Band – Ron Meers
Mr. Meers is in his 26th year as Director of Bands at Riverdale High School. Prior to his tenure here, he was Director of Bands at Mt. Pleasant High School in Mt. Pleasant, Tennessee, for 13 years. Ron received his Bachelor of Science degree from David Lipscomb University and his Master +30 from Cumberland University. He is currently serving as President of the Tennessee Music Education Association. Ron is Past-President of the Middle Tennessee School Band and Orchestra Association, Past-President of the Tennessee Bandmaster's Association, Past-President of Phi Beta Mu, and is All-State Audition Chairman for the MTSBOA. He was honored by being selected as Riverdale High School's teacher of the year for the 2002-2003 school year.
 

General Music – Sara Pulse

Chorus – Chris Venesile

Christopher J. Venesile has been a choral director and vocal jazz educator for 26 years, the last 22 at North Olmsted High School, North Olmsted, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. He has also directed vocal jazz at Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) Metro-Cleveland Campus in the Jazz Studies Department.

Mr. Venesile has been a clinician for the International Association For Jazz Education (IAJE) Teacher -Training Institute (2005), The Ohio Vocal Summit, Ft. Wayne (IN) Vocal Jazz Festival, and has produced clinics for several school systems and colleges. He is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the "Heartland Vocal Camp," a summer multi-day workshop for jazz and a cappella singers and teachers at Tiffin University, Ohio since 2000.

The "Special Edition," Vocal Jazz Ensemble from North Olmsted, under Mr. Venesile's direction, has performed three times at the Ohio Music Education Association State Professional Conference (1997, 2001, 2005), at the IAJE International Conference in Long Beach, CA (2002), and has earned a DOWNBEAT magazine award as the "Outstanding HS Vocal Jazz Choir" (2006). They have also been presented on the Best Of High School A Cappella compilation CD in 2007 and 2008. Mr. Venesile holds degrees from The Ohio State University, Cleveland State University, and will earn the Ph. D. in Music Education in 2009 from Case Western Reserve University. His dissertation, "Sources of Pedagogical Content Knowledge by Vocal Jazz Educators" will be published in late 2009.

 

Orchestra – Lisa Goldman
Lisa Stang Goldman received her B.M. and M.MEd. from Cincinnati Conservatory-University of Cincinnati. Lisa received long term Suzuki teacher training at the Cleveland Institute of Music and graduate studies in Dalcroze Eurhythmics at Carnegie Mellon. Lisa is currently the Orchestra Director grades 4-12 and Music and Visual Arts Subject Coordinator K-12 Beachwood Public Schools recently noted by NAMM as one of the top 110 communities in the country for Music Education.

Lisa has numerous published articles publications in the area of motivating students and parents including several publications in the American Suzuki Journal. Lisa has been an adjudicator, clinician and speaker at numerous workshops and string teaching events. Lisa is currently a violinist with Cleveland POPS orchestra, several chamber groups and additionally freelances in NE Ohio.

Students from the Beachwood City Schools Orchestras participate in many youth orchestras, contests and events in the NE Ohio area. In addition to large ensembles the strings program offers extracurricular small group experiences for every grade level.

Previous teaching experience includes String method classes at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Public School of the Arts, CIM Suzuki Department, Cincinnati Conservatory Preparatory Dept., Director of Music Dept. at the Fairmount Fine Arts Center.
 

Jazz – Ralph Converse
Ralph D. Converse is a California native in his sixth year at Western New Mexico University. Prior to coming to WNMU he was professor of music theory, woodwinds and jazz studies at Yuba College in Marysville, California.

His undergraduate and graduate degrees were done at New Mexico State University, Southern Illinois University, University of North Texas and University of California at Davis. He has studied composition with Lejaren Hiller, Lalo Schifrin and Gordon Chadwick.

Converse is the former Assistant Principal Clarinetist of the Chicago Civic Symphony Orchestra and for nearly twenty years was a professional jazz musician appearing and recording with a variety of pop and jazz artists including Joe Williams, Mel Torme, Sarah Vaughan, Anita O’ Day, Doc Severinsen and many others.

In the past several years he has been a featured lecturer on a variety of topics as diverse as Brazilian jazz samba at the University of Wisconsin and the vocal cantatas of serialist Anton Webern at the University of California–Santa Barbara. He was a contributing author on various jazz topics to The Reader’s Guide to Music: Theory, History, and Criticism which was published in the fall of 1999 by Fitzroy Dearborn of London. He is currently a regular contributor to the national journal of the Music Educators’ National Conference for whom he does book reviews.
 

Guitar – Suzanne Shull
Suzanne Shull taught public school choral and general music in the Atlanta metro area for over thirty years, specializing in middle grades with experience in grades K-12 and college. A proponent of hands-on music learning, she provided her general music and choral students opportunities to explore the guitar. As a member of the MENC Guitar Education Team (formerly MENC Guitar Task Force) for over a decade she has taught guitar methods to music teachers throughout the US in summer workshops sponsored by GAMA, the NAMM Foundation and MENC. She is currently serving as National Chair of the GET and Teaching Guitar Workshops, promoting the use of guitar to explore ALL nine of the National Music Education Standards, and giving children and adults skills on the instrument that can become a friend for life.

She has presented sessions at numerous state, regional and national conferences for over two decades primarily focusing on hands-on learning and standards-based music education. She is a three-time recipient of “Teacher of the Year” and in 2000 received the “Distinguished Career” Award from the state of Georgia Music Educators.

You can find her philosophy of active music learning in the following publications: "Exploring Music Together," General Music Today, 1987; The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's Listen! Books (1990-1992); Principals and Practices in Middle Level Education (MENC, 1994); Stategies in Teaching Middle School General Music, (MENC, 1997); “What are We Doing in General Music?” in Performing with Understanding, Edited by Bennett Reimer and published by MENC in 2000.