Ho&t=19s 

Performance: When Worlds Collide: The Fusion of Spirituals, Jazz, and Gospel 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6CjFGKkS9o 

Donteaford.com