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 – Sue Metz
Sue Metz is an Assistant Professor of Music concentrating in Music Education. She has Bachelor of Music Education from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, a Master’s degree in Education/Music from the University of San Francisco, and an Administrative Services Credential from Sacramento State University. Prior to coming to Sacramento State she taught in the public schools where she was a music specialist, consultant, and administrator. At CSUS she teaches music for liberal studies majors, music education courses, supervises and places music student teachers, and advises undergraduate and graduate music education students.
Throughout her career she has worked extensively with the California Department of Education and the Commission on Teacher Credentialing where she has been a contributing panel member on the writing of the California Subject Examination for Teachers (CSET), the California Music Standards, and the CalTPA, the California Teacher Preparation Assessment, as well as an evaluator for the Single Subject Music Preparation Submission Documents. She is an active consultant and clinician for elementary music, and is the researcher and co-founder of the nationally recognized Teaching Through Musical Theatre Institute sponsored by California Musical Theatre.
Currently, Sue is a member of the National Association for Music Education (MENC), the California Music Educators Association (CMEA), the American Orff Schulwerk Association (AOSA), and the Northern California Association of Kodaly Educators (NCAKE).
Chorus - Ken Tucker
Ken Tucker is in his fifteenth year of teaching music in Missouri where he has taught both vocal and instrumental music in grades 5-12. He is currently the director of vocal music at Pacific High School where he conducts the Concert Choir, Chamber Singers, Women’s Chorus, Men’s Chorus, Chorale, PHS Singers and Pizzazz Show Choir.
He currently serves as the MCDA R&S Chair for High School Choirs and has previously served MCDA as the East Central District Representative and as the East Central District All-State Coordinator. He is a recipient of the Missouri Choral Director’s Association “Prelude Award” and is a two time member of “Who’s Who among American Teachers”. His choirs have sung at the Missouri Music Educators State Conference and have won 1st place at the World’s of Fun Music Festival in Kansas City, MO.
He is the Director of Music at the First Baptist Church of Gray Summit, Missouri. He also conducts the Washington Civic Chorus in Washington, Missouri. Ken is a member of MENC and ACDA and serves as an adjudicator and clinician throughout Missouri.
Tucker holds degrees from Missouri State University, Southern Illinois University and Southwest Baptist University. In addition, he has post-graduate work from the University of Missouri.
Ken and his wife, Jill, reside in Union, MO with their children, Emma 4, Bradley 2, and their cats, Jasper and Rosco.
Orchestra – Catherine Hudnall
Cathie Hudnall is currently the co-director of Orchestras at Brookwood High School. Ms. Hudnall received her bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of music in 1983. After graduating, she founded and directed the Orchestra program in Pickens County, SC, where she taught for three years. She moved to Atlanta in 1986 and has taught in Gwinnett since then. She studied cello with Martha Gerschefski and received her Master’s degree in Music Performance from Georgia State University in 1990. She received her Educational Specialist Degree in Educational Leadership in 2004. She has served as the secretary of the Georgia chapter of the National School Orchestra Association and as president of the Georgia chapter of the American String Teachers Association. She is a Gwinnett mentor, a Georgia mentor, and was a mentor for the National Music Educator’s Conference in 2005. She is a regular conductor and clinician for honor ensembles throughout the Atlanta Metro Area and was the conductor of the SC All-State String Orchestra in the spring of 2002 and the Mississippi All-State Orchestra in 2005. In 1997, she was chosen to teach at the Iolani School in Honolulu, Hawaii. Except for that leave of absence, Ms. Hudnall was the Orchestra director at Norcross High School for fourteen years. She was the Norcross High Teacher of the Year in 2001 and served as the department chair of the Fine Arts Department for five years. In 2006, the Norcross High School Philharmonic Orchestra competed at the National Conference of the American String Teachers Association and won the National Championship for High School String Orchestras. They were invited to perform at Carnegie Hall in April, 2007. Ms. Hudnall has been the co-director of the Gwinnett County Youth Symphony since 2002. She was a guest conductor with the Gwinnett Philharmonic Orchestra in 2003, 2005, and 2007. As a cellist, Ms. Hudnall performs with the Gwinnett Philharmonic Orchestra and the Candler String Quartet. She has performed with the 1st International Cello Congress Cello Choir, the Maui Symphony, the Atlanta Pops Orchestra, the Florence Symphony, the Columbia Philharmonic Orchestra, the Charleston Symphony, the Augusta Symphony, the Spartanburg Symphony, the Hendersonville Symphony, the Gainesville Symphony, and the Brevard Music Center Festival Orchestra. She teaches private cello lessons in her home and has three, four-legged children.
Mariachi – TBD
Jazz - Paul Cummings
Paul Cummings is currently an Assistant Professor of Music at Humboldt State University, where he directs the Symphonic Band, Humboldt Symphony, A.M. Jazz Band, and is coordinator of the music education program. He has a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music, a Master of Arts degree in music history from San Francisco State University, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Oregon. Dr. Cummings also holds a California life credential in music.
He began his teaching career as an instrumental music specialist in 1974 in the Oak Grove School District in San Jose, and followed that with similar positions in Campbell and Palo Alto. Dr. Cummings has also taught at Chapman University and the University of California at Santa Cruz, and conducted bands at Cabrillo College and Cañada College. His bands and orchestras at Palo Alto High School performed to critical acclaim at numerous festivals, as well as on tour to New Orleans, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Vancouver, British Columbia. In 2003, Dr. Cummings was the only American accepted as a participant in the summer conducting program sponsored by the British Association of Symphonic Bands and Wind Ensembles in Canford, England.
Dr. Cummings is also active as a performer on clarinet and saxophone. He has performed with the Nova Vista Symphony, the Oregon Wind Ensemble, the Master Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra, and, most recently, in an all-Mozart concert with HSU faculty artists. He has served as a clinician and adjudicator for high school bands throughout California and Oregon.
Guitar – Ed Prasse
Edward Prasse is an MME graduate of the Florida State University College of Music. He currently heads the four-year guitar program and teaches sound engineering at Leon High School in Tallahassee, Florida. Ed is currently the General Music Committee chair for the FMEA Executive board and is a partner in the guitar publishing company Class Guitar Resources, Inc. He is an active presenter/clinician for state MEAs, and guitar training workshops. He and his wife Lisa are the proud parents of three young children 9, 6 and 4. In his spare time he enjoys playing golf, grilling great food, a bit of sleep, and PLAYING GUITAR!!