TN Musician Vol. 76 No. 2

TMEA Presidential Candidate
LINZIE MULLINS
this year's conference.
LINZIE MULLINS is extremely
honored to be a nominee
for President-Elect of an
organization that serves music
educators and students across
her home state. Her passion for
quality professional development
and creating a safe, equitable,
and positive environment for all
students is contagious, and she
looks forward to learning and
working with her colleagues at
Linzie Mullins is an Orff Music Specialist at Snowden School,
where she also currently serves as a Mentor Teacher with
Memphis-Shelby County Schools and an AOSA Orff Movement
Teacher Educator. Mullins is a recent recipient of the CMA
Foundation Music Teachers of Excellence Award (2019 &
2021) and the TMEA Outstanding Young Music Educator of the
Year (2019). She currently serves as the WTGMEA secretary
and the Memphis Chapter of the American Orff Schulwerk
Association (MCAOSA) vice president. In the past, she has
served as the State General Music Chair of the Tennessee
Music Education Association, treasurer of MCAOSA, and
president of WTGMEA. She has presented several workshops
including AOSA, TMEA, ArkMEA, MSMEA, and District
Learning Days for Memphis-Shelby County Schools. Linzie
earned her undergraduate degree in K-12 Music Education
from the University of Tennessee at Martin, a master’s degree
in Instruction and Curriculum Leadership as well as her
English as a Foreign Language Certificate from The University
of Memphis, and her Administrator's Certification from
Christian Brothers University. She also attained Orff Levels
I, II, III, and Masterclass through the University of Memphis.
She is a current foster mom, a mom of two sons, Jesse and
Bentley, and the wife of Ray Mullins, who is also an Orff music
specialist and member of TMEA.
VISION STATEMENT
The future of TMEA lies not only in the music educators and
music students, but the entire music community. What would
our conference look like if we catered to the parents and
district personnel that come? How can we professionally
develop our band booster parents, our elementary school
parents, our PTO presidents, etc.? It would not only allow
more financial freedom (we know that parents and community
members are the people who spend money at our conferences
on t-shirts, food, and hotel rooms), but also an opportunity
for the community to join forces all over the state. As music
educators, we love our conference reunion, so how can we
make that possible for the community members who also
come? TMEA has such strong programs within our state, but
we can make it even stronger by partnering with our families
and supporters by providing them with something as simple
as a room to sit in together and collaborate and as complex as
a platform for them to stay in touch and provide professional
development both virtually and in-person throughout the
year. Also, filling that hole between elementary school and
high school by offering performing ensembles for our middle
school students will allow even more teachers to come to
our conference and give the students more opportunities to
make it into an All-State performance ensemble. And lastly,
adding an Orff performing ensemble for elementary. The
first schools in our nation to implement the Orff approach
are in Tennessee, and we should find some way to integrate
this approach and these teachers into our conference.
I am a zealous supporter of the arts teachers and music
programs and would love the opportunity to share TMEA’s
mission and resources with educators and organizations
across the state.
Tennessee Music Education Association | www.tnmea.org | 11