About
Betty King had a rich and varied background in music. She received a B.M. on piano and a M.M. in composition from Roosevelt University, Chicago, Illinois, with further study at Oakland University, Glassboro College, and others. Her piano teachers included her mother, Gertrude Jackson Taylor, Saul Dorfman, and Maurice Dumesnil; organ: Joseph Lockett and Abba Leifer; Composition: Karel B. Jarik; and voice: Thelma Waide Brown. She taught at the University of Chicago Laboratory School, Roosevelt University, Dillard University (New Orleans, LA), and Wildwood High School (Wildwood, NJ). King pursued careers in composing and teaching and served as a choral conductor-clinician and lecturer in churches and universities. Her honors include a scholarship from the Chicago Umbrian Glee Club, awards from the National Association of Negro Musicians, Inc., “Outstanding Leaders in Elementary and Secondary Education”, and “The International Black Writers Conference”. King was past president of NANM, Inc. Her compositions include Saul of Tarus, My Servant Job, Biblical operas; Simon of Cyrene, Easter cantata; Requiem; The Kids in School With Me, ballet with orchestration; Life cycle for violin and piano; Vocalise for soprano, cello and piano; sacred, secular novelty, choral compositions; and spiritual arrangements.
—African American Art Song Alliance 2017 Conference program booklet
Related Information
Songs
A Set of Three Dunbar Poems
Song CollectionBetty Jackson King
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Compensation
Betty Jackson King
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: A Set of Three Dunbar Poems
Dawn
Betty Jackson King
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: A Set of Three Dunbar Poems
Theology
Betty Jackson King
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: A Set of Three Dunbar Poems
Videos
Recordings
American Songbook - The American Music Collection, Vol. 3
(Amy Marcy Beach, Leonard Bernstein, Marc Blitzstein, William Bolcom, Aaron Copland, Charles Ives, Betty Jackson King, Libby Larsen and Kurt Weill)
1996
Sheet Music
Second Anthology of Art Songs by Black American Composers
Composer(s): Leslie Adams, Adolphus Hailstork, John Rosamond Johnson, Hall Johnson, Betty Jackson King, Howard Swanson, John W. Work III
Buy via VidemusArt Songs and Spirituals by African-American Women Composers (Vivian Taylor, ed.)
Composer(s): Margaret Bonds, Betty Jackson King, Dorothy Rudd Moore, Undine Smith Moore, Julia Perry, Zenobia Powell Perry, Florence Price
Song(s): Calvary (Spiritual) (1954) - Betty Jackson King
Come Down Angels (Spiritual) (1978) - Undine Smith Moore
Dry Bones (Spiritual) (1946) - Margaret Bonds
Free At Last (Spiritual) (1951) - Julia Perry
He's Got the Whole World In His Hand (Spiritual) (1963) - Margaret Bonds
I Am in Doubt (1975) - Undine Smith Moore
I'm a Poor Li'l Orphan in This Worl' (Spiritual) (1952) - Julia Perry
In the Springtime (1976) - Betty Jackson King
Is There Anybody Here That Loves My Jesus (Spiritual) (1981) - Undine Smith Moore
It's Me, O Lord (Spiritual) (1988) - Betty Jackson King
Lord, I Just Can't Keep from Cryin' (Spiritual) (1946) - Margaret Bonds
Love Let the Wind Cry… How I Adore Thee (1977) - Undine Smith Moore
My Dream (1935) - Florence B. Price
My Soul's Been Anchored in the Lord (Spiritual) (1937) - Florence B. Price
Night (1946) - Florence B. Price
Song to the Dark Virgin (1926) - Florence B. Price
The Negro Speaks of Rivers (1942) - Margaret Bonds
Three Dream Portraits (1959) - Margaret Bonds
Watch and Pray (Spiritual) (1972) - Undine Smith Moore