Band – Jeff Anderson
Jeff has been a music educator in New Jersey for forty three years, 23 elementary and 22 secondary- teacher, teacher/supervisor and mentor. He is the recepient of the New Jersey "Best Practices in Education Award" as developer for grades 3/4 string program- modified Suzuki with "Cupcake" violin recitals and concert performances. He has held several positions including high school band director- concert, jazz, competition field band and winter guard, general music classroom teacher grades prek-8, and middle school chorus director. He is a professional music adjudicator for Performing Arts Consultants, a judging affiliate with East Coast Judges Guild, an adjudicator for MAC(Conn.) and YEA fall field band competitions.
Education: B.A., M.A. and Ed.D.
Military: 199th Army Band, NYARNG, Musician and Drum Major.
Community Service: Emergency Medical Technician and church musician.

General Music – Michele Paynter Paise
Michele Paynter Paise is an assistant professor of vocal/general music education at the University of Idaho. An active clinician at the local, state, and regional levels, Paise has taught both general and choral music students, elementary through college level for the last 15 years. She has presented research at local, state, national, and international conferences and is certified in both the Kodály and Orff-Schulwerk methodologies. Recently, Paise co-authored the text, Music with the Arts and Across the Curriculum, which was published by Silver Burdett Ginn.
Paise’s research interests include music teacher socialization, music education in one-room schools, vocal physiology, and Byzantine music. She is a member of Sigma Alpha Iota, Kappa Delta Pi, the American Choral Director’s Association and MENC: The National Association for Music Education.

Chorus – Kriston Feldpausch
Kriston Feldpausch is the Director of Choral Activities at Powhatan Junior High School in Powhatan, Virginia. She has been a director in Powhatan since 2002, first at Pocahontas Middle School and most recently at both Pocahontas Middle and Powhatan Junior High School. She holds a Bachelor of Music Education from Olivet College. In addition, she has done graduate coursework at Western Michigan University and Northern Arizona University. Ms. Feldpausch has taught in Michigan, Arizona, Georgia and Virginia at all levels from pre-school through college. In Powhatan, Ms. Feldpausch teaches seventh and eighth grade chorus and is also the director of the Swing Singers, an extra-curricular vocal jazz ensemble. She is also the co-sponsor of the Powhatan Chapter of Tri-M. An advanced National Board Certification Candidate, Ms. Feldpausch is currently completing her Master of Science in Education through Walden University.

Orchestra – Lisa Goldman

Mariachi – Bill Gradante
Bill Gradante was born and raised in the multi-ethnic community known as the “South End” of Hartford, Connecticut. He earned his B.A. in Music at Middlebury College in Vermont, where he graduated magna cum laude and was a Phi Beta Kappa scholar. Under the guidance of ethnomusicologist Ronald Smith, Gradante spent six months doing ethnomusicological research in a small town in the southern Colombian Andes, resulting in a 300-page B.A. thesis. He did his graduate work at the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied with some of the most respected folklorists and ethnomusicologists of the day. During this time, the “Dean of Latin American Folklorists,” the venerable Américo Paredes, introduced Gradante to mariachi music. After three more research trips to Colombia and ten years in the stacks at the Institute of Latin American Studies, Gradante produced an 850-page doctoral dissertation on Colombian folk musical improvisation and had begun a lifelong love affair with mariachi music.
Gradante has spent the last twenty-seven years teaching mariachi classes at J.P. Elder Middle School and North Side High School, while spending weekends as a professional mariachi. He has published academic articles on the music of José Alfredo Jiménez, Colombian folk music, and low rider culture. He is also the editor of the book Foundations of Mariachi Education: Materials, Methods, and Resources, to be published by MENC and Rowman & Littlefield Education in April 2008.

Jazz – Kimberly McCord
Kimberly McCord is Associate Professor and Coordinator of Undergraduate Music Education at Illinois State University. She teaches courses in general music, music for the exceptional child and jazz. Previously she taught instrumental and general music in the Denver Public Schools for ten years. She has been active in the field of jazz education for thirty years including many years as a leader in the International Association for Jazz Education where she founded the Women's Caucus and several education programs. She is a co-author of the elementary general music improvisation book, Chop Monster, Jr. and has published many articles in jazz and music education journals. She recently completed a two-year teaching artist residency at the Henry Viscardi School for students with severe physical disabilities in Long Island. The residency focused on teaching jazz improvisation. She has presented at conferences and workshops across the country and in Italy, Spain, Malaysia, Finland and Canada.

Guitar – Suzanne Shull