Chris Rosborough’s official title at Howard Payne University is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities, but a 38-year-old man of many talents also embraces many responsibilities and roles.

“I am over the vocal music, vocal area, and I chair the music department so that includes instrumental studies, piano studies, etc.,” Rosborough said in discussing his duties. “I report to the Dean of the School of Music and Fine Arts, so I have a lot of involvement with the Chapel experience, getting music ready each week for the campus-wide worship. In the classical choral realm, we do a lot of work with the Brownwood Community Chorus. That group used to be called University Singers but we changed the name to be a bit more inclusive of Brownwood. We want that to be a voice for Brownwood and we do master works periodically. We also do a big Christmas concert and an annual Hymn sing in October with that group. I oversee the college choir as well and work with those students who are degree-seeking and I teach them through their course sequence and then we have a lot of non-majors, people who are different fine arts majors who come be a part of the choral ensembles at Howard Payne.”

Rosborough attended Howard Payne as an undergraduate and spoke about his education journey from Brownwood and back again.

“I graduated from Howard Payne in 2008 and then went on to do graduate studies at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia,” he said. “My wife and I both got our master’s there in Voice Performance, then I finished my terminal degree at LSU in 2016. When I finished up there I got a call from the dean of Howard Payne inviting me to come apply for the job, so I’ve been there since 2016 and just finished my seventh year. My official title is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities. I’m also the Chair of Music and I’m also the Chapel Music Coordinator.”

Rosborough also serves as a worship pastor at Midtown Church and his approach in ministry carries over to the classroom, as well.

“It’s important for me that whatever discipline students end up going into that they’re well prepared, that they have a passion for learning and a passion to go in and not just do the job of a musician or a teacher, but do it in a Christ-like fashion,” he said. “What we do in the arts, at least from the perspective of Howard Payne, is serve a higher calling. I’m very passionate about re-instilling a passion in a younger generation for arts performed at a high level with a higher calling.”

As for how Rosborough became affiliated with Midtown Church, he said, “Kyle Medlock is the pastor at Midtown. My wife and I met him when we were students at Howard Payne. He married the two of us in 2008 right after graduating. As soon as we came back to Brownwood in 2016 he basically said he had a job for me, and he’s always been a mentor to me so we were able to serve in that capacity and I’ve enjoyed that for the last seven years.”

Rosborough also helps out from time to time at the Lyric Theatre where his wife, Danielle, is the musical director. The couple has three children.

“I do some work with the Lyric periodically, I’ll do some stand-in roles,” he said. “I’ve done a couple of small things. I like doing work in the pit orchestra, I’m a guitarist so I like doing that. And then we have three kids that keep us plenty busy.”

Returning to the teaching aspect of his life, Rosborough considers one of the biggest positives to be, “touching base with my students. I love seeing where they are. I saw them as a freshman or a sophomore begin to blossom and begin to find some of their own creative energies. I enjoying see each student blossom as they come out of the program and come into their own. I’m a big advocate for finding jobs for students so I network in a bunch of different areas in the public school sphere. If they can walk off the stage in May and have a job in August, that’s always very rewarding.”