Leila Heil is Associate Professor of Music Education at the University of Colorado Boulder. She currently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in choral music and music education, and coordinates the Summer Master of Music Education program. Her professional experience includes public school teaching in Kansas, Arizona, and Colorado. An active choral clinician, she has served as guest conductor for honor choirs in Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Texas, and served as Assistant Director of the Grammy Jazz Choir.
Dr. Heil has authored and co-authored articles on improvisation (Music Educators Journal), vocal jazz rehearsal strategies (Choral Journal), pre-service music teacher identity (Visions in Music Education Research), pre-service teacher preparation (Contributions to Music Education), and trends in choral repertoire selection (Choral Journal). She has presented sessions at numerous international and national conferences including the Midwest Clinic, the Society for Music Teacher Education (SMTE) Conference, the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Research and Teacher Education Conference, the NAfME National In-service Conference, the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) National Conference, the National Early Music Association (NEMA) Conference, the Research in Music Education Conference (RIME), and the International Jazz Educators Association (IAJE) Conference. She has also presented at state NAfME and ACDA conferences in Colorado, Arizona, Ohio and Texas.