UCAS TAPPAN is the Director of Liturgy and Music for Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Topeka, KS, as well as the founder and director of the Most Pure Heart of Mary Schola Cantorum, an after-school choral foundation in the tradition of the EUROPEAN CATHEDRAL CHOIR SCHOOL. The Schola Cantorum serves more than 50 children from the parish and surrounding area, serving to pass on the Church’s great musical and liturgical heritage. Dr. Tappan graduated in 2004 from Benedictine College in Atchison, KS—where he studied organ under Fr. Blaine Schultz, OSB, and Dr. Ruth Krusemark—earning degrees in Music and Theology. He earned his Master of Music in Church Music (organ performance) in 2009 from the University of Kansas and in 2014 was granted a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Church Music (choral conducting) from the same institution. His teachers included Michael Bauer (organ), James Higdon (organ), and Paul Tucker (choral conducting).
In 2012, Dr. Tappan was privileged to spend six weeks observing the training of choristers at the Madeleine Choir School at the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City, Utah—an experience that has greatly shaped the way he trains choristers. The Gentlemen and Children of the MPHM Schola Cantorum released their first CD in November 2014, and in January of 2016 they traveled to Rome to sing at St. Peter’s Basilica—joining the Sistine Chapel Choir—alongside several other children’s choirs from the Americas and Europe for the first CHILDREN’S FESTIVAL FOR EPIPHANY, sponsored by the Fondazione Pro Musica e Arte Sacra.
Each summer, Dr. Tappan returns to Benedictine College for two weeks to work with high school students in a program that allows them to study music alongside theology. Dr. Tappan lives in Kansas with his wife and four children, where he pursues a wide range of interests from all things German to playing the Scottish bagpipes. However, a number of years ago he and his wife purchased a 1936 colonial, and because the only thing that works in an old home is the owner, his free time is not as free as he would like. Dr. Tappan may be contacted at: theartofthechorister@gmail.com.
