Dr. von Rueden's current research interests lie in the areas of choral music programming, with a focus on gender equity.

 

In March 2021, Helena von Rueden presented "Programming in the 21st Century: Trends and Tools to Improve Gender Equity in Choral Music Programs" to the National American Choral Directors Association analyzed trends in gender equity on choral music programs are recent national and regional choral conferences.  She has put together a website of resources to help other conductors research and program choral works by women.

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Dr. von Rueden serves as Assistant Director and co-Coordinator for the Choral Database at the Institute for Composer Diversity, where she has helped develop a searchable database of choral works by composers from underrepresented groups, including women, composers of color, and members of the LGBTQIA2s+ community.

 

 November 2017, Dr. von Rueden presented a poster at the National Collegiate Choral Organization's bi-anuual conference on the benefits of interdisciplinary choral music programming for students, choral programs and conductors, audiences, and institutions.  

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At UC Santa Barbara, Dr. von Rueden researched the pedagogical use of figurative language in collegiate choral rehearsals across four choral conductors and their ensembles.  She found that when teaching about vocal technique and musical expressivity, conductors  more often used figurative language, whereas they employed narrative or storytelling for the purposes of developing personal and/or emotional connections amongst rehearsal participants or to the music being rehearsed.