Band – Steve Raybould
Steve Raybould is the Director of Bands at Pocahontas Middle School in Powhatan, Virginia. He is also the Assistant Marching Band Director for Powhatan High School and is an assistant with the Powhatan Indoor Percussion Ensemble. He is the co-sponsor of the Powhatan chapter of Tri-M and directs the jazz ensemble. He has previously taught at the elementary level in Powhatan. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music and Physics from the University of Virginia and Masters Degrees in Secondary Education and Music Education from James Madison University. He has taught pre-school through collegiate level music and his work on Aaron Copland’s film scores has been published. He is an active clinician in the fields of music education and educational technology on the state and national level and performs professionally throughout the region.
General Music – Sherri Jaffurs
Sheri E. Jaffurs Ph.D. (Michigan State University) is a music teacher with Farmington Public School District. As a lecturer at University of Michigan-Flint, she teaches courses in early childhood and general music and is developing an on-line multicultural music course for winter of 2009. She has presented at international, national, and state conferences on the development of musicality and transmission of learning in informal and formal settings.
Chorus – Lois Guderian
Dr. Lois Veenhoven Guderian is a composer, choral conductor, music educator, performer, researcher, and clinician. Currently (2009) she is an Assistant Professor and the Music Education Coordinator at the University of Wisconsin-Superior where her duties include teaching the elementary and secondary music education courses and elementary classroom music education courses. Lois holds a Masters in Music Education degree from Western Michigan University and Bachelor of Music degrees from Hope College (Holland, Michigan) in both Piano Performance and Vocal Music Education, Major in Voice.
A choral director for many years of all age-level church, community and school choirs, Lois specializes in beginning and building choral programs. Her groups have often been invited to be part of local, national and international festivals or performances. Lois’ choral compositions have been performed and broadcast nationally and internationally and recorded by several choirs including the Chicago Children’s Choir; Coro Pro Musica of the Pro-Musica Ensenada, Mexico; Barrington Children’s Choir; and the Chicago District and Chamber Choirs of the New Apostolic Church. Lois often serves as a guest conductor and choral and general music teacher mentor or consultant for schools and organizations including the online Chorus mentorship for the MENC.
Lois has taught music, levels pre-K through university, in both public and private schools and is often a clinician/presenter on topics important to music education. She has designed curriculum for schools and organizations and specializes in writing sequential, discipline-based/interdisciplinary arts curricula that incorporate music composition. Among the organizations for which she has worked are the Chicago Public Schools; Weill Institute of Music at Carnegie Hall; Northwestern University; Ravinia; the Academic Service-Learning Center at the University of Wisconsin-Superior; the Chicago Composers Forum; and the Illinois State Music Teachers Association. She serves as the North Central Adjudicator in music composition for the National Association for Music Education (MENC), as an adjudicator for the National Guild of Piano Teachers as well as an adjudicator in various areas of music education and performance (choral, voice, piano and composition) for several organizations. Lois is the Vice President and Education Chair for the Chicago Composers Forum and formerly the Voice Chairman and Advocacy-Outreach Chairman for the Illinois State Music Teachers Association. Lois is also very active in church music serving in a variety of capacities.
A versatile composer and writer, Lois has written music for several publishing companies and accepts commissioned projects for commercial, educational and concert uses. She has authored several articles, chapters and texts in special areas of music education, and is a composer/writer for MENC. Her songs, piano pieces, instrumental and choral pieces and children’s musicals are widely performed. Lois’ comprehensive soprano recorder texts for music education – Playing the Soprano Recorder for School, Community and the Private Studio and Playing the Soprano Recorder for Church, School, Community, and the Private Studio – are published by co-publishers MENC and Rowman & Littlefield. Other publications are with Corwin Press; Alfred Publishing Company (inclusion, The Choral Warm-up Collection); Transcontinental Music Publications; NAC of North America; and LoVeeG Publishing.
Both an advocate and participant in music education research, Lois is interested in all issues surrounding music and arts education – especially those that deal with humankind’s need for creative and spiritual expression. Her love for people and belief that all human beings have tremendous, creative potential are the underlying forces that fuel her passion for arts education.
Orchestra – Ann Forman
Ann Forman is the Orchestra Director for River Trails School District #26, Mt. Prospect, Illinois, a position she has held for the past 23 years. Previously, she taught elementary Orchestra in the Cedar Falls, Iowa Community Schools and served as a violist with the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra.
In addition to her public school teaching, Mrs. Forman is the Director of the DePaul Youth Orchestra, Reading Orchestra and Advanced Chamber Ensemble, in conjunction with the DePaul University Community Music Division. Mrs. Forman has also served on the DePaul Music Education faculty, teaching the String Orchestra Literature course when requested and working with DePaul student teachers. She is also active as a piano accompanist and contest adjudicator. As a violist, she has been a member of the Evanston Symphony Orchestra, the Winnetka Chamber Orchestra and the Arlington Heights Evangelical Free Church Orchestra; she now serves as the violist for the Cornerstone Bible Church Orchestra. In her school district, Mrs. Forman serves as a trustee on the River Trails Education Foundation and on various district committees. In addition, Mrs. Forman is the President of the River Trails Education Association.
Mrs. Forman has served as a guest conductor at several festivals and summer music camps, including the Summer Music Clinic at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and the Illinois Summer Youth Music Camp at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. Mrs. Forman was invited by the Illinois Chapter of the American String Teachers Association to present a clinic entitled, “Teaching Technique and Musicianship to the Junior High String Orchestra” at the I.M.E.A. All-State Convention in January 1990 and to participate in a panel discussion concerning public school orchestra programs in January 1995 and 1996. The Illinois Chapter of the American String Teachers Association also honored her as Orchestra Teacher of the Year in 1999. In 2001, Mrs. Forman was given an Award of Excellence by the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. Mrs. Forman has also been active in the IMEA state mentoring program.
Mrs. Forman holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Education from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota and a Masters of Music Education degree from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. She resides in Mt. Prospect with her husband Marc, daughter Suzanne, two dogs, a cat and a fish.
Mariachi – Adam Romo
Adam Romo is a native of Tucson, Arizona and also a product of the Tucson Unified School District mariachi programs. At the age of 7, Romo and fellow students under the direction of Alfredo Valenzuela became the first elementary mariachi program in Tucson. His original instruments were guitar and trumpet but with years come experience and no instrument would stop Romo from learning all he could about mariachi music. During middle school and high school Romo had the pleasure of working with many local professional mariachi groups, and also represented one of Tucson’s finest high school programs, Mariachi Aztlan de Pueblo High School. After high school, Romo went on to play with the world renowned Mariachi Cobre out of Orlando, Fl.
Through his experiences on a professional level, Romo has attained much discipline, respect, and love towards mariachi music. After returning to Arizona, Romo established his own group to create a new trend for mariachi music throughout the southwest. Romo currently is starting his third year as an mariachi educator with Clark County School District in Las Vegas, NV. He currently teaches secondary education to over 180 students, daily. He is also in charge of the CCSD Mariachi Conference and Festival, which is held every May. His positive attitude and charismatic abilities with students has created an environment where students feel confident about themselves as individuals and musicians.
Jazz – Sue Terry
"Sweet" Sue Terry began her professional playing career at the age of sixteen, playing for church performances and musical theater. She began playing Jazz gigs while attending the Hartt School, a well-known music conservatory in Hartford. Though she was accepted as a Classical clarinetist, her secret agenda was to study with the late Jazz legend Jackie McLean, which she did for five years. The Hartt School elected her Alumna of the Year in 2001.
Sue first heard Jazz music as a child growing up in Connecticut, where her father had an extensive record collection and she listened to WRVR FM non-stop.
As a teenager studying with legendary pianist and educator John Mehegan, Sue mentioned she would like to write a big band arrangement for her high school Jazz Ensemble. Mehegan bet her an ice cream cone that she couldn’t do it. She won.
Since then, Sweet Sue has played and recorded with a variety of notable Jazz artists including Dr. Billy Taylor, Clark Terry, Charli Persip, Clifford Jordan, Melba Liston, Hilton Ruiz, Howard Johnson, Walter Bishop, Jr., Jaki Byard and Derwyn Holder. She has also performed with Jazz VIPs like Art Blakey, Carmen McRae, Jon Faddis, Lew Tabackin, Wynton Marsalis, Lew Soloff and Ray Barretto.
She’s been a Jazz soloist with the National Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic and the New York Pops, and has performed worldwide at venues such as The Montreux Jazz Festival, Nice Jazz Festival, Pori Jazz Festival, Northsea Jazz Festival, the Blue Note in Tokyo, Japan, Quasimodo in Berlin, Germany, Marian's Jazzclub in Bern, Switzerland, and Spice of Life in London, UK. In the States she has been a frequent performer at venues such as The Kennedy Center in Wash. D.C. and Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York..
Her discography currently contains over forty commercially released CDs. She’s the author of several music instruction books, and has received a number of grants and awards for her songwriting. Catch her regular column in the quarterly Jazz Improv Magazine.
Sue’s other passion is for the martial arts---she’s a longtime practitioner of Taiji Quan and Qi Gong.
Guitar – Romana Hartmetz
Romana Hartmetz holds the M.M. in Classical Guitar Performance from the University of Missouri, Kansas City, where she studied with recording artist Douglas Niedt. She received the Bachelor of Music degree from the University of North Texas and Music Education Certification from Central Missouri State University. She has performed in master classes with Pepe Romero and Christopher Parkening among other notable guitarists, and studied jazz guitar and arranging with Jack Petersen, John Elliot and Rick Whitehead. As a founding member of the MENC/GAMA/NAMM Guitar Task Force, she teaches summer workshops in guitar education throughout the country. She has written and edited pieces for guitar ensemble with Class Guitar Resources, Tallahassee, FL, FJH Publishing, Davie FL, and was co-author of the ASTA String Syllabus (Harp and Guitar edition). She has presented as a clinician for guitar education at the National MENC conventions in Kansas City Missouri, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Phoenix Arizona and at the Eastern Division Conference in Baltimore, MD. She has presented at numerous state music educator conventions in Missouri and Florida and has directed teacher in-service training in Virginia and Nevada. She was a clinician at the 2006 Mid-Atlantic Guitar Ensemble Festival in Reston, VA and adjudicated the 2007Guitar Solo and Ensemble Festival in Prince George’s County MD.
Several presentation topics have been Guitar an Exploration of Styles; how the versatile instrument can open up a world of music to the student, Guitar in the Multi-Level Classroom; addressing varied skill levels in the beginning and intermediate guitar class, Guitar a Course for all Reasons; explaining the role that guitar education has in reaching new populations of students and meeting the national standards, Guitar in the Elementary Classroom; how to integrate the guitar into the Elementary General Music classroom incorporating Orff techniques, Guitar: Teaching Music Through Performance; developing musical maturity in the student with connections to the national standards, through an exploration of ensemble literature for the intermediate and advanced guitar class.
She is on the Guitar Curriculum Committee for Loudoun County VA, and serves as a mentor for many of the new guitar teachers in the county. Her teaching career spans elementary, middle school, high school and college levels. She currently directs the guitar program at Harmony Intermediate School in Loudoun County VA where over 15% of the student body is involved in guitar and over 55% involved in music. The program includes Level I, II and III guitar as well as “The Gig”, an auditioned ensemble, the “Jazz Guitar Ensemble”, and the “Harmony Pickers” a faculty, staff, & student Bluegrass etc… band, all of which perform frequently in the area. She lives in Purcellville, VA with her husband Sean who is a Band Director at Dominion High School. Their two children, Louis and Lillian attend Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth Universities.