Music Education

Bio: Dr. John Wayman is the Associate Director of Choral Activities, Associate Professor, and Area Coordinator for Music Education at the University of Texas at Arlington. He conducts the University Singers and helps guide future choral music educators. He is in great demand as a conductor, adjudicator, and clinician. Dr. Wayman has appeared as a guest conductor and adjudicator at numerous state and regional events. He has given frequent clinics at the state, national, and international platforms on choral pedagogy for the maturing adolescent voice, programming, and rehearsal strategies for choral music educators. Much of Dr. Wayman’s research focuses on the changing male voice and teacher preparation. He has presented at the state (Alaska MEA, Georgia MEA, Louisiana MEA, New Mexico MEA, Oklahoma ACDA, Tennessee MEA, and Texas MEA), national (National Association for Music Educators, National American Choral Directors Association, Society of Research for Music Education, Society of Music Teacher Educators, Southwestern American Choral Association) and international venues (Greece, Brazil, England, Uganda, China and most recently in Scotland and Ireland). He has published in the International Journal of Research in Choral Singing, the Journal of Research in Music Education, the Teaching Music, Texas Music Educator Research, Missouri Journal of Research in Music Education, Kansas Music Review, the Ala Breve: Alabama Music Education Journal, and Georgia Music News. Dr. Wayman also serves on the Editor Advisory Board for the national Music Educators Journal. In 2019, Dr. Wayman was selected as the 2019 Sunrise Rotary Professor of the Year Award for the College of Liberal Arts. Above all, he loves teaching and inspiring those who love to sing!

Bio: Dr. Chris Evans is the Associate Director of Bands and Director of the Maverick Marching Band at UTA. In addition to the marching band, Dr. Evans teaches the Symphonic Winds, Symphonic Band, Marching Band Techniques, and Instrumental Methods and Materials. Previously, Dr. Evans was the Associate Director of Bands at Flower Mound High School. While at Flower Mound, he primarily taught the Concert Band and the JV marching band while assisting with all other aspects of the program. Dr. Evans also served as Assistant Director of Bands at Juan Seguin High School and was a graduate assistant at the University of Oklahoma. While at OU he assisted with the concert ensembles, the Pride of Oklahoma marching band, and conducted the women’s basketball band for 2 years. Before graduate school, he taught middle school in Georgia for three years. Dr. Evans, a native of Birmingham, Alabama earned his Bachelors of Music Education from Auburn University. He earned his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in Instrumental Conducting from the University of Oklahoma. His professional associations include the Texas Music Educators Association, Kappa Kappa Psi, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (honorary), and Tau Beta Sigma (honorary).

Bio: Laura Farnell has a passion for making music with singers, working with educators, and creating accessible and artistic choral compositions. After receiving her BME in Choral Music (piano emphasis) from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, Laura taught elementary music for two years in Mansfield ISD, followed by eight years of junior high choir in Arlington ISD. She was honored by her schools with Teacher of the Year awards in 2000 and 2003, and she received an Excellence in Education Award in 2004 as Arlington ISD's outstanding junior high teacher of the year. Laura presently lives in Arlington, Texas, and serves as a choral adjudicator and an invited music conference presenter/clinician for district, region, and state honor choirs across the country and various music education conferences. As a composer, she especially enjoys writing and arranging music for developing choirs and has more than one hundred choral compositions in publication, including many commissioned pieces and a co-authored choral sightreading method book. She currently edits the E2A Choral series through Alliance Music Publications. She and her husband, Russell, and their two sons (all singers), attend First Presbyterian Church of Arlington where Russell serves as Minister of Music and Laura directs the youth and children's choirs.

Bio: Louanne Greer is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Music Education at the University of North Texas, where she is a teaching fellow and conducts the Sinfonietta Orchestra. Her research interests include autonomy-supportive teaching practices, training and mentoring young teachers, and string pedagogy. Prior to UNT, Ms. Greer was the Director of Orchestras at Young Junior High in Arlington, TX, where she taught elementary and middle school orchestra for 17 years. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree (cello performance, UT Arlington) and a Master of Music degree (musicology, University of Tennessee). Ms. Greer has taught elementary, middle school, high school, and college orchestra, and has provided private and group cello instruction. Ms. Greer has served as Region Chair for TMEA/UIL Region 5 and continues to serve on committees and subcommittees for music organizations. Ms. Greer also mentors beginning teachers and developed and coordinated the mentoring network in Arlington ISD. As an active judge and clinician, she loves working with students and teachers at all levels and helping them create musically rewarding experiences. In her free time, Ms. Greer enjoys playing freelance cello, reading books, crocheting, spending time with her husband, family, and especially her three dogs, Martha, Nelson, and Bella. She is a member of ASTA, NAfME, SMTE, TMEA, TODA, and TMAA.

Bio: Margaret Brown is in the fifth year of her second career as Adjunct Assistant Music Professor at UT Arlington. She serves in the String Music Education Department and as University Supervisor of Music Education Clinical Teachers. Serving as the Sigma Alpha Iota faculty advisor has been a highlight of this time at UTA. Ms. Brown joined the UTA faculty in 2020, after retiring from 34 years as a public school teacher at high schools and middle schools in the Grand Prairie, Tyler, Lubbock and McKinney Independent School Districts. Ms. Brown had earned a Bachelor of Music Education from Texas Wesleyan University, where she studied with Dr. Robert McCashin. While in Lubbock, she added a Master of Music degree from Texas Tech University, studying with Dr. Virginia Kellogg. Ms. Brown served for two years as an Adjunct Music Professor at Texas Tech and as the Master Teacher for the Texas Tech String Project. She also was Conductor of the Lubbock Youth Symphony String Orchestra. A pioneer in bringing orchestral music to previously unserved schools, Ms. Brown began the Irons Junior High School Orchestra when the school opened in Lubbock in 1989. In 2005, she and Ruth Kurtis accepted the challenge of founding the McKinney ISD Orchestra. Dr. Deborah Perkins had begun the Cross Timbers Youth Orchestra, which created a need for the school orchestra program. As Director of Orchestras at both Irons Junior High and McKinney North High School, Ms. Brown quickly grew those into University Interscholastic League Sweepstakes Award-winning programs that included chamber music and full orchestras. She also instituted monthly Chamber Music Nights at McKinney North. At UTA, she continues to serve as the Camp Director of the Summer Strings Camp for middle and high school students, and performed in the Texas Conducting Workshop, Friends and Faculty Orchestra and serves as a faculty advisor for the Zeta Nu Collegiate Chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota. Ms. Brown has traveled extensively in Europe as a performer and conductor with the Texas Youth Orchestra and Choir under Dr. Perkins’s direction. The group performed in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Spain, France, Hungary, the Czech Republic, England, Wales, and Scotland. For five years, Ms. Brown served on the Executive Board of the Texas Orchestra Directors Association, including one year as president. She also was President and Treasurer of the Texas American String Teachers Association, and Secretary and Orchestra Chair for the Texas Music Educators Association Region 16. She is an active adjudicator for the Texas Music Adjudicators Association and a conductor and clinician for All-Region orchestras and orchestras across Texas. Her other memberships include Mu Omicron and Sigma Alpha Iota, a professional fraternity for women in the field of music. Ms. Brown has been honored and included in “Who’s Who Among American Women,” “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers,” “Who’s Who in Music,” and “Who’s Who Among American High School Students.” She is proud of her designation as PTA Lifetime Membership Honoree.

Bio: Michael Morrison was born in Dallas, Texas and grew up in Levelland, Texas. He holds a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music/Performance degree, both with an emphasis in Jazz Studies from the University of Texas at Arlington. He has performed in the UT Arlington Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Bill Snodgrass and Timothy Ishii, and has been a student of Mr. Timothy Ishii for many years. Also, he has performed in the UT Arlington Wind Ensemble as principle alto saxophone and as guest soloist with the UT Arlington Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Morrison has also served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Jazz Studies program at UT Arlington. His duties included teaching jazz combos, jazz history, and jazz theory. In addition, he presented lectures and performed for the Saxophone Master Class under the direction of Mr. Timothy Ishii. During his time at UT Arlington, Mr. Morrison has performed with many renowned artists; such as, Arturo Sandoval, Jon Faddis, Terell Stafford, Bob Mintzer, Dave Pietro, Linda Oh, Peter Erskine, Mike Williams, Denis DiBlasio, Roger Ingram, and Dave Hagedorn. Michael Morrison is a Adjunct Professor of Saxophone at the University of Texas at Arlington in addition to maintaining an active performing schedule in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. He is a member of the American Jazz Composers Orchestra, Mesquite Repertory Jazz Ensemble, Rebel Alliance Jazz Ensemble, and the Curtis Bradshaw Octet. Also, he performs with his jazz trio—Michael Morrison Trio—which has been the house jazz trio at Newport’s Restaurant for three years. They have also been the featured jazz group at the Mesquite Arts Center Summer Jazz Breaks in 2011. In addition to performing, he is an in demand private lesson instructor throughout the area, teaching classical saxophone repertoire as well as jazz saxophone, improvisation, theory, and beginning flute and clarinet.

Bio: Paul Birk is a freelance trombonist, lesson teacher, and composer/arranger in Dallas-Fort Worth. His degrees are from UT-Arlington (BM) and UNT (MM performance). He also pursued a DMA in Trombone performance and pedagogy at Texas Tech University. His most notable composition teachers are: Paris Rutherford (UNT), Dan Haerle (UNT), and Haley Woodrow (TCC). He has composed and arranged for various ensembles including trombone choirs, chamber groups, and big bands. His compositions and arrangements have been performed by: Mr. PC; the Texas Tech University Jazz Band I; the Abilene Christian University Jazz Ensemble; the Mid Cities Brass (brass quintet); Brazz (jazz brass quintet); Amorsima Strings (string trio); and the North Texas Clarinet Quartet.

Bio: Dr. Russell Sanders was recently appointed Adjunct Assistant Professor with the music education program at the University of Texas at Arlington. In addition to his position in the College of Liberal Arts, Dr. Sanders holds a concurrent appointment with the University as a clinical teaching field supervisor in the College of Education. Dr. Sanders holds both undergraduate and graduate degrees in music education from Texas Tech University where he was a conducting student of James Sudduth. During his final year of study, he held a graduate assistantship with the Department of Music where his primary area of responsibility was with the university’s 450 member marching band. Dr. Sanders has also earned graduate and post-graduate degrees in educational administration from the University of North Texas where his primary research focus was on the influence of federal Establishment Clause jurisprudence in the public education environment. In addition to his lifetime licensure as a secondary music teacher, he holds both Mid-Management and Superintendent certifications from the State Board for Educator Certification. Dr. Sanders began his teaching career as a middle and high school band director in Sudan, Texas. After completing his graduate studies, he returned to his hometown of El Paso, Texas where he spent the next 12 years as a high school assistant band director, middle school director, and finally as Director of Bands at El Paso High School. After the completion of his doctoral residency, he began his administrative career in the Waco Independent School District where he served as Director of Fine Arts from 2000 to 2004. In May of 2004, he was appointed as Director of Fine Arts with the Mansfield Independent School District. He held this position for the next 16 1/2 years until his retirement from the field of public education in December of 2020. Dr. Sanders and his wife, Jennifer, have been married for 24 years. Jennifer currently serves as a middle school band director in Mansfield. They have one son, Scott, who is also an accomplished musician. Scott will be graduating as a horn performance major from Northwestern University in June of 2023. He also recently won his first orchestral appointment as the second horn of the Sarasota Orchestra.