Danelle Larson is Professor of Music Education and Director of the Music Education Division at Eastern Illinois University. Her responsibilities include teaching courses in music education, advising, and supervising student teachers. She is the co-faculty advisor for the EIU ILCMEA chapter and also serves as assistant director of Eastern Music Camp. She is currently President of the MTE (Music Teacher Education) Division of the Illinois Music Educators Association. Dr. Larson is co-director of the EIU Master of Arts, Music Education degree program. 

Prior to her appointment at Eastern Illinois University, she earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in music education from Arizona State University. Dr. Larson also holds a Master’s degree in music education from Arizona State University and a Bachelor of Science in music education degree with an emphasis in flute performance from the University of Illinois.

Dr. Larson has ten years of teaching experience in public school music programs, including instruction with beginning, middle, and high school levels of concert bands, chamber ensembles, marching bands, jazz bands, beginning and high school orchestras, K-8 general music, and advanced placement music theory classes. She taught music in public schools in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Georgia, and has served as a guest conductor at the Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic and multiple state area honor bands.

Her current research interests include mentorship of new teachers, development of independent musicianship in ensemble settings, informal music learning, history of all-female bands, and history of normal schools. Dr. Larson has published a historical research article on the Hormel Girls Musical Caravan in American Music, a book chapter on female drum and bugle corps, and presented findings from her research at conferences including the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), the Society for Music Teacher Education (SMTE), the American Educational Research Association conference (AERA), the Feminist Theory in Music conference, Colloquium for Teachers of Instrumental Music Methods (IMTE), Arizona, lllinois, and Iowa Music Educators Association conferences, and CARMU (Center for Applied Research in Musical Understanding) Conference on Music Teaching and Learning.