Band - Steve Damon
Steve Damon holds diplomas of Bachelor of Music from University of Massachusetts-Lowell, Master of Music from University of Connecticut-Storrs, Fine Arts Director Certificate from Fitchburg (MA) State College, and Level 1 Orff from University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
He has taught instrumental music 3-8, vocal 3-8, and general PreK-7. He is currently enjoying his first year of teaching elementary music in the Gill-Montague Regional School District – his hometown district! He lives in Gill with his beautiful bride, Joyana (a Vermont music educator), and their preschool son, Isaac.
He has served the Massachusetts MEA as Western District Chairperson, All-State Jazz Ensemble Manager, K-9 Representative, and on the Editorial Board of the Massachusetts Music News – the official journal of the MMEA.
Steve has been listed in recent editions of Marquis’ Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Education, and the debut edition of Who’s Who in Emerging Leaders. His music education has been published in domestic and international journals, such as Music Educators Journal, Canadian Music Educator, School Band and Orchestra, and Victorian Journal of Music Education.
He has presented music education clinics at many conferences, including MEA conferences throughout the Northeast and All-Eastern conferences in Pittsburgh and Hartford.
Although an oboist by training, he performs throughout New England on almost any instrument that requires blowing. He is Conductor of the 173-year-old Shelburne Falls Military Band. His guest conducting has taken him to Vermont, New Hampshire, District of Columbia, and Florida. He founded the Shelburne Falls, MA TubaChristmas, and continues to coordinate the annual event.
He is very happy to try to be helpful as Instrumental Mentor again, as he did in March 2007. He was the General Music Mentor in March 2006.
General Music – Lenna Harris
Lenna Harris is a veteran teacher of 34 years and is known for her personal philosophy of "Music IN Education"... not simply "Music Education." She is a 1969 graduate of the Brenau Academy in Gainesville, GA and a 1973 graduate of George Peabody College in Nashville, TN. Lenna was named an Outstanding Young Woman of America in 1974. She taught in various school districts in Tennessee and Maryland prior to her current position in Knowlton Township, NJ where she has taught vocal, general and instrumental music for the past twenty-three years. Lenna was a 1995 recipient of the Governor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, and has twice been named a Master Teacher by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. She is frequent workshop leader and has served as Guest Conductor for the Warren County Sixth Grade All-Star Band. This year, Miss Harris was named to Who's Who of American Women. Lenna is a member of St. John's Lutheran Church in her hometown of Nazareth, Pennsylvania, where she sings in the Philathia Choir and directs the Brass Choir. She teaches French Horn lessons privately and plays in the Heritage Brass Quintet. She is the Director of the seventy-five member Nazareth Area Community Chorus.
Chorus – Mary Jennings
Mary Jennings teaches general and vocal music at Hammond Middle School in the Howard County (MD) School System. She also directs four choirs with over 180 singers at the school. She has written music and choral curriculum at the state and county levels, and is an ongoing contributor to the Maryland Voluntary State Curriculum Project. She has presented workshops at the state and national levels on a variety of topics such as National Standards in the Arts and Differentiation and Assessment in the Music Classroom. Her publications include program guides for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and an entry in Strategies for Teaching Middle Level Guitar (MENC). In October 2007 she will serve as the Chorus mentor for the MENC website.
She was a member of the planning committee for the first Maryland Junior All State Chorus, and is a past director of the Howard County Middle School Chorus. She is a frequent adjudicator and clinician for middle school and high school choral festivals. Recently she was the director of the Allegany County (MD) Jr. High Choral Festival.
In May 2007 she conducted the Heritage Singers in a performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs, as well as When I Hear Her I Have Wings (Mark Templeton, Santa Barbara Music Publishing). She is the current Repertoire and Standards Chair, Jr. High and Middle School, for the MD/DC Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). On the national level she has written choral reviews for Choral Journal, the official publication of ACDA. This past year she wrote an article on commissioning choral music for Bel Canto, the chapter newsletter. She has commissioned two pieces for women’s choir- Some of These Days (Paul Rardin, Santa Barbara Music Publishing) and Benediction I (J. N. Shaumeyer, unpublished).
Each year she and her siblings endow the De Loache Music Award at the University of Delaware. This award is based on scholarship, musicianship, and enthusiasm, and is given to a returning member of the marching band. She is a member of Sigma Alpha Iota, professional music fraternity for women, and is currently Director of the SAI Philanthropies Summer Music Scholarships Project. She has written articles for the fraternity’s journal, Pan Pipes. Last summer she presented a workshop on effective scholarship and grant applications at the fraternity’s 44th Triennial Convention in Orlando.
She and her husband John live in Bowie MD, and enjoy singing with various choral and musical theatre groups in the area. This past year they performed in Kiss Me Kate, Scenes from Wonderland, and Crazy For You.
Orchestra – Margo Sokolow
Mariachi – Mack Ruiz
From 1971-1974 I attended the University of Arizona and received my B.A. from the College of Education. Upon graduation from college in 1974, I became a teacher of Spanish, Bilingual Education and ESL, and English as a Second Language at Tucson High School. In 1979, I formed and instructed Tucson's first high school mariachi program within the Tucson Unified School District.
Throughout my years of attending college and teaching, I performed with Tucson’s own local mariachi group, Mariachi Cobre, which was formed in 1971. In the summer of 1982 fellow founding members of Cobre and I auditioned and became part of Walt Disney World Entertainment. The year 2007 will mark a milestone for Mariachi Cobre as we celebrate 25 years of performances at Disney’s Epcot attraction and become one of Disney’s longest lasting live entertainment shows world wide.
As a partner with Walt Disney, Cobre continues to promote and advocate music education in our national school systems through ongoing series of community educational outreach programming.
In addition to my duties as a performer for Disney, in 1997 I earned a cross-utilization position on the Walt Disney Training Team. From 1997-2000 I worked as a Training Coordinator and Facilitator for the Walt Disney Training Department. In December of 2000 I was awarded Walt Disney’s “Partners in Excellence” award, Disney’s most coveted service award.
For over 20 years I have performed and taught at mariachi conference venues with Mariachi Cobre throughout the United States. I am currently a mariachi conference educational coordinator for The Las Cruces International Mariachi Conference now in its 14th year of existence.
With Mariachi Cobre, I have collaborated with such international artists as Linda Ronstadt, Vikki Carr, Doc Severinsen, Lola Beltran, Lucha Villa, Guadalupe Pineda, Aida Cuevas, Pedro Fernandez, Pepe Aguilar, Beatriz Adriana, Ana Gabriel, and Alison Kraus. With Cobre, I have performed with the symphony orchestras of San Antonio, San Jose, Milwaukee, Phoenix, Minnesota, Nashville, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Columbus, Evansville, Guadalajara, Jacksonville, Long Beach, Modesto, Monterey, Utah, New Mexico, and Tucson.
In 2000 and 2002, I performed, recorded and toured with Mariachi Cobre and The Boston Pops.
Recordings with Mariachi Cobre include: “Mariachi Cobre”, “Este Es Mi Mariachi”, “XV Anniversary”, and “The Latin Album” recorded with Keith Lockart and the Boston Pops.
In 2006 I was chosen to serve on the MENC National Mariachi Advisory Council.
Jazz - Ed Michaud
Ed Michaud hails from Augusta and attended the University of Maine at Orono, where he graduated in 1991 with a bachelor's degree in music education and in 1996 with a master's degree in instrumental conducting. He is a member of the Music Educator's National Conference (MENC), National Band Association (NBA), National School Orchestra Association and American String Teachers Association (NSOA/ASTA), Maine Music Educator's Association (MMEA), National Education Association (NEA) and Maine Educator's Association (MEA).
Locally, Mr. Michaud is the music director of the Ellsworth Community Band which performs a summer concert series, a member of the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Hancock County where he plays clarinet in the pit orchestra, and is a private music instructor. Recently, he has taught at the University of Maine 'MSYM' summer music camp for 10 years, presented at the Maine All State Music Conference on Japan, directed jazz ensembles at MDI High School and been a guest conductor at several Washington County music festivals.
Mr. Michaud is a recipient of a Fulbright Memorial Teacher Program Scholarship sponsored by the Japanese government and traveled to Japan for three weeks in October 2004.
Interests in throat singing and the landscapes and culture took Mr. Michaud to Tuva, summer 2008. Tuva is a republic in southern Siberia on the Mongolian border. He attended the Tuvan Music Symposium, local festivals and visited with Shamans.
http://www.tuvatrader.com/
Mr. Michaud has two children, Simeon age 8 and Camille age 5, and a wonderful wife Leslie.
Guitar – Rob Goldsmith