Dr. von Rueden's current research interests focus on inclusive choral programming and community building through group singing.

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In the summer of 2024, she researched ways to create a more inclusive choral experience through a series of interviews of experts in the field. Additionally, Dr. von Rueden has created the Expansive Choral Practice Database, which is a professional development database for choral practitioners. Her new database is a curated and searchable collection of resources on rehearsal practices, wellbeing, and the cultivation of inclusive spaces in choral practice. This is a work in progress.

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Dr. von Rueden served until recently as Assistant Director and co-Coordinator for the Choral Works Database, a database of choral repertoire by composers from underrepresented groups, including women, composers of color, and members of the LGBTQIA2s+ community. She developed partnerships with colleges to create an internship program, organized several teams working on remote-based database projects, and developed operative procedures to improve workflow.

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Dr. von Rueden co-authored a paper in The Choral Journal in 2023 entitled "Working toward Balance Programming with Tools from the Institute of Composer Diversity's Choral Works Database" which explored suggested best practices for bringing ethically prepared music of varying traditions into choral performances.

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In 2021, Dr. von Rueden analyzed choral conference programs to determine the rates at which works by women-identifying composers were programmed. This work was presented at the national conference of the American Choral Directors Association. 

 

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.