North Carolina Music Educator Winter 2023

N O R T H C A R O L I N A 

MUSIC EDUCATOR 

Evidence-Based 

Practice in Music 

Education 

by Tim Nowak 

Music in Our 

Schools Month 

by Tonya Allison & Lindsay Williams 

Portrait of 

a Graduate 

by Aleisa Baker 

Conducting 

Communication 

by Hunter Kopczynski 

Volume 73 Number 3 Winter 2023 

NORTH CAROLINA MUSIC EDUCATOR | 1

ANNOUNCING THE 

$6 MILLION 

CHAUNCEY 

SCHOLARSHIP ENDOWMENT 

MARCH IS 

APPLY AND AUDITION 

FOR SCHOLARSHIP CONSIDERATION 

SATURDAY, DEC. 3, 2022 • SATURDAY, JAN. 21, 2023 • SATURDAY, FEB. 11, 2023 

SATURDAY, FEB. 18, 2023* • SATURDAY, MARCH 18, 2023 

EMAIL FOR MORE INFORMATION: musicadmissions@ecu.edu 

*Feb. 18, 2023: Last audition day for scholarship consideration 

East Carolina University ® • Greenville, NC • music.ecu.edu 

Learn more at nafme.org/MIOSM 

#MIOSM | #MusicIsAllOfUs 

East Carolina University is committed to equality of opportunity and prohibits unlawful 

discrimination based on the following protected classes: race/ethnicity, color, genetic information, 

national origin, religion, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions), sexual 

orientation, gender identity, age, disability, political affiliation and veteran status. 

2 | NORTH CAROLINA MUSIC EDUCATOR NORTH CAROLINA MUSIC EDUCATOR | 1 

C.S. 23-0136

N O R T H C A R O L I N A 

MUSIC EDUCATOR 

NCMEA Board Directory 

NCMEA Executive Director’s Message 

Susan Heiserman 

NCMEA President’s Message 

Johnathan Hamiel 

Music in Our Schools Month 

Tonya Allison & Lindsay Williams 

High School Choral Section 

Evidence-Based Practice in Music Education 

Tim Nowak 

Jazz Section 

Orchestra Section 

Conference 

Band Section 

NAfME Community Webinar 

Elementary Choral Section 

Conducting Communication 

by Hunter Kopczynski 

Middle School Choral Section 

Across the Districts 

Portrait of a Graduate 


Changed Schools? New Email Address? 

New Mailing Address? 

Stay in touch with NCMEA/NAfME 

Log in to the NAfME Member Portal and make 

your updates. 

www.nafme.org LOGIN then MEMBER PORTAL 

If you need assistance, call NAfME Member 

Services 800-336-3768 

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A special thank you to all our advertisers who 

support music educators and music education in 

North Carolina. 

Brevard College 

East Carolina University 

Hayes School of Music 

NAfME 

Pfeiffer University 

UNC Charlotte 

UNC Greensboro 

UNC Pembroke 

UNC Wilmington 

Western Carolina University 

Postmaster: Send address changes to: NC Music Educator, c/o 

NCMEA, 883-C Washington Street, Raleigh, NC 27605. 

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20-3325550 

Editorial: All editorial content should be sent to: Kimberly 

Justen, Editor-in-Chief, at journal_editor@ncmea.net. 

Advertising: Information requests and ad orders should 

be directed to Kimberly Justen, Editor-in-Chief, at 

journal_editor@ncmea.net. 

North Carolina Music Educator is copyrighted. Reproduction 

in any form is illegal without the express permission of the 

editor. 

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Inside Front Cover 

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1, Back Cover 

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MOUNTAINEER 

Audition Required • Auditions in January and February 2023 

Save the Date for the 55th Cannon Music Camp • June 24–July 15, 2023 

PERSPECTIVE 

music.appstate.edu 

2 | NORTH CAROLINA MUSIC EDUCATOR NORTH CAROLINA MUSIC EDUCATOR | 3

Board of Directors 

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS 

SECTION CHAIRS 

COMMISSION & COMMITTEE CHAIRS 

President: Johnathan Hamiel* 

Orange County 

jhamiel@ncmea.net 

Immediate Past President: Carol 

Earnhardt* 

Forsyth County 

cearnhardt@ncmea.net 

President-Elect: Catherine Butler* 

Guilford County 

cbutler@ncmea.net 

Recording Secretary: 

Carolina Perez* 

Durham County 

secretary@ncmea.net 

Member-at-Large: 

Jordan Lee* 


member-at-large1@ncmea.net 

Member-at-Large: Lorena Schakel* 

Stokes County 


Band: Jim Kirkpatrick* 

Burke County 

band_chair@ncmea.net 

Band Section Delegate: 

O’Shae Best* 

Mecklenburg County 

band_delegate@ncmea.net 

Collegiate NAfME: Sabina Blue* 

Robertson County 

collegiate_president@ncmea.net 

Elementary: Joseph Girgenti* 

Union County 

elementary_section@ncmea.net 

High School Choral: Aleisa Baker* 

Buncombe County 

hschoral_chair@ncmea.net 

Higher Education: Jose Rivera* 

Robeson County 

higher_education@ncmea.net 

Jazz Education: Tina Robinett* 

Buncombe County 

jazz_chair@ncmea.net 

Jazz Section Delegate: Luke Meade* 

Johnston County 

jazz_delegate@ncmea.net 

Middle School Choral: Emily Turner* 

Wake County 

mschoral_chair@ncmea.net 

Orchestra: Joseph Walker* 

Durham County 

orchestra_chair@ncmea.net 

Orchestra Section Delegate: 

Matthew Holt* 

Durham County 

orchestra_delegate@ncmea.net 

Exceptional Children & General 

Music: Rue S. Lee-Holmes 

Sampson County 

exeptionalchildren_generalmusic@ncmea.net 

Conference Chair: Barbara Geer 


conference_chair@ncmea.net 

Asst. Conference Chair: Adam Joiner 


conference_assistant@ncmea.net 

Mentoring: Carol Earnhardt 


mentoring_program@ncmea.net 

Music In Our Schools Month: 

Tonya Allison & Lindsay Williams 

Forsyth and Onslow Counties 

miosm_chair1@ncmea.net (Tonya) 

miosm_chair2@ncmea.net (Lindsay) 

AWARDS, GRANTS 

& SCHOLARSHIP CHAIRS 

Music Program Leaders: 

Andrew Craft 


music_program_leader@ncmea.net 

Research: Tim Nowak 

Pitt County 

research_chair@ncmea.net 

Retired Membership: Libby Brown 

Watauga County 

retired_membership@ncmea.net 

Student Activities: 

Catherine Butler 



Teacher Education: Jose Rivera 

Robeson County 

teacher_education@ncmea.net 

STANDING COMMITTEE CHAIRS 

Technology Chair: Howell “Howie” 

Ledford & Julian Wilson 

Guilford and Gaston Counties 

technology_chair@ncmea.net 

Tri-M: Riley Lopez 

New Hanover County 

tri-m@ncmea.net 

Young Professionals: Emily AsKew 

Davidson County 

young_professionals@ncmea.net 

Webmaster: Mark Healy 

Wake County 

mhealy@ncmea.net 

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS 

District 1: Lisa Murray* 

Pitt County 

district1@ncmea.net 

District 2: Bob Norem* 

Pender County 


DISTRICT PRESIDENTS 

District 4: Roosevelt Pratt* 

Cumberland County 


District 5: Ronald Forsh* 



District 7: Janet Berry* 

Burke County 


District 8: Rachel Yates* 

Haywood County 


Awards: Jordan Lee 



Grants: Jordan Lee & Lorena Schakel 

Guilford and Wake Counties 

member-at-large1@ncmea.net (Jordan) 

member-at-large2@ncmea.net (Lorena) 

Scholarships: Lorena Schakel 

Wake County 


NCMEA OFFICE 

883-C Washington Street 

Raleigh, NC 27605 

919-424-7008 

www.ncmea.net 

Executive Director: Susan Heiserman 

Wake County 

sheiserman@ncmea.net 

Advocacy: James Daugherty 

Davidson County 

jdaugherty@ncmea.net 

Constitution: Maribeth Yoder-White 


constitution_committee@ncmea.net 

Finance: Carol Earnhardt 


cearnhardt@ncmea.net 

IVfME: Lillie Allmond Harris & 

Tim Nowak 

Guilford & Pitt County 

ivfme@ncmea.net 

Membership: Catherine Butler 



Publications: Kim Justen 

journal_editor@ncmea.net 

Collegiate NAfME Advisor: 

Lisa Runner 


collegiate_advisor@ncmea.net 

Editor: Kim Justen 

journal_editor@ncmea.net 

Executive Director: Susan Heiserman 

Wake County 

sheiserman@ncmea.net 

Historian: Dr. John Henry, Jr. 


historian@ncmea.net 

Music Industry Rep.: Adam Frank 


music_industry_rep@ncmea.net 

Parlimentarian: Dave Albert 

Wake County 

parlimentarian@ncmea.net 

District 3: Andrew Childers* 

Wilson County 


District 6: Julia Winegardner* 



* Voting Member 

Counties listed reflect the county taught in 

Communications Manager: 

Mark Healy 

Wake County 

mhealy@ncmea.net 

NCDPI Rep.: Brandon Roeder 

Wake County 

brandon.roeder@dpi.nc.gov 

advancing music education by promoting 

the understanding and making of music by all 


Notes from the Executive Director 

Happy 2023! I hope you were able to find time over the 

holidays to relax, refresh, and spend time with loved ones. 

We are excited to start the new year by warmly welcoming 

these new Section Chairs and Delegates (photo below) to the 

NCMEA board: 

Band: Jim Kirkpatrick 

Band Delegate: O’Shae Best 

Collegiate NAfME: Sabina Blue 

Elementary: Joseph Girgenti 

High School Choral: Aleisa Baker 

Higher Education: Jose Rivera 

Jazz: Tina Robinett 

Jazz Delegate: Luke Meade 

Middle School Choral: Emily Turner 

Orchestra: Joey Walker 

I also want to extend a gigantic thank you to the Section Chairs 

and Delegates who served for the past two years. They did not have 

an easy task, guiding the organization out of COVID and through 

an executive transition! But they all rose to the challenge and we 

are very grateful for their leadership and service. 

Conference Wrap-Up 

It was wonderful to see so many of you at Conference in 

November! We exceeded our 2021 attendance by more than 

30% and explored the conference theme, Redefining Success, in a 

multitude of ways. 

Here are this year’s stats: 

• 245 sessions, performances, and meetings 

• 145 presenters and clinicians 

• 1,412 attendees 

Susan Heiserman 

• 97 exhibiting companies and schools 

It was an incredible, jam-packed 3½ days in Winston-Salem, 

and I hope those who attended made connections, learned 

something new, and got inspired. Special thanks to our conference 

co-chairs, Barbara Geer and Adam Joiner, for another year of 

incredible work making sure you all had a seamless experience. 

Mark your calendar now and plan to attend our next conference 

on November 4-7, 2023! 

Music In Our Schools Month 

This spring we’re looking forward to a full lineup of student 

events throughout the state, as well as the celebration of Music 

In Our Schools Month in March! This year, we want to make a 

big splash and our MIOSM co-chairs have been hard at work 

developing ideas and creating suggestions for ways that all grade 

levels can participate and celebrate. Be sure to check out their 

article in this edition, and be on the lookout for more information 

coming soon. 

Advocacy 

NCMEA staff, leadership, and lobbyists continue to monitor 

developments with the NC Pathways to Excellence teacher 

licensure and compensation proposal. We are paying close 

attention and are prepared to use our established relationships with 

state educational leaders and legislators to advocate in your best 

interests no matter which direction the proposal takes. Keep an eye 

out for email updates, and in the meantime, if you have questions, 

concerns, or feedback regarding this or any other education issue, 

please don’t hesitate to reach out! 

UNCW DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC STUDENTS 

uncw.edu/music 

MAKING MUSIC. 

MAKING A DIFFERENCE. 

UNDERGRADUATE STUDY 

BACHELOR OF MUSIC IN MUSIC EDUCATION 

BACHELOR OF ARTS IN MUSIC 

PERFORMANCE: 

instrumental piano vocal 

GENERAL MUSIC 

JAZZ STUDIES 

MUSIC TECHNOLOGY 

MINORS 

choral music · general music 

jazz studies · musical theatre 

AUDITIONS 

SPRING 2023 

Saturday, January 14 

Saturday, February 4 

Saturday, February 25 

Saturday, March 18 

Saturday, March 25 

virtual auditions 

910.962.3415 

uncwmus@uncw.edu 

UNCW is an EEO/AA Institution. 

Accommodations for disabilities may be requested 

by contacting the Disabilities Resource Center at 910.962.7555 at least seven days 

prior to the event. Questions regarding UNCW’s Title IX compliance 

6 | NORTH CAROLINA MUSIC EDUCATOR NORTH CAROLINA should be directed MUSIC to EDUCATOR titleix@uncw.edu. | 7

President’s Message 

Johnathan Hamiel 

Greetings fellow music educators. Our 52 nd annual 

Professional Development Conference left me highly 

motivated and eager to get back to the classroom. 

Whenever we get the opportunity to spend time with other music 

educators throughout our great state, I’m always left with a full 

heart and enthusiasm to get back to assisting teachers, students and 

our music community. 

I would like to thank our amazing executive director, Dr. Susan 

Heiserman, for completing her first of many NCMEA Professional 

Development Conferences! I am so excited about the future of our 

organization under her leadership and guidance. I would also like 

to extend my appreciation to the previous two NCMEA board of 

directors. Both have been extremely important to the past, present, 

and future of our organization. 

Last year’s board had the responsibility to run the organization 

through a global pandemic and online learning. Our current 

boards are charged with the task of assuring the organization 

recovers and rebounds from the pandemic and consistently moves 

forward while dealing with the repercussions of the COVID 

pandemic. I would like to thank all of our past board members 

who have rolled off the NCMEA board this term and last term. We 

appreciate you and the work you have done; the organization is 

forever grateful. 

With the rate of attrition in many industries at an all-time 

high, we have educators contemplating changing professions. Have 

you ever wondered what life would be like if you chose another 

profession? At some point and time, we all have. I’m sure many of 

our music educators have had the same conversation with loved 

ones and support systems when we chose to become professional 

musicians. 

I remember 20+ years ago wanting to be a lawyer. I have a 

pretty good memory and can remember events, facts and dates 

pretty well. My mother was a nurse and really encouraged me 

to select the health care field. My extended family continued to 

encourage me to pursue a technology career. All of these areas 

of study are amazing professions and essential to the world as 

we know it today. But there was just something about the music 

classroom that continued to draw me to it. We may all have chosen 

music education for very different reasons, but whatever that 

reason was, I encourage you to meditate and remember who you 

are and why you chose this profession. 

For me, it was the process of creating music. The concerts 

and performances were great, but it was the process of teaching 

individuals everything I could about music and their instrument 

that I found the most rewarding. Being able to see students 

set goals, work hard and achieve those goals are priceless. The 

experience of having an ensemble know exactly what to do with 

the wave of a hand and nod of the head. We shared a language that 

could not be duplicated or imitated. Being able to expose young 

people to music, events, and opportunities that they felt were 

above where they should be was my drive to create every day on 

the podium. Often, we would take trips to far away lands through 

a piece of musical literature. This was a form of us using music as a 

vehicle to travel from land to land, culture to culture. 

At conference this past November, we were able to bring 

1,400+ music educators into one place at one time for one goal… 

redefining success, of our state, of our organization and of our 

profession as a whole. We have skillfully shown success can look 

differently based on the community, clientele, or demographics. 

But what’s next? Where do we go from here? 

When we ask these questions my first question is, “What is 

your why”? What’s the reason behind why one would choose music 

education? What is our genuine philosophy of music education 

and has it changed? What makes us get up every morning to create 

music with our students throughout the state? My why may be 

different than yours, and that’s okay. The beautiful aspect of music 

is we don’t all have to be the same in order to enjoy and teach it. 

As a child, music was always there for me as a way to share my 

thoughts, feelings and emotions. Depending on what was going on 

in my life at the time, there was always a song or a piece of music 

that captured my feelings perfectly, even when my words could not. 

I remember as a first-year teacher feeling it was my duty to provide 

my students with the best music education possible; the same thing 

my teachers did for all of us. 

I encourage you to reflect on your reasons for being a music 

educator. Comprise a list of positives and negatives of the 

profession. I encourage you to fix and resolve the negatives within 

your control. For those you cannot control, I encourage you to 

speak to a mentor or an administrator about finding options to 

resolve them. If they are not available, our organization can provide 

you with mentors who can assist you in your journey. 

The positives are the items that bring you joy and fuel you to 

keep going. Allow those positive reasons to serve as the affirmation 

you are on the correct track and fuel you through the challenging 

times. I cannot reiterate enough how important it is to have a great 

mentor to speak with and confide in. It doesn’t matter if you are 

three or 30 years into the profession; it’s imperative we constantly 

have a circle of cohorts to be honest with us and give us guidance 

when faced with difficult situations. If you are in search of a 

mentor, please contact the head of our mentoring section, Carol 

Earnhardt, at mentoring_progam@ncmea.net. 

I encourage you to believe in yourselves, in your training, and 

in music education. The journey to a harmonious world begins 

with Music Education! 


WESTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY 

SCHOOL OF MUSIC IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE 

by Tonya Allison and Lindsay Williams, MIOSM Chairs 

For almost 50 years, Music In Our Schools Month® (MIOSM) 

has featured themes that have inspired and motivated music 

teachers and their students from all over the United States. 

While powerful music performances happen throughout the 

school year, our NCMEA president reminds us, “March is a big 

month for music education; All-District performances, Choral, 

Band and Orchestra MPA’s, and many honors ensembles take 

place during this time.” 

MIOSM co-chair Tonya Allison says, “Creating and 

performing music was the only job she ever wanted, since she was 

10 years old.” The complete rawness, healing, and vulnerability 

of how music breaks down any barriers humans put up as armor, 

floods over her daily, whether it be at church, in the classroom, or 

singing in the car. Knowing the impact that MIOSM lessons have 

had in her teaching experience is just one way she can continue 

to share how music can help to overcome any hurdle that comes 

along. 

For Lindsay Williams, MIOSM co-chair, music has always 

been the center of her life. From singing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed 

Reindeer” to her family as a child, to musicals, band and chorus all 

throughout elementary, middle and high school, where she grew 

up in New York, March holds a special place in her heart. 

Even across states, MIOSM has always been the month that 

music takes the spotlight. She makes it her priority to plan as 

many musical events in March as possible. From Dancing Drum 

Days to world music grade level concerts, March is always a fun 

month at her school. Last year, she even involved her co-workers 

in a giant bulletin board. Students loved reading about their 

teacher’s musical experiences and interests. “The best part of my 

job,” says Williams, “is that music can make connections in all 

areas of curriculum, and in their daily life. There’s always a way to 

connect with your student in the music classroom.” 

Andrea Evans, another North Carolina music educator, 

remembers a previous theme, Music Inspires Me, where she asked 

former students to share how music inspired them. She recalls one 

student shared that, “...when he drove through landmines in Iraq, 

he always sang to keep himself calm and focused.” We appreciate 

his service, and his story. Soul-stirring accounts like this make 

such an impact on the importance of music education. 

Music educators and their students have used these past couple 

of years to find unique ways to share music with the entire world. 

From virtual choir performances to individual YouTube and 

TikTok videos, musicians of all ages continue to lead and inspire 

unity and community in the arts. This fits in perfectly with the 

2023 MIOSM theme, Music is All of Us. 

To celebrate this year, along with the tools provided at the 

NAfME level, the MIOSM and NCMEA leadership have contacted 

several North Carolina composers and musicians to provide 

access to original music for all levels and areas of performance. We 

do recognize that many of the lessons on the NAfME or MIOSM 

website are geared toward our younger students, but we believe 

that Music Is All of Us and we want all North Carolina musicians 

to have some new music they can add to their portfolios. 

We are also asking that music educators flood their social 

media venues during the month of March with performance shots 

and/or videos using the #MIOSM2023 hashtag. 

On behalf of the MIOSM committee, we are extremely 

thankful to executive director Susan Heiserman, for sharing 

the MIOSM 2023 proclamation with the NC Governor’s Office. 

This will be signed in late February, and shared with all music 

educators shortly thereafter. We would also like to thank our 

lobbyists, Ashley Perkinson and Rachel Beaulieu, for their 

continued work with our NCMEA leadership and the Governor’s 

Office to bring performances to the Capital Area during the 

month of March. 

Music in Our Schools Month is the best time of year to share 

why music is important to you personally, or how it has affected 

you in your life journey. We want you to be open with your 

experiences so they help inspire our future students and music 

educators. As Steve Wonder said, “Music is a world within itself; 

it’s a language we all understand.” 

For more information about MIOSM 2023 lessons and ideas, 

please visit: 

www.nafme.org/programs/miosm/music-in-our-schoolsmonth-lessons 

www.ncmea.net/programs/music-in-our-schools-monthmiosm 

WCU SCHOOL OF MUSIC AUDITION DATES 

JANUARY 21, 2023 • JANUARY 28, 2023 

WCU is a University of North Carolina campus and an Equal Opportunity Institution. 

DR. JEANANNE 

NICHOLS 

CAROL GROTNES BELK 

DISTINGUISHED 

PROFESSOR OF 

MUSIC EDUCATION 

Dr. Nichols’s research has been published in the Journal of Research 

in Music Education, The Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music 

Education, Research Studies in Music Education, The Music Educator’s 

Journal, The Mountain Lake Reader, and The International Journal of 

Education and the Arts. She is a member of the Research Studies in Music 

Education editorial board and has served as guest editor for two issues of 

the Bulletin for the Council of Research in Music Education. 

Dr. Nichols has presented keynote addresses for Nacional Educación 

Artística in Copiapó, Chile, and Kunstfag mot verden, hosted by the 

Center for Arts, Communication and Culture at Bergen University College 

in Bergen, Norway. She has presented research throughout the United 

States and internationally in Canada, China, France, Greece, Norway, and 

the United Kingdom. Dr. Nichols maintains an active schedule as guest 

conductor, clinician, and adjudicator of bands. 

Prior to joining the faculty at Western, she was Associate Professor 

of Music Education at the University of Illinois where she taught 

undergraduate courses in instrumental methods and graduate courses 

in research, current issues in music education, and advanced wind band 

pedagogy. Dr. Nichols was Associate Professor of Music and Director of 

Instrumental Studies at Olivet College in Olivet, Michigan. Dr. Nichols 

also taught middle and high school band in the Tattnall County schools in 

Georgia and the Roane County schools in Tennessee. 

AUDITION SNOW DAY - SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4 

The WCU Catamount Singers will perform 

at the NC Music Educator’s Annual conference 

in Winston Salem November 7 - 2:30 p.m. 

Stevens Center • Downtown Winston Salem 


High School Choral 

MAKING MUSIC. 

Aleisa Baker, Chair 

UNCW DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC 

SPRING 2023 

MAKING A DIFFERENCE. 

MUSIC 

Teacher of the Year 

Brad Bensen 

Brad Bensen holds a Master of Music 

from East Carolina University, and a 

Bachelors of Arts in music education from 

Virginia Tech University. 

He serves as the MPA Revision chair 

for the High School Choral Board for 

NCMEA, and serves as an adjudicator for 

NCMEA Music Performance Adjudication. 

His choirs have performed around the 

nation and at the NCMEA Performance Concerts. 

In Bensen’s teaching philosophy, he writes, “When asked, ‘What 

do you teach?’ I can only answer, ‘Young hearts and minds.’ The 

music itself is simply an avenue I can use to impact change in the 

culture of our youth..” Bensen believes he has a daily opportunity 

to make an impact in students’ character and values, and hopefully, 

in their personal quests for purpose and meaning. 

NCMEA HS Choral Section Hall of Fame 

Diane Covington 

Diane Covington retired after 19 years from Leesville Road 

High School in Raleigh, where she built the program from 32 to 

200 singers when she retired in 2013. Prior to this, she was the 

choral director at Fairview Middle School in Tallahassee, Fla., for 

five years. 

Her former student, Mary Robert McGrath wrote this in 

the nomination statement, “The phrase ‘Diane Covington was 

my chorus teacher’ is the start of hundreds of conversations 

detailing life changing experiences. Diane Covington’s extensive 

influence makes her a household name. 

Her thousands of students have become 

hundreds of teachers, and we continue to 

utilize her mentorship.” 

Covington received her Bachelor of 

Music from Mars Hill University. She 

holds, and has held, memberships to many 

professional associations such as NCMEA 

and ACDA. She has served as a clinician in 

countless festivals and serves as an adjudicator for NCMEA 

Music Performance Adjudication. She also serves as educational 

liaison for the North Carolina Master Chorale, where she provides 

mentoring and education to Wake County high school choral 

programs. 

From 1989 – 2013, her choirs participated and earned superiors 

in Music Performance Adjudications. Her students participated 

in All-State, Honors Chorus, Governor’s School and various 

university music camps. Her choirs performed at locations like 

Riverside Church in New York City, the Basilica and The Kennedy 

Center in Washington, D.C., Westminster Cathedral in London 

and many more. 

Her awards list is long and includes accolades like Leesville 

Road High School Teacher of the Year, and the NCMEA High 

School Choral Teacher of the Year. She served on the NCMEA 

High School Choral board. Currently, 24 of her former students are 

music educators. She is a mentor to many. And as her nominator 

says in her nomination statement, “Stepping into Mrs. Covington’s 

classroom is empowering. Her musicianship, history of choral 

excellence and encouragement make you feel like you could do 

anything. She is a superhero and knowing her is a super power.” 

FESTIVALS 

FLUTE ENSEMBLES FESTIVAL 

Friday-Saturday, Jan. 21 - 22 

Mary Jo White · whitemj@uncw.edu 

PIANO DAY 

Saturday, Feb. 11 

Barry Salwen · salwenb@uncw.edu 

NC HORN DAY 

Saturday, Feb. 25 

Nicholas Fife · fifen@uncw.edu 

JAZZ FEST 

Friday, March 24 

Jerald Shynett · shynettj@uncw.edu 

BRASS FEST 

Saturday, April 1 

Daniel Johnson · johnsond@uncw 

CONTACT THE UNCW FACULTY DIRECTOR LISTED 

FOR INFORMATION, INCLUDING 

· student age groups for each event 

· schedules and activities 

· benefit to teachers and students 

· registration and fees 

· how to participate 

SUMMER CONCERT BAND 

Monday evenings, May 8-June 26 

Dominic Talanca · talancad@uncw.edu 

And ask about workshops 

just for teachers! 

910.962.3390 

uncwmus@uncw.edu 

UNCW is an EEO/AA Institution. 

Accommodations for disabilities may be requested 

by contacting the Disabilities Resource Center at 910.962.7555 at least seven days 

prior to the event. Questions regarding UNCW’s Title IX compliance uncw.edu/music 

12 | NORTH CAROLINA MUSIC EDUCATOR 

should be directed to titleix@uncw.edu. 

NORTH CAROLINA MUSIC EDUCATOR | 13

Evidence-Based 

Practice in Music 

Education 

by Tim Nowak 

There has been a lot of public discussion this year about the 

implementation of the science of reading instruction in 

North Carolina. Not being a literacy specialist, I did a quick 

Google search to find out more about this. The results suggested 

“science of reading” is a collection of instructional methods 

variously described as “scientifically-based,” “proven by research,” 

or based on a “body of research evidence.” 

My thoughts turned to my public school teaching experience 

and faculty meetings about “evidence-based instructional 

practices.” Admittedly, this was usually near the bottom of my 

priority list. Administrators usually focused on “core” teachers, 

saying something like, “This doesn’t really apply to you” when 

they addressed us “encore” teachers. This always felt like a slight 

to the value of our content areas, but if nodding along meant less 

paperwork and more time for rehearsal planning, so be it. 

But I always had nagging anxiety when it came to my 

professional evaluations. What if my principal took the “evidencebased 

instruction” box on the rubric seriously this year? What if, 

this time, they expected a real answer from me? In this article, 

I provide a starting point for you to navigate these discussions. 

First, I give some background on the term “evidence-based 

practice” in U.S. education. Then I suggest steps you can take to 

engage with music education research in your teaching. 

Defining “Evidence-Based” 

“Evidence-based practice” gained prominence in U.S. 

education with No Child Left Behind’s (NCLB’s) mandate 

that federally funded education programs be grounded in 

“scientifically based research” (Slavin, 2002). The Every Student 

Succeeds Act (ESSA) later updated this language to “evidencebased.” 

The U.S. Department of Education has established four 

levels of evidence that can be used to justify instructional methods 

as “evidence-based” for use in different federally funded programs 

(Hale et al., 2017). To help state and local education leaders find 

methods – or “interventions” – that meet these different levels of 

evidence, the Department of Education publishes databases such 

as the What Works Clearinghouse, or WWC (https://ies.ed.gov/ 

ncee/WWC), which review and evaluate the quality of educational 

research. 

Crucially, the determining factor for rigor in this system is the 

methodological design of the research. The top tier of evidence is 

reserved for experimental studies, and the WWC only endorses 

research with randomized controlled designs (Simpson, 2019). 

This type of study is notoriously difficult to construct in education 

research, including music education. My search of the WWC 

database for “music” only returned eight studies, six of which were 

categorized as “don’t meet standards.” 

I mention this not to imply that music education research 

is somehow grossly inadequate. Rather, my point is that the 

dominant discourse of “evidence-based” practice in U.S. education 

is so extraordinarily narrow that it excludes vast amounts of 

high quality educational research. The conversation is focused 

solely on questions about specific interventions for federally 

funded programs investigated through inferential statistics. So, 

my administrators weren’t wrong; “evidence-based practice,” as 

defined by NCLB and ESSA, didn’t really apply to me after all. 

But what if we broadened our conception of evidence-based 

practice? Davies (1999), for example, argued that “evidence-based 

education means integrating individual teaching and learning 

expertise with the best available external evidence from systematic 

research” (p. 117). In this sense, evidence-based practice is a 

continuous process where teachers integrate what they observe 

in their specific instructional context with research – of all 

methodological designs – that might inform their work toward 

specific goals. Below, I offer some suggestions on how you might 

approach this in your own classroom. 

Finding and Interpreting Evidence 

The first step in engaging in evidence-based practice is 

establishing a specific goal or outcome the evidence is meant 

to inform. Often left unsaid in discussions about “what works” 

in education is what something works for. This is where your 

professional knowledge and expertise as a musician and teacher 

in your local school take center stage. Is there a musical skill 

or concept that your students seem to struggle with, such as 

improvisation? Is there a general learning process you want 

to know more about, such as motivation? Is there a structural 

problem in your program you want to improve, such as ensemble 

recruitment and retention? 

At this stage, your goal can be a vague idea or open ended 

question, such as, “I want my general music students to improvise 

more,” “How can I motivate my students to practice more?” or “I 

want to improve retention in my band program.” 

Once you have your general goal in mind, begin searching for 

research that relates to that topic. At this point, you’re probably 

thinking, “I don’t have time to read a whole bunch of research 

articles,” and you’re right. This is where literature reviews can 

help. Literature reviews are systematic analyses of a large body 

of research on a specific topic and can give you both a summary 

of findings and a sense of the complexity of a topic. Update: 

Applications of Research in Music Education frequently publishes 

music education literature reviews, and access is free with your 

NAfME/NCMEA membership. There are literature reviews 

published in Update about all three of the topics I noted above— 

improvisation (Chandler, 2018), motivation (West, 2013), and 

retention (Hash, 2022). 

Once you’ve found a literature review on your topic of interest, 

consider the evidence presented and how it might inform your 

teaching, starting with specific questions researchers have 

pursued. What facets of the topic have researchers addressed, 

and how do their questions relate to what you’re interested in 

knowing? For example, Chandler (2018) organized his literature 

review of improvisation in elementary general music into four 

main lines of inquiry: 

• the nature of improvisation, 

• instructional time dedicated to improvisation, 

• development of improvisation skills with age, and 

• effects of improvisation on other skill areas. 

Seeing the complexity of the field can help you narrow your 

interest from a broad idea – I want my students to improvise more 

– to a specific question you can pursue to improve your teaching, 

such as “what improvisation activities are appropriate for my 

fourth and fifth grade students?” 

Next, evaluate the findings addressing the specific question(s) 

you’re asking: What answers or solutions do the findings suggest? 

How many studies have corroborated those findings? Are there 

conflicting findings and, if so, how does the reviewer explain 

those different results? For example, West (2013) discussed how 

inconsistent findings in motivation research could be related 

to different theoretical orientations (p. 15). In other words, 

how researchers approached the question of motivation shaped 

the results of their studies. In this case, it would be important 

for you to consider which theory of motivation seems best 

supported by the evidence and which theory might best explain 

what you’re experiencing in your school. To be clear, this is not 

a suggestion that you should simply find research that confirms 

your preexisting beliefs; rather, it is a reminder that context 

matters, and that you will need to critically evaluate both your 

circumstances and the research evidence to find points of 

resonance and tension. 

At this point, you may be satisfied with the reviewer’s evidence 

and suggestions. If you still have questions, you could do what one 

of my mentors called “bibliographic archeology.” Find and read 

the original studies in the review that were most intriguing and 

evaluate their evidence for yourself. Most studies will begin with a 

small literature review that summarizes related findings, and you 

could find new sources that support – or contradict – the evidence 

you had evaluated previously. You could even find and evaluate 

those sources, continuing until you’ve compiled enough evidence 

to inform your instructional decisions. 

Putting Evidence into Action 

Once you’re satisfied with the evidence you’ve compiled, 

devise a plan for achieving your desired outcome based on the 

research and your professional expertise. How might you tailor 

the researcher’s recommendations and integrate them into your 

program? Be sure to plan an evaluation to see whether your 

plan is working. In other words, what evidence will you need to 

collect to investigate whether the plan is working? It could be the 

same measures that researchers used, or it could be a measure of 

your own – higher grades on improvisation assignments, better 

engagement with practice logs, or larger enrollment numbers for 

the next academic year. 

Whatever your measure, schedule a time to go back and 

compare your own evidence to that of the researchers: how is what 

you’re finding the same or different? Does the research suggest a 

possible explanation for what you’re finding? If not, what other 

areas of research might help inform your original question? Keep 

in mind, research is constantly changing, so this really will be 

a continuous process, as Davies (1999) argued, of integrating 

individual expertise with external evidence. Luckily, both NAfME 

and NCMEA have resources to keep you informed on the latest 

research evidence in music teaching and learning, from published 

journals to professional conferences and poster sessions. While 

the dominant discourse of evidence-based practice may not 

be intended for music educators, we can still use evidence to 

inform what we do and continually improve the practice of music 

teaching and learning. 

References 

Chandler, M. (2018). Improvisation in elementary general music: 

A review of the literature. Update: Applications of Research in Music 

Education, 37(1), 42-48. https://doi.org/10.1177/8755123318763002 

Davies, P. (1999). What is evidence-based education? British Journal 

of Educational Studies, 47(2), 108-121. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467- 

8527.00106 

Hale, S., Dunn, L., Filby, N, Rice, J., & Van Houten, L. (2017). 

Evidence-based improvement: A guide for states to strengthen their 

frameworks and supports aligned to the evidence requirements of ESSA. 

WestEd. 

Hash, P. (2022). Student retention in school bands and orchestras: A 

literature review. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 

40(3), 11-19. https://doi.org/10.1177/87551233211042585 

Simpson, A. (2019). The evidential basis of “evidence-based education”: 

An introduction to the special issue. Educational Research and Evaluation, 

25(1-2), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1080/13803611.2019.1617979 

Slavin, R. E. (2002) Evidence-based education policies: Transforming 

educational practice and research. Educational Researcher, 31(7), 15-21. 

https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X031007015 

West, C. (2013). Motivating music students: A review of the literature. 

Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 31(2), 11-19. 

https://doi.org/10.1177/8755123312473611 


Jazz 

Tina Robinett, Chair 

People, Place, Purpose 

For more information visit www.brevard.edu/music or 

reach out to us at musicinfo@brevard.edu 

Music at Charlotte @clt_coaa 

I’m Tina Robinett, the new Jazz Chair. Thank you to Margie 

Harrison for her hard work and dedication communicating, 

planning, running events, and so much more. You did an 

outstanding job and I am looking forward to your help this year. 

I’m in my 18 th year of teaching, all in N.C., teaching at the 

middle and high school levels. I’ve started jazz bands from 

the ground up, fought to make jazz a class in the schedule in 

PowerSchool, had jazz band before and after school, taken 

countless groups to MPA and have had many students audition 

for their region jazz All-District events. I’m passionate about jazz 

education, and one of my many goals as your chair is to advocate 

for jazz in all classrooms in all schools. 

This time of year, I turn my attention towards All-District Band 

and All-Region Jazz auditions. Perhaps you do too, and wonder 

how to get involved in your region’s jazz auditions. Many directors 

say they don’t participate because they don’t know how to start. 

Many of us are here to help and say, don’t be scared! It is easiest to 

approach teaching jazz as if you are teaching any other rehearsal 

and teach notes and rhythms, but focus more heavily on style. 

I get asked a lot about how to teach improvisation. There are 

lots of good articles out there on this and I hope to bring more 

perspectives this year, but I have always had the best success when 

asking someone I know and trust. I’d be willing to bet they would 

come help! The biggest advice I can give is to not be scared to try! 

Ella Fitzgerald famously said, “Just don’t give up trying to do what 

you really want to do. Where there’s love and inspiration, I don’t 

think you can go wrong.” 

I look forward to serving the state in this role, and please don’t 

hesitate to reach out if there is anything I can do for you or your 

program. Keep up the good work! 

BOLD IDEAS. 

BIG CITY. 

COMMUNITY COLLABORATIONS 

At UNC Charlotte, studies go beyond the 

university and into Charlotte's creative community. 

With bold ideas and broad connections, our talented 

faculty, students, and alumni are shaping the civic 

imagination of this fast-growing city. 

UPTOWN PERFORMANCES 

EXCITING GUEST ARTISTS 

Carlisle Floyd’s opera, Susannah 

Charlie Parker at The Jazz Room 

Composer/Performer Pamela Z 

Holocaust Remembrance Day Concert 

Backstage at the Eagles concert 

Renowned saxophonist Branford Marsalis 

music.charlotte.edu 


O 

rchestra 

Greetings, Orchestra teachers and string educators! I hope 

you had an enjoyable holiday season and are feeling rested 

and rejuvenated. It was great to see so many of you at 

Conference in November; bravo to all who presented or led a group 

of student performers. Congratulations to our Hall of Fame and 

Teacher of the Year award recipients. Your contributions to string 

education in North Carolina have been immeasurable, and the 

Orchestra Section is grateful for your service. 

Hall of Fame/Lifetime Achievement 

Judy Booth 

Judy Booth was educated in Charlotte 

Mecklenburg Schools, where she started the 

violin in fifth grade orchestra class. After 

graduating from Garinger High School, 

she earned a Bachelor of Music from UNC 

Greensboro, and a Master of Education from 

UNC Charlotte. She taught orchestra for 

three years in Greensboro, before returning 

to Charlotte where she taught 31 years in the 

same two middle schools. 

Booth’s groups consistently earned high ratings at MPA. For 

seventeen years, she took her students to play annual concerts 

in Sparta. Those concerts were the impetus to engage the North 

Carolina Symphony for children’s concerts in Alleghany County. 

For five years, her students were involved in a Composer-inthe-Schools 

Project with the Charlotte Civic Orchestra. Very few 

of her students could afford private lessons, so she tutored many 

after school and over summer break; several of her students became 

music teachers. After retiring, she mentored orchestra teachers who 

were non-string players, and she currently teaches violin at First 

Baptist West. 

Booth has received several awards including the North Carolina 

Symphony Maxine Swalin Award for an Outstanding Music 

Educator, and Order of the Long Leaf Pine. She has been a member 

of Greensboro and Winston-Salem Symphonies; and currently plays 

in Union and Salisbury Symphonies. She was a founder and charter 

member of the Charlotte Civic Orchestra. 

Sabrina Howard 

A violinist and veteran teacher, Sabrina E. Howard is the 

director of orchestras at Charlotte Latin School, where she teaches 

students in the fifth though twelfth grades. She serves on the faculty 

Joseph Walker, Chair 

of Wingate University as an adjunct 

educator, teaching string methods classes 

and studio lessons. She is in her ninth 

year as the director of youth programs for 

the Union Symphony Youth Orchestra. 

During her 33-year career, Howard’s 

orchestras have received superior ratings 

at both state and regional competitions, 

and have performed in Atlanta, Chicago, 

Orlando, Williamsburg, Washington, 

D.C., and Toronto. 

She earned a Bachelor of Music Education from the University 

of Southern Mississippi and the Master of Music Education from 

the University of South Carolina. She is a past chair of the Orchestra 

Section of NCMEA, and achieved National Board Certification in 

2005. In 2007, she was named North Carolina’s Western Regional 

Orchestra Director of the Year. In 2012, she was the Charlotte Latin 

School’s Flemm Award winner for outstanding teaching. 

She also has served as guest clinician/conductor and adjudicator 

in North and South Carolina for All-County, All-District and 

Regional orchestras. As a professional musician, she has performed 

with the Meridian Symphony (Miss.); Port City Symphony (Mobile, 

Ala.); Greenville Symphony (S.C.); Asheville Symphony (N.C.); and 

the Union Symphony Orchestra (N.C.). 

Margaret Rehder 

Margaret Lou Rehder is a Winston- 

Salem native. Her early studies with the 

violin were with her mother, Minnie 

Lou Raper, and Eugene Jacobowsky. She 

graduated R.J. Reynolds High School 

and earned a Bachelor of Music in violin 

performance at Meredith College. 

In 1979, Rehder was selected by 

audition to join the Winston-Salem 

Symphony, where she has served as a second violinist, a first 

violinist, and currently is the assistant principal second violinist. She 

taught full time with the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools 

from 1984 – 2020, namely at Wiley Middle School and Reynolds 

High School. Her orchestras consistently earned high ratings at 

adjudicated events. She has directed the WS Youth Philharmonic 

since 1998. 

She taught violin and orchestra at Salem College. Rehder has 

developed a teaching aid for the violin called FingerTips. In 1995, 

she completed graduate work at UNC School of the Arts in violin 

performance. She was awarded Teacher of the Year at Wiley Middle 

School for the 2002 – 2003 school year. She has been an active 

member of ASTA and NCMEA, and has been WSFCS Orchestra 

Teacher of the Year twice, and the Western Region Repertory 

Orchestra Director for 2005. In 2008, Rehder became a National 

Board Certified Music Teacher, and renewed her certification in 

2018. In 2011, she established the Winston-Salem Civic Orchestra, 

a community orchestra based at Reynolds High School. Robert 

Moody awarded her the Winston-Salem Symphony Music 

Director’s Award in 2018. 

Teacher of the Year 

Veronica Biscocho 

Veronica (Allen) Biscocho has been the 

orchestra director at Walter M. Williams 

High School in Burlington since 2011. 

Under her direction, the orchestra has 

become a visible part of the Burlington 

community. In 2017, she commissioned a 

string orchestra piece entitled “Burlington 

Muses” by composer Dan Locklair to 

celebrate the 125 th anniversary of the 

founding of Burlington, which premiered in 

May 2018. 

In 2018, Biscocho was awarded the North Carolina Symphony 

Maxine Swalin Award for Outstanding Music Educator. In 2019, 

she was the Williams High School Teacher of the Year and a finalist 

for Alamance Burlington Teacher of the Year. She currently serves 

as the All-County Orchestra lead teacher for Alamance Burlington 

Schools and is co-chair for the Western Region Orchestra Clinic. 

Biscocho mentors beginning teachers at Williams High School, 

and performs as a violinist with the Elon University Orchestra and 

the Chapel Hill Philharmonia. She was a North Carolina Teaching 

Fellow at UNC Greensboro and graduated with a Bachelor of Music 

in music education and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish; in 2018, she 

completed a Master of Arts in Spanish also from UNCG. 

Sara Moore 

Sara Moore earned a Bachelor of Music 

in music education and piano performance 

from Appalachian State University, and her 

Master of Music in Music Education from 

the UNC Greensboro. She studied violin 

from middle school through college and 

always knew she wanted to be an orchestra 

teacher. 

Moore began her teaching career 

in Durham Public Schools in 2000 at 

Githens Middle School. In 2007, she created the orchestra program 

at Riverside High School, where she is currently the orchestra 

director. An active member of the ASTA, as well as the NAfME, she 

coaches sectionals and teaches at the summer music camp at Duke 

University String School. She is also an active member of Durham 

Association of Educators, where she developed leadership skills in 

organizing to defend and transform public schools. 

Dr. Charles R. Young Dr. Daniel Castro Pantoja Dr. Nathaniel Mitchell Dr. Rotem Weinberg 

The School of Music is pleased to welcome 

Dr. Charles R. Young, Director, School of Music 

Dr. Daniel Castro Pantoja, Assistant Professor of Musicology 

Dr. Nathaniel Mitchell, Lecturer in Music Theory 

Dr. Rotem Weinberg, Visiting Assistant Professor of Conducting 

and Director of Orchestras 


Band 

Jim Kirkpatrick, Chair 

Welcome back from what I hope was a relaxing and 

energizing winter break. As we ring in the New Year, 

I want to take a moment to celebrate – and extend a 

hearty thank you to – the organizers within NCMEA, as well as the 

clinicians, sponsors, performing groups and vendors who worked 

to give us a great conference. The entire NCBA board is pleased 

to be serving our membership. These members work diligently 

throughout the year, but especially during the conference to 

oversee clinics and other logistical concerns. 

Thank you, also, to past president, Jamie Bream; presidentelect, 

Chris White; secretary, Karen Williams-Lanning and band 

delegate, O’Shae Best for their continued service. Let’s also thank 

our District chairs for their hard work: Ana Bulluck, Western 

District; Matt Liner, Northwest District; Kameron Radford, 

South Central District; Michael Capps, Central District; Brian 

Myers, East Central District; Curt Collins, Southeastern District; 

and Karen Matthews, Eastern District. Ruth Petersen is also an 

invaluable member of our team, updating changes on the NCBA 

website and promoting our organization through the NCBA 

Facebook page. Please take time to reach out and thank these 

leaders for the work they do. 

We are already planning for the 2023 conference! The 

application form for performance ensembles is due May 1, and 

can be found on the NCBA website. As you begin planning for 

your spring NCBA events, please visit our website to become 

aware of updated procedures for NCBA Honors Auditions and 

MPA events. Please read over the bylaws, policies, and procedures 

of our organization and adhere to deadlines and your professional 

obligations. Our NCBA website is full of information that you can 

use every day. Please make a habit of visiting our website regularly, 

as it will make your job much easier. If you ever have any concerns 

or questions, please contact any NCBA board member. We are 

here to help you and your students. 

As we begin considering the performance options for our 

students this spring, it is important to reflect on how exciting 

and memorable preparing for an MPA performance can be. The 

MPA process gives students a chance to experience more depth 

and breadth as they prepare a concert program. It allows them to 

experience a performance off campus and feel the exhilaration 

of being under a different set of lights on a different stage. The 

MPA experience can build solidarity within your band, and 

ultimately, help with retention and broader engagement among 

your students. From a director standpoint, MPA is an opportunity 

to move beyond trying to manage everything by yourself; invite 

your colleagues and mentors into the growth process. Local and 

retired directors would love a chance to engage with you and your 

students, and ultimately these experiences strengthen our ties 

as friends and fellow musicians. If you feel your students are not 

performance ready, or your instrumentation is not quite where 

you want it to be, consider going for Comments Only to give your 

students feedback and encourage them to continue to grow as 

musicians. This can be a very exciting experience for your students 

and may support their decision to keep making music in the 

future. 

In conclusion, thank you, colleagues, for all that you have done 

and continue to do for band students across North Carolina. I 

know that each day brings new challenges, but please remember 

you chose this profession because you love it, you are great at it, 

you are paid for it, and most importantly… the world needs you! 

Award of Excellence 

The Award of Excellence is the most prestigious award we 

can give North Carolina Bandmasters who are active in the 

profession, and is a recognition of exceptional teaching, service, 

and contributions to the profession. Being chosen by your peers 

as an excellent teacher has to be one of the highest honors we can 

receive. 

Central District – Josh Cvijanovic 

Josh Cvijanovic is the director of bands at 

Cedar Ridge High School in Hillsborough, 

where he directs the symphonic band, wind 

ensemble, jazz ensembles I and II, and the 

Marching Red Wolves. He began his career 

at Eastern Randolph High School, where he 

taught for five years before becoming the 

second director to lead the band program 

of Cedar Ridge in 2014. His students 

frequently participate in collegiate, District, and State honor 

bands, including performances with the All-American Marching 

Band, the NAfME National Jazz Ensemble, and the Grammy Jazz 

Band. 

He has continued the success of the Cedar Ridge program with 

many notable performances, including a jazz ensemble I concert 


during the 2015 NCMEA Professional Development Conference, 

an invitation to the Savannah Music Festival in 2017, and High 

Point University recognizing the wind ensemble as an “Honor 

Band of North Carolina” in 2018. The concert and jazz ensembles 

receive consistent excellent and superior ratings at Jazz and 

Concert MPA annually. 

Cvijanovic is active with the NC Bandmasters Association and 

NCMEA, currently serving as the past chair for the Jazz section, 

the CDBA Central Region MPA site host, High School All-District 

Clinic chair, and Central Region Jazz treasurer. He is in demand 

as an adjudicator and clinician across the state for concert, jazz, 

and marching events. He has worked as a rehearsal assistant and 

conductor with the UNC Greensboro Summer Music Camp for 

eleven years, served as an educational consultant for Carolina 

Gold Drum and Bugle Corps, and in 2017 was a conductor with 

the Carolina Ambassador’s Honor Band, touring and performing 

in the U.K., France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and Italy. 

East Central District – Bobby Hinson 

Bobby Hinson is a 1986 graduate of 

Scotland High School in Laurinburg. He 

received his Bachelor of Music Education 

from East Carolina University in 1991, 

and his Master of Music from Temple 

University in 1993. He currently serves 

as band director at Salem Middle School, 

which is a multi-track year-round school in 

Apex. Prior to that, for eleven years he served 

as band director of East Millbrook Magnet Middle School in 

Raleigh. Bands under his direction have performed at the North 

Carolina Music Performance Adjudication festivals, and contest 

festivals in Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia. His students have 

placed in the All-County, All-District, and All-State Honors 

Bands. 

Hinson is a member of the American School Band Directors 

Association, NAfME, and the Central District Bandmasters 

Association. He has served as guest conductor and clinician for 

many honors bands from the mountains to the coast. He served 

on the staff of the East Carolina University Summer Band Camp 

from 1994 – 2009. He was an adjunct trumpet professor at 

Meredith College 2014 – 2016. 

Hinson is an active trumpet player, having played with Idina 

Menzel, Aretha Franklin, Perry Como, Johnny Mathis, Regis 

Philbin, Susan Lucci, Frank Sinatra, Jr., Olivia Newton John, 

Weird Al Yankovic, Bobby Vinton, Ben Vereen, The Four Tops, 

The Temptations, The O’Jays, The Harry James Orchestra, and 

many more. He also plays in the orchestra for many nationally 

touring Broadway musicals at the Durham Performing Arts 

Center in Raleigh. His longest running and proudest gig was 

with his father’s big band, the Lloyd Hinson Orchestra, where he 

began playing at the age of 14. 

Northwest Central District – Ted Neely 

Ted Neely, a native of Rock Hill, S.C., graduated from 

Appalachian State University in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree 

in music education. After spending a year teaching in Claxton, 

Georgia, he returned to North Carolina and assumed the 

directorship of the band at Foard High School (Catawba County). 

Under his leadership (1986 – 2011), 

the Foard High School band developed 

outstanding marching band, symphonic 

band, jazz band and winter guard programs. 

Neely was elected Foard’s Teacher of the 

Year three times during his tenure. 

In November 2004, the Foard Jazz 

Band, an after-school volunteer group, 

performed at the annual NCMEA Professional 

Development Conference. That same year, he was chosen to be the 

first chairman of the newly created Jazz Section of NCMEA. 

He received the fifth Annual UNC Greensboro Jazz Education 

Service Award from the Miles Davis Jazz Studies Program at the 

UNC Greensboro School of Music in 2008. From 2011 until his 

retirement in 2016, Neely was band director at Jacobs Fork Middle 

School (Catawba County). He was named JFMS’s Teacher of the 

Year in 2013 and 2015. 

He re-entered public school teaching in 2018 by accepting the 

part-time directorship of the band program at Mill Creek Middle 

School (Catawba County). He led the Band of Knights through 

COVID and returned to full-time retirement in May 2022. He 

served on the staff of Lenoir-Rhyne University’s “Spirit of LR” 

Marching Band from 2016 to 2019, and again in 2022. 

He serves as the assistant director LRU Summer Youth Music 

Camp, which he co-founded with Dr. Chris Nigrelli in 2013. Neely 

assumed the leadership of the concert band portion of the Newton 

Conover Area Community Band – Concert and Jazz in 2019 and 

continues to serve in that position. 

South Central District – Joshua Potter 

A native of Burlington, Joshua K Potter 

is currently the first director of bands at 

Palisades High School in Charlotte. For 

eleven years, he was director of bands at 

Raleigh’s Wakefield High School, beginning 

with its opening in 2000. He received his 

Bachelor of Music Education from the 

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 

and completed a Master’s in Wind Band 

Conducting at East Carolina University. 

Prior to his appointment at WHS, Potter served as the director 

of bands at West Rowan High School where he introduced full 

season competitive marching band. In addition, he served as the 

director of bands at Charlotte Catholic High School for the 2011 – 

2012 school year. During his time at Wakefield, the band program 

grew from a mere 40 students to more than 200. The Wakefield 

Band program developed into a comprehensive music education 

program that featured three concert ensembles, two jazz bands, a 

percussion ensemble studio, a winter percussion ensemble, four 

winter guards, a chamber music program, and a music theory and 

AP music theory program. 

The bands consistently earned top marks at all marching and 

concert band festivals and competitions. The marching band 

performed regularly across N.C. and the eastern United States, 

and was a Bands of America Regional Championship finalist on 

multiple occasions and Class Champion of the Massillon, Ohio 

Regional. The Maroon Winter Guard was a four-time Winter 

uncp.edu/music • music@uncp.edu • 910.521.6230 

UNCP is one of the most affordable universities in 

North Carolina. With NC Promise, undergraduate tuition 

at UNCP is $500 per semester for in-state students and 

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Guard International World Championships finalist and was 

promoted to Open Class after its fourth place finish in 2008. 

The Silver Winter Guard was a WGI Regional Championship 

finalist and Atlantic Indoor Association Scholastic A class Gold 

Medalist. The wind ensemble and concert bands earned consistent 

superior ratings at state Music Performance Adjudication events. 

The Wakefield band program was featured twice at the NCMEA 

Professional Development Conference, in 2005 and 2011. 

Southeastern District – Ryan McPhail 

Ryan McPhail is a native of Eastover, 

where he attended Cape Fear High School 

and graduated in 1990. He completed 

his undergraduate in Music Education at 

East Carolina University and studied with 

renowned percussion instructors Harold 

Jones and Mark Ford. McPhail has taught 

in Montgomery County, Richmond County, 

and Harnett County before returning to his 

roots at Mac Williams Middle School, where he assists Felicia 

MacNaught with the BIG MAC BAND. His children have both 

been a part of the band at Mac Williams Middle School. He also 

works as percussion instructor for the Cape Fear High School 

Marching Colts. He hopes his work as director, mentor, and 

private instructor encourages students to enjoy music for the rest 

of their life. 

Eastern District – Rod Reed 

Rod Reed is currently in his 25 th year as 

director of bands at John T. Hoggard High 

School in Wilmington, after teaching 10 

years in Illinois. He received his Bachelor 

of Arts in music education from Western 

Illinois University in 1987 as a firstgeneration 

college student. 

Under his direction, the Hoggard 

band program developed a competitive 

marching band program that has gone on to earn multiple grand 

championship awards and continued a tradition of excellence on 

the concert band stage, consistently earning excellent and superior 

ratings at NCBA Music Performance Adjudication performances 

in Grades IV, V, and VI. Reed’s passion for music education 

began as a saxophonist in his high school band program and his 

dedication to his vocation shows through his students today. 

He has a great fervor for student leadership and strives to 

develop superintendence as well as musicianship. He regularly 

keeps up with band alumni who have taken their skills into the 

business world and to the collegiate and professional stage. He 

has been a clinician for multiple Honor Bands including Craven 

County, Columbus County and The NCBA Eastern District 9/10 

All-District Band. 

He holds professional memberships in NAfME, NCMEA, 

and NCBA, and is the current secretary for the NCBA Eastern 

District. He also chairs the New Hanover County School All- 

County Band, NHCS Marching Band Showcase and the Cultural 

Arts Department at Hoggard High School. 

Western District – Tyson Hamrick 

Tyson Hamrick is currently in his seventh 

year as band director at Charles D. Owen 

High School in Black Mountain. Prior to 

that position, he served as band director at 

Charles D. Owen Middle School, and Enka 

Middle School. After graduating from Mars 

Hill College in 1994, he was band director 

at Mullins High School in Mullins, S.C. He 

returned to the mountains of western North 

Carolina in 1995. 

Over the past 29 years of his teaching career, students under 

his direction have earned honors at the county, district, and 

state levels. Hamrick has had bands selected to perform at the 

Lake Eden Arts Festival in Black Mountain, New Year’s Eve 

performances in Asheville, and performances in Universal Studios 

and Walt Disney World. He was chosen as the Teacher of the 

Year at Enka Middle School in 1999, and as the Teacher of the 

Year at Owen Middle School in 2011. He was also named the 

Owen District Teacher of the Year and was honored as the First 

Runner Up Teacher of the Year for Buncombe County Schools in 

2011. He currently serves as the Auditions chair for the Western 

District. He served as a member of the Asheville Jazz Council 

and as a member of the Buncombe County Fine Arts Advisory 

Board. In addition to NCMEA and NAFME, his professional 

affiliations include Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and the National Band 

Association. 

Hall of Fame Inductees 

Founded in 2002, the NCBA Hall of Fame honors retired or 

deceased NCBA members who made significant contributions 

to the improvement of music education and betterment of the 

teaching profession. Criteria includes active service in North 

Carolina for a period of not less than ten years, demonstration 

of excellence in the teaching of music, consistent maintenance 

of a well-balanced band program with active participation in 

various activities of the organization, and fulfillment of the 

highest ideal and professional integrity during the time of service. 

Congratulations to the following 2022 inductees! 

Alice Aldredge 

Alice Adkins Aldredge is a member 

of the South Carolina Band Directors 

Association, NAfME, Women Band 

Directors International, and the prestigious 

American School Band Directors 

Association. She is currently serving 

as past president of the North Carolina 

Bandmasters Association and recently 

retired from teaching in North Carolina. 

She has worked as a clinician and adjudicator for marching 

and concert bands in Texas, Mississippi, Virginia, North Carolina, 

and South Carolina. Before relocating to South Carolina, she was 

the director of bands at Northwest Cabarrus Middle School. Other 

teaching experience includes nine years working as the director of 

bands at Croatan High School in Newport, N.C. 

During her tenure at Croatan, the program garnered national 

recognition at Bands of America and Winter Guard International 

Championship events. Additionally, she has been an educator 

in Scotland and Robeson counties. Personal accolades include 

NCBA Award of Excellence for Southeastern District and Teacher 

of the Year awards from Carver Middle School and Northwest 

Cabarrus Middle School. Her bands have received consistent 

superior ratings in Grades II, III, IV, V, and VI literature, and 

her ensembles have performed for the NCMEA Professional 

Development Conference, Bands of America Regional Concert 

Band Festival, Bands of America Regional and Grand National 

Marching Band Championships, and Winterguard International 

Regional and World Championships. She has continually placed 

students in All-District Bands, North Carolina All-State Honors 

Band, North Carolina All-State Honors Orchestra, North Carolina 

Eastern Region Jazz Ensemble and North Carolina All-State Jazz 

Ensemble. 

Robert “Bob” Black 

Robert Black came to Mount Holly 

after completing military service in World 

War II and graduating from Shenandoah 

Conservatory with a teaching degree 

in music. He began teaching band and 

chorus at Mount Holly High School in 

1950, building the music program into one 

recognized not only in Gaston County, but 

statewide. 

The Mount Holly High School Marching Band received 

honors through invitations to march in Chicago’s Christmas 

parade in 1953 and in Miami during the Orange Bowl in 1957. 

At football games in Mount Holly, a new halftime show was 

produced each and every time. The infamous ‘Lights Out” 

halftime shows were always a crowd favorite with majorettes 

twirling fire batons and band members with shoulder harnessed 

flashlights covered in various colors of cellophane. The concert 

band was also exceptional and went to the North Carolina State 

Band Contest in 1964,1965, 1967, and 1970, receiving four 

superiors. In 1970, Mayor Raymond Moore and the Mount Holly 

City Council recognized the Mount Holly High School Band 

for the way it represented the town in such a distinguished and 

admirable manner. 

When Mount Holly High School closed in 1972, he continued 

at Mount Holly Junior High and began teaching at the newly 

formed East Gaston High School. The senior band class of 

1976 was his last at East Gaston, but he continued at both 

Stanley Junior High and Mount Holly Junior High Schools until 

1985. Among his individual honors, Black was named Mount 

Holly’s Man of the Year in 1962 and later was inducted into the 

Bandmaster Association in 1976. 

Mayor Charles Black of Mount Holly proclaimed June 12, 

1985 “Robert H. Black Day.” The mayor’s proclamation describes 

Bob Black’s service beautifully: “His 35 years of service in 

Mount Holly School System were marked by outstanding loyalty 

and devotion to the youth of our community, teaching hundreds 

of boys and girls, along with being a friend and counselor to them 

and their parents... His sphere of influence has extended beyond 

the classroom into the life of our community, enriching and 

improving life for all of us…” 

Lesli Clowes 

Lesli Clowes is the assistant director 

of bands at Providence Day School 

in Charlotte, a position she has held 

since 2016. Clowes has a Bachelor of 

Music Education, with a concentration 

in instrumental music, from Duquesne 

University in Pittsburgh, Penn., a Master 

of Music with a concentration in wind 

conducting from Winthrop University, and 

is a National Board Certified Teacher. 

She has more than 35 years experience teaching elementary, 

middle and high school band. Prior to her current position, 

she served as director of bands at Crestdale Middle School in 

Matthews for 18 years, receiving 17 consecutive superior ratings 

at North Carolina MPA and an invitation to perform at the 

NCMEA Professional Development Conference in 2009. 

Other teaching experiences include over 30 years as the color 

guard instructor at East Mecklenburg High School, director of 

bands at Spaugh Middle School, and an elementary band director 

in several Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools. She was one of the 

conductors for the 2017 North Carolina Ambassadors of Music 

European Tour. 

She continues to be active as a clinician and adjudicator for 

both concert and marching bands. She has served as a member of 

the board of directors for the South Central District Bandmasters 

Association and is a past chair for the South Central District 

Bandmasters Association. Clowes enjoys sharing her passion for 

music with young musicians and strives to foster an appreciation 

for the arts through playing an instrument. 

Scott Clowes 

Scott Clowes started on the faculty at 

East Mecklenburg High School in 1987, 

serving as assistant director of bands. In 

1992, he was named director of bands at 

East Mecklenburg High School. During this 

time, he also served as an assistant director 

at McClintock and Crestdale Middle 

Schools. 

Clowes graduated from Duquesne 

University in Pittsburgh, Penn., with a Bachelor of Science in 

music education. While there, he studied music history with 

Joseph Wilcox Jenkins, brass with Dr. Donald S. Reinhardt, and 

Rodger Sherman of the Pittsburgh Symphony. He completed his 

master’s degree at Winthrop University, under the direction of 

Dr. William Malambri. While teaching at East Mecklenburg High 

School, he earned his National Board Certification in instrumental 

music. 

His marching and concert bands consistently received superior 

ratings and first place awards. These include over one hundred 

superior ratings at marching band festivals and 27 superior ratings 

at North Carolina State Concert Festival. His symphonic band 

performed at the 2001 North Carolina State Music Educators 

Conference. Since 1994, his bands have commissioned and 

premiered seven works for band including Britannic Variants by 

Elliot Del Borgo, Century Point by Robert Sheldon, Twin Oaks 


y James Barnes, Inventions from “The Sacred Harp” by James 

Curnow, Chase by Dr. W. Francis McBeth, Forever Shining by 

James Swearingen and Evocatio by Brian Balmages. 

Raiford “Ray” Landreth 

Raiford Ivy Landreth, better known as 

Ray, worked as a band director in Virginia 

and North Carolina. He spent the last 18 

years of his career as the director of band 

at Concord High School, where he retired. 

Upon his death in 2000, the band room was 

dedicated and named after him as well as an 

award dedicated to his memory named the 

Raiford Ivy Landreth Excellence in Music 

Award. 

During his time as a band director, Landreth directed multiple 

bands to receive superior ratings at MPA (concert festival) as well 

as direct award winning marching bands. His bands performed 

in Ireland as musical ambassadors representing the City of 

Concord, N.C. Many of his students were selected for honors such 

as county band, district band and state honors band. He held all 

of his students to high standards and taught with discipline and 

compassion. 

Under his direction, the Concord High School Band was a 

state and regionally recognized program with a reputation and 

record of high level musical performances. They performed 

at the highest level across the state, outside of the state, and 

internationally. Landreth was known throughout the state for his 

bands, and for the high level performers that came through the 

program due to his instruction. 

At Concord High School, he taught the students to work and 

live “with Pride.” He participated in the South Central District of 

North Carolina and was awarded the Award of Excellence in 1986. 

He inspired many students throughout his 36 years of education 

to be their best selves and to love music as he did. Many of his 

students continue to participate in musical activities; some were 

inspired to be music teachers. 

NAfME Professional Learning 

Community Webinar 

Building a Better Brass Section 

Wednesday, January 25, 7-8p.m. EST 

Dennis Edelbrock will offer many creative ways to 

build your brass section. Upper range, sound quality, and 

performance anxiety, among other concepts, will all be 

discussed with proven ways of improving your students’ 

technical abilities. Four main “tools” will be used to 

develop range, endurance, and sound quality. All will be 

demonstrated during the clinic, and audience members 

will be invited to participate. In addition, the psychological 

components of playing and improving will be discussed. 

These will include confidence, leadership, and performance 

anxiety with fresh ideas about how to enhance your 

students’ solo and ensemble participation. All of these 

strategies will be interfaced and integrated to enhance each 

other. The result will be SMART goals that all can carry 

away to guarantee improvement! The session will be of 

interest to band directors and teachers of brass instruments 

at ALL levels and ages. 

Dennis Edelbrock 

Described by the Washington Post as having “incredible 

technique” and performing with “reckless abandon”, 

Dennis Edelbrock has had a performing career spanning 

48 states and 14 foreign countries. As a member of the U.S. 

Army Band and the Army Brass Quintet for 35 years, he 

was tasked with performing and producing White House 

concerts and internationally televised historical events 

including presidential state funerals and inaugurations, as 

well as international Olympic events. He was awarded the 

Legion of Merit by the U.S. Army in 2010. 

As a soloist he has been featured in Contact, Wag 

the Dog, and Gardens of Stone, and in the Spielberg film 

(Dreamworks 2013) Lincoln, which garnered several 

academy awards. More recently, Edelbrock was nominated 

for a GRAMMY Music Educator Award. He is professor 

of trumpet at George Mason University, where he has 

been awarded an Excellence in Teaching Award. As the 

founder and executive director of the National Trumpet 

Competition, Edelbrock has overseen the growth and 

development of the largest instrument competition in the 

world, which now has over 10 million downloads of its 

educational and performance YouTube archives. 

Register now: 

https://bit.ly/BetterBrassSection 

After registering, you will 

receive a confirmation email 

containing information about 

joining the meeting. 

Elementary 

Greetings! It is my pleasure to introduce myself, Joseph 

Girgenti, as your Elementary Section chair. I am currently 

the general music teacher and band director at Walter 

Bickett Elementary School in Union County. I graduated from 

Wingate University in 2015 with a Bachelor of Music Education, 

and from East Carolina University in 2018 with a Master of Music. 

While I am only in my eighth year of teaching, I am proud 

and honored to serve NCMEA and the Elementary Section 

over the next two years. Males are often underrepresented in 

elementary education, and even more 

so in elementary music. I am truly 

humbled by this historic moment in 

our organization, as I am the first male 

Elementary Section chair. 

My goal for the Elementary Section 

is to provide meaningful opportunities 

to connect and collaborate throughout 

the year. We have spent the last year 

reconnecting with everyone postpandemic 

through our Elementary Music 

Matters newsletter. Each newsletter 

includes updates from each district 

– events, celebrations, and more. We 

can only spread the word of all the 

awesome things happening in our 

state if we know about them. If you are 

currently not receiving our quarterly 

newsletter, please contact me or your 

District Representative to get on our 

mailing list. You may also complete this form https://forms.gle/ 

xXWAkueeDKuZYLqq6 and we will contact you! 

I believe we all have something important to learn from 

one another. And in the spirit of collaboration, I am excited to 

announce that the NCMEA Elementary Mini-Conference will 

be held on Saturday, April 22 at UNC Wilmington. The Spring 

Mini-Conference is an opportunity to get together, share best 

practices, learn from each other, and network. Session proposals 

are being accepted through January 13 via this link: https://forms. 

gle/9yZnswndzkBvQGaA8. We are offering all current college 

music education students in North Carolina free registration. In 

addition, UNC Wilmington is offering free parking for the day 

to all registered attendees. Lunch will also be included in your 

Joseph Girgenti, Chair 

registration cost. More registration information will go out in our 

next newsletter. 

We are also working to bring future collaborations between the 

NCMEA General Music and Exceptional Children’s Committee, 

the Inclusive Vision for Music Education (IVfME), Kodály 

Educators of North Carolina, and North Carolina chapters of the 

American Orff-Schulwerk Association. If you are a part of any 

of these committees or organizations and would like to help us, 

please reach out. Our goal for these connections is to expand our 

professional network and to offer additional 

professional development to all elementary 

teachers in North Carolina. 

At our fall Conference, the Elementary 

Honors Chorus came back in full swing! 

The performance was absolutely stunning. 

Hearing “How Sweet the Sound,” our 

commissioned piece performed live brought 

tears to so many listening. Congratulations to 

the students, teachers, and parents for their 

dedication and participation. 

I am also pleased to announce our 2022 

Elementary Teacher of the Year is Lindsay 

Williams from Onslow County. We are 

honored to have her serving our board as the 

Recording Secretary. She gives 110 percent to 

all she does, which was clearly evident in her 

recommendation letters by her supervisors 

and colleagues. 

Our fall business meeting brought us some newly elected and 

appointed board members. Please welcome: 

Chair-Elect: Jeannine DuMond 

Member-at-Large: Janae Copeland 

Member-at-Large: Karen Franks 

District 3 Rep: Amy Sullivan 

District 5 Rep: Marc Bryan 

District 8 Rep: Cara Henry 

As a board, we represent you. At any time, please contact me or 

any board member with comments, questions, or suggestions. 

Have a wonderful new year! 


y Hunter Kopczynski 

Body language is an important aspect of communication and 

provides nuance, meaning, and depth to our words. How we 

tilt our heads, engage our eyes, or hold our arms often says 

more about what we believe than our words. Similarly, we learn 

to read and interpret the body language of our students as we try 

to gauge their comprehension. Body language and proximity are 

important tools in classroom management and engagement. How 

we move is a subconscious aspect of our daily lives, a significant 

component of dialogue, and an indicator of honesty, empathy, and 

passion for the words we are speaking. 

Yet, when we start conducting, sometimes this level of honesty, 

empathy, and passion is lost. Usually our gesture shows who and 

when. Sometimes we are able to show what and how. But how 

often does our conducting inspire a dialogue: a true exchange 

of non-verbal ideas, where we give students the opportunity to 

see and hear, why? How we carry our bodies to move our arms 

not only impacts the sound of our ensemble but also student 

engagement. Let’s consider conducting through a few unusual 

lenses that will transform student engagement, your rehearsal 

environment, and how students listen. 

Body Language 

We must engage and quickly connect with our students. As 

mentioned, there are classic engagement tools rooted in body 

language. Consider how you stand when speaking, opening your 

torso and being aware of your shoulders, moving around the room 

to refocus attention, and the use of proximity. But how often do we 

connect this awareness to our conducting? 

Everything we do in a rehearsal has the opportunity to engage 

or disengage our students. We are fortunate to engage them 

through how we deliver instruction but also the music itself. Each 

level of engagement (the student, the content, and the delivery) 

should be connected. The warm up/fundamentals time connects to 

the repertoire we are working on. Similarly, how we move should 

be related to the style of the piece we are rehearsing. When I say 

how we move, I mean any movement – not just conducting. 

I’m a fast talker and a fast walker – but if we’re working on 

a slow chorale-like piece, I speak slowly and in the style of the 

music. I walk slowly around the room, bring my arms up in a 

Conducting 

Communication 

way that will inspire the students to think about the music before 

they even take a breath to play. I want to connect my energy to 

the music and engage students through the emotional and musical 

space that the piece will create. Likewise, if we’re working on 

a fast piece, I want the students to feel the energy, pulse, and 

drive before I even get on the podium. The mood of the rehearsal 

doesn’t start when you step on the podium, it starts with how 

you interact with the students and the space. Likewise, the music 

begins before the first note, and our students need to be engaged 

with the music they are about to make well before the first breath. 

Similarly, how we breathe 

and how we engage our torso is 

incredibly important to the sound you 

will make. If we talk about breath to 

our students, our gesture and how we 

move must reinforce that. Gestures 

must reinforce what we are saying, 

otherwise we train our students 

to not watch. Craig Kirchhoff, 

professor emeritus of conducting 

Craig Kirchhoff 

at the University of Minnesota, refers 

to the torso as “the ultimate source of 

truth, energy, projection, conviction, and emotion.” 1 Your torso 

and how you balance your weight through your core provide the 

full range of human emotion: happiness, sadness, anger, empathy, 

vulnerability. Consider how someone’s torso looks when they are 

afraid, confident, or happy. A frequent Kirchhoff-ism is to “smile” 

with your torso. The breath and its connection to your torso should 

convey and engage students more deeply than “breathe together, 

play together.” 

The eyes confirm what the torso says. Truth exists in how 

we look at someone. There is incredible communicative power 

through eye contact. Of course, this requires understanding 

and internalization of the music, but consider how much more 

effective we are when our eyes are connected with the students’. 

Eye contact opens endless opportunity for expressivity. The face 

and eyes relay emotion in the music, but more importantly, they 

offer students support and encouragement. The eyes are more 

than a way to cue an entrance, but are key to providing feedback, 

empathy, and celebration. Smile! Nothing is more powerful than 

showing the joy you have in making music with your students. 

By considering how we use our posture, torso, eye contact and 

facial expression, we engage more deeply with our students and 

allow them the opportunity to respond authentically to our gesture. 

An engaging verbal conversation involves eye contact, body 

language, and responsive energy, and these are also essential to 

engaging and communicative conducting. 

Directing Listening 

Conducting is more facilitation 

than direction. There is an analogy: 

conducting can be like playing traffic 

cop; stop, go, faster, slower. I try and 

avoid directional conducting and instead 

strive for communicational conducting. 

Rehearsals are more efficient when 

students understand their role in the 

ensemble, what they have ownership 

over (characteristic sound/individual 

tone, notes, rhythm, individual 

Travis Cross 

dynamics, even pulse/tempo), and how 

a conductor can influence their listening. One of the first steps to 

direct their listening is giving them nothing to look at. 

It is important to move about the room. Get off the podium, 

even sit amongst the students. This allows you to hear individuals 

without having them play by themselves. This allows you to 

connect quickly with students, and challenges them to listen to 

each other and not rely on you for the beat. Use unusual seating 

arrangements – different instrument groupings, a large circle, 

percussion in the front of the room – and have them start with a 

breath rather than your downbeat. Encourage students to move 

and maintain eye contact with each other while playing. Approach 

band like chamber music, and your ensembles will listen better. 

Groups who listen and respond to what they hear allow the 

conductor to facilitate what the ensemble cannot perceive or know. 

Even the youngest groups need not rely on us for pulse. Focus 

their listening to the steady beat rather than watching you for every 

beat. We can show them musical possibility and opportunities to 

play beyond the page when students do not need to rely on us for 

what their sheet music already says. 

Encourage your students to watch your conducting to 

understand how they should move their air, where the line is 

going, and how to fit their sound within the ensemble. Assuming 

students are playing with a good tone, when there are pitch issues 

the problem can often be solved when the students know where to 

blend. Use your gesture to show them where to fit their sound. 

When a melody is broken up across many sections, use your 

gesture to connect the line and direct the ensemble to listen for 

line – to match what is happening before them and lead their voice 

into what comes next. If tempo is slowing, get out of the way and 

conduct smaller: this allows you to move faster, but students are 

reminded to listen and move together. When the ensemble has a 

thin sound at soft dynamics, elongate your torso and stand taller 

while making your gesture smaller to remind students to use 

more air. These are subconscious actions, but they will trigger a 

response from your ensemble as we connect how we use our body 

to how we facilitate sound and listening. 

One step to being a better conductor is to ensure your ensemble 

listens more, and consider how your conducting inspires listening. 

By empowering the ensemble to respond to what they hear through 

the focus and guidance provided by gesture, students are able 

to develop their ensemble skills. An ensemble that aggressively 

listens is given the autonomy to grow as creative and expressive 

musicians, understanding that conducting focuses their listening to 

what they cannot see on the page. 

Conducting is a feedback loop: the 

conductor prepares sound a certain 

way, the student responds through their 

playing, the conductor then affirms 

or corrects. Travis Cross, director 

of bands at UCLA, explains that 

conducting is situational and gestures 

are transactional. 2 Our role is to 

translate and decode what only we can 

hear in front of the ensemble, and then 

offer visual stimulus to the ensemble 

that influences how they listen. But are 

we really listening to how the group 

responds to our gesture? Did they do what we have shown them? 

If not the entire group, maybe one student or section did. Focus the 

ensemble’s listening there. If the ensemble did not respond to your 

gesture, consider a different way to show it. 

Conducting should be collaborative. It is a visual language 

that allows us to exchange ideas, communicate, correct, and 

respond. To maximize this collaboration, our gestures need to 

be economical, efficient, and expressive. Consider if what we 

are showing is helpful or actually training our students not to 

watch. Conducting larger when the ensemble is dragging, for 

example, is counterintuitive. Too much visual information can 

be overwhelming and distorts their ability to really listen and 

communicate with each other. This causes a break in the feedback 

loop. “If you conduct everything, you end up conducting nothing,” 

is absolutely true. Showing too much means the ensemble is 

unaware of where to watch, so they stop watching all together. 

Effective communication involves body language, facial 

expressions, and engaged listening. When our conducting is most 

effective, we communicate more information than simply what 

the students see on their page. We inspire their concept of sound 

by how we use space, we focus articulation and connect air and 

lines in how we use our arms, we affirm and encourage by how 

we use our face, and we challenge them to listen more deeply 

and engage with each other. Conducting is more than a tool to 

help the ensemble play together. It’s a way to inspire a mood, 

affect sound in real time, focus listening, and most importantly, 

it’s an opportunity to engage our students through meaningful 

communication. 

References 

1 

Craig Kirchhoff, Is Your Conducting Hurting or Helping Your 

28 | NORTH CAROLINA MUSIC EDUCATOR NORTH CAROLINA MUSIC EDUCATOR | 29 

Ensemble. 

2 

Travis Cross, The Conductor’s Role. (Texas Music Educators 

Convention, San Antonio, TX, February 13, 2020).

Middle School Choral 

Emily Turner, Chair 

Across the Districts 

I’m so grateful to the middle school choral membership 

for electing me as chairperson and entrusting me with this 

important role. I would like to take a moment to thank our 

outgoing chairperson, Carla Reid, for her leadership over the 

past two years, particularly with all the changes the pandemic 

presented us during her term. 

Her leadership and calm demeanor allowed us all to focus on 

the elements of teaching that we were able to control. She stayed 

up to date with the latest research, informing us all so that we 

could be the best possible teachers for our students. I’m thankful 

to have such a wonderful resource in our past chair position. 

For those who may not know me, my name is Emily 

Turner and I am the vocal music director at Cary Academy, an 

independent school in Cary. I teach choral music to grades six 

through twelve, and prior to teaching at Cary Academy, worked 

for nine years in Wake County Public high schools. 

I am also the associate artistic director of the newly renamed 

Raleigh Youth Choir. I believe my experience in public, private, 

and community settings, as well as my experience with both 

middle and high school choral students, will provide a unique 

perspective that can help find commonalities to bridge the middle 

and high school choral programs in our state. I have served 

the NCMEA Middle School Choral board since 2016, first as 

secretary, then as chair-elect. 

As we start back to the routines of rehearsals and 

performances this new year, I want to encourage you to take part 

in the student activities available to us this year, which are full 

of valuable musical experiences for you and your students. Each 

event provides lasting memories that will continue to build and 

strengthen your relationships and will encourage student bonding 

that is so needed in your ensembles. 

I hope you are already poring through your repertoire to find 

your two contrasting pieces for Music Performance Adjudication 

(MPA). Remember, each group you take to MPA will be required 

to participate in sight reading, but don’t let that scare you! You 

can choose the sight reading level that works best for your 

ensembles, regardless of their experience. You and your students 

will grow tremendously by going through the process of preparing 

for, and participating in, MPA. The calendar of MPA dates for the 

entire state can be found on the MS Choral page of the NCMEA 

website under Student Events. 

Please be aware of the March 1 deadline for All-State student 

registration. All-State will be held at the Greensboro Coliseum on 

April 14 – 15. Our clinicians this year are Alex Gartner, Dr. Eric 

Johnson, and Dr. Bridget Sweet. Our general meeting will be held 

on Friday evening, when we will announce the Honors Chorus 

audition piece for 2023. All All-State questions should go to our 

coordinator, Angel Rudd, at middleschoolallstate@gmail.com. 

I’m looking forward to spending the next two years as 

your chairperson. Please feel free to reach out to me with any 

questions, comments, or thoughts at mschoral_chair@ncmea.net. 

District 2 

Welcome from District 2, which includes counties in 

the Southeastern part of our wonderful state. I’m Bob 

Norem, the current District 2 president. I’m currently 

in my 27 th year of teaching, 21 of those being at Topsail Middle 

School in Hampstead. 

I hope those who came to our annual conference in November 

came back to school refreshed and recharged. It was inspiring 

hearing the music of Randall Standridge, Omar Thomas, uplifting 

keynotes from Dr. Peter 

Boonshaft and attending the 

wonderful performances and 

informances. Thanks goes out 

to David Stroud, band director 

of Newport Middle School, 

who brought his beginning 

sixth grade band to conference 

and took them through a 

typical rehearsal. I also hope 

all the countless performances 

throughout your first semester 

and holiday season went well. 

The 2022 – 2023 year is, for 

many of us, our first “normal” 

year since 2017. In the past five 

years many of us dealt with 

Hurricane Florence and then 

surviving the “P” word which 

changed our lives, and our 

students lives forever. School 

bands, orchestras and choruses were decimated during the 

pandemic and we’re building back. 

Our programs were destroyed by the pandemic, but we’re 

finally able to start rebuilding them. 

Many of us are just beginning to see the numbers in our 

programs rise back to pre-pandemic levels and are optimistic that 

trend will continue. This fall, we saw this new normal in action 

through many concerts and events. In the Orchestra world, we saw 

the New Hanover All-County Orchestra’s clinic and performance. 

In the band world, many marching band competitions took place 

including those at Havelock, White Oak, Northside, Greene 

Central, and Topsail high schools. Many wonderful Veteran’s Day 

performances were held such as Laura Black’s students’ program at 

Rocky Point Elementary. 

Southeastern North Carolina is also full of many extracurricular 

ensembles our students can perform in. Just in the 

Wilmington area we have several choral groups: The Girl’s Choir 

of Wilmington, Sandy Errante, director; Wilmington Boys Choir, 

Ronnie Wise, director; UNCW-CMA Chorus, Wendi Kittlaus, 

director; and the Coastal Community Youth Choir, Amanda 

Allred and Bethany Borden, directors. 

In the Instrumental 

World, we have the following 

ensembles: Carteret Collective, 

Andy Wright, Mike Self, David 

Stroud, Jason Robison, directors; 

The Wilmington Symphony 

Orchestra Junior Strings, Lisa 

Gattuso, director; and the 

Wilmington Symphony Youth 

Orchestra, Linda Estep, director. 

If you have students interested 

in any of these ensembles, send 

me a message and I can send you 

their contact information. 

I hope your programs 

continue to grow during this 

second half of the school year. 

Good luck to all those working 

on music for your annual Music 

Performance Adjudications, 

students performing in the Southeastern and Eastern District 

All-District Bands clinics, Eastern Region Orchestras and the 

countless All-County ensembles throughout the district. Music is 

indeed alive and well in Southeastern North Carolina! 

Bob Norem 

District 2 President 

District2@ncmea.net 


Portrait of a Graduate 

competency skills seen in a music 

classroom 


How many times have you sat in a professional development 

workshop or meeting and thought to yourself, “I do these 

things in my music education classroom all the time and 

always have!” I’d venture to guess, the answer is a resounding, 

“Many!” Truth be told, music educators have been doing the 

trendy and cutting edge things in education all along. 

This once again became apparent to me through an 

introduction to the North Carolina Department of Instruction’s 

new initiative, “Portrait of a Graduate.” This initiative, “ensures 

that North Carolina students are well equipped for the broadest 

range of postsecondary opportunities, be it college, career, or 

military.” Similarly to the years of teaching 21 st 

Century learning skills, this portrait is a set of 

competency skills for a student’s future; and 

true to years prior, the music classroom is a 

living example of many of these ideals. 

North Carolina identifies seven areas in 

which these competencies are detailed. In a 

changing educational landscape, one in which 

accountability and validity are paramount for 

program security, there is a need to identify 

how these competencies live and breathe in 

a music classroom. Here are a few examples 

we can use when speaking to parents and 

administrators to showcase that music 

education is a vital and authentic part of a 

well-rounded education – one that prepares students for all postsecondary 

opportunities. 

Adaptability 

One of the skills listed under this competency that rings truest 

in a music classroom is, “Accept feedback, praise, setbacks, and 

criticism.” Our culture is in desperate need of this. Teaching 

future generations to graciously accept criticism and learn 

from it to move forward seems more paramount than ever. A 

music rehearsal or an audition is by far the most comprehensive 

example of this. Each day, each moment, each rehearsal is another 

opportunity for a student to create these skills. We teach them 

How many times 

has a student told 

you, “Your class 

was my family”? 

No doubt, we’ve 

all heard it many 

times. 

to try and fail, and try again. Not everyone can win first place, 

but the growth that comes from that outcome teaches them to 

rebound from what some consider a setback. In fact, the Music 

Performance Assessment through NCMEA is a perfect way to 

teach students how to accept feedback and criticism. 

Collaboration 

“Embrace a variety of roles in a group as a participant and 

a leader” speaks whole heartedly to the core of a strong music 

education classroom. Whether it is through an official leadership 

position (ie. section leaders, drum major, etc.) or more subtle 

roles (leaders of a musical game or literacy activities) the music 

classroom is a hallmark of establishing 

leadership in students. Additionally, teaching 

them the flexibility to shift from role to role 

creates a future workforce employers want. 

But most importantly, music ensembles are a 

true melting pot of any school. Unlike a testing 

scenario in other classrooms, the variety of 

backgrounds, skills, talents and experiences 

not only disappear in a performance as we 

work for a common goal, but may even make it 

stronger, more impactful! 

Communication 

“You hear me, but you aren’t listening!” 

Many would argue the digital age has 

perpetuated the decline of communication skills among students. 

Being a member of a performing ensemble does force students to 

learn to communicate better, both on a one-on-one level as well 

as on a broader spectrum. “Craft communication for a range of 

purposes and audiences” is exactly what this speaks to. It goes 

beyond the lyrics of a song so an audience can understand what 

you are singing about. Communication is not always verbal; 

just ask a marching band adjudicator looking to band members 

to communicate the show story. Or a choir parent who may 

not understand Latin, but can ascertain the emotion the choir 

portrays to communicate the meaning of an a capella piece. All of 

these are vital to learning communication skills. 

Critical Thinking 

Many times in a rehearsal, we ask students, “What measure 

did you miss? In what phrase did you accidentally take a breath?” 

Answers from young musicians for questions like these are 

straightforward and while they are the basis of error detection, 

diving deeper is even more prevalent for music education. The 

competency skill highlighted by North Carolina, “Analyze, assess, 

and reconstruct personal thought processes” is what this deeper 

dive looks like. 

Whether it’s an introspective look at what a song means 

to each student, or critical assessment on a performance, we 

impart these skills as an intrinsic need in the life of a musician. 

As musicians, we know that the critical thinking skills needed 

to be a successful musician are of a higher order – more so than 

most other people realize. In a live performance, our students 

must rely on these critical skills in order to produce the music as 

we’ve rehearsed. In a rehearsal, we can stop a dozen times, but in 

a concert, the necessity of those skills are primarily in the minds 

of our performers. It’s not just about recalling knowledge, like 

taking an end of course test; it combines that recall with all other 

competencies simultaneously. 

Learner’s Mindset 

We often ask students to offer opinions on choices we make 

musically. When we collaboratively discuss and choose, students 

can think outside their comfort zone to come to a decision we 

all commit to for the greater good. While this is not always seen 

or written by the individual students, the evidence is in their 

performance. But more importantly they, “Embrace curiosity 

to experience new ideas, demonstrate growth, and persist 

through challenges.” Music educators are masters at teaching 

this competency skill. Learning music is hard. We should want 

students to want to learn through this mindset – to commit to 

trying new concepts to make a positive change. 

Empathy 

Of all of the competency skills included in this new initiative, 

empathy is the most inclusive part of a music classroom. Each 

day we work hard to, “Foster belonging and trust through mutual 

respect and dialogue.” How many times has a student told you, 

“Your class was my family”? No doubt we’ve all heard it many 

times. Learning to be an accepting and functioning member of 

any performing ensemble requires students to trust the people 

around them to create a safe learning environment. They must do 

their jobs each and every time, or success can not be achieved. 

Music educators are tasked with fostering this in every 

teaching moment. While we may go about this in different 

ways, most often we can be leaders in our school in this regard. 

Additionally, throughout history, music has been created as a 

response to the world around us. In times of sorrow and joy, music 

is written and performed. These moments help teach our students 

about empathy and respect in a world that needs more of it. 

Personal Responsibility 

“Honor commitments.” Teaching students to show up to 

performances may be the most obvious example of teaching 

personal responsibility. But there are so many levels of such 

responsibility. Each of the examples of this competency skill 

speaks straight to the heart of any music educator. “Adhere to a set 

of core values that are evident in choices and actions” and “Earn 

trust and respect through honest, principled behaviors” are both 

what makes the music classroom such a special place. It is only 

through trust, respect and honesty that we create moments of 

music making that last a lifetime. 

Though “Portrait of a Graduate’’ is a new initiative put forth 

by North Carolina, it is another living, breathing example of all 

the ways music educators prepare students for post-secondary 

opportunities. We have consistently proven we are the builders 

of well-rounded students, ready to take on the world. As the 

state focuses on these competencies, we can choose to be leaders 

to other educators, all the while, continuing to give students 

incredible opportunities to grow as musicians and humans. 

Check out https://www.dpi.nc.gov/media/15672/open to read 

more about “Portrait of a Graduate.” 


883-C Washington Street 

Raleigh, NC 27605 

NAfME 

GRASSROOTS 

ACTION CENTER 

Add Your Voice to the Legislative Process 

On the NAfME Grassroots Action Center page, you can: 

• Support music education in federal education policy 

• Get involved with the legislative process 

• Engage your members of Congress 

Go to bit.ly/NAfMEgrassroots (case-sensitive) and 

take action today. 

34 | NORTH CAROLINA MUSIC EDUCATOR

North Carolina Music Educator Winter 2023

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