CMENC Officer Biographies
Dr. Judith Sullivan is an Assistant Professor of Music Education at Tennessee Technological University. She joined the faculty in 2007 as the general music education specialist. A native of Detroit, Michigan, she obtained her Bachelor of Music in choral music education from Michigan State University, and the Master of Music and Doctor of Philosophy in music education from the University of Kentucky with a research emphasis in early childhood music education. Teaching experience includes public and private schools in Ohio and Kentucky, the University of Kentucky, the University of Tennessee at Martin and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She holds certificates in Orff-Schulwerk Levels I and II and Curriculum Development; Gordon Music Learning Theory, Elementary Level I; and Musikgarten. She is currently certified Level II by the Early Childhood Music & Movement Association. She is affiliated with MENC, NAEYC, ISME, AOSA and the Gordon Institute of Music Learning. In addition to serving as the state faculty advisor for the Tennessee CMENC, she has served on the Board of Directors of the Early Childhood Music and Movement Association since 2006 and works with the publication of the ECMMA journal,
Perspectives. Dr. Sullivan is a pianist and organist, a church musician, and also plays the lever harp.
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Natalie Elkins - CMENC State Vice-President
Natalee Beeler Elkins is very pleased to be serving as Tennessee State Vice-President of the CMENC. Natalee is currently completing her Masters of Arts in Teaching degree from Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City. She was a Grace Moore Vocal Scholar at the University of Tennessee School of Music where she studied with Sarah M. Searle. After completing her degree in vocal performance from UTK, Natalee taught elementary music at Christian Academy of Knoxville. The year after she married her husband, Harvey, Natalee took a year off from teaching and decided to pursue her Masters. She was recently named the choral director at Holston Middle School in Knoxville. Natalee also teaches private voice lessons and serves as director of Drama and Student Music at Wallace Memorial Baptist Church in Knoxville where she is also a member of the Celebration Choir, Praise Team and a frequent soloist.
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My name is Brittani Taylor, and I am the Tennessee CMENC State Secretary. I am a Senior Music Education major at Tennessee Technological University.
Being a member of CMENC has been an excellent experience. CMENC has provided me with many opportunities to learn more about the music education profession. Also, through CMENC, I have had the chance to network with fellow members and colleagues in the music education field. Membership in CMENC has been a very rewarding experience for me.
It seems we have an exciting year ahead for CMENC. On September 27th the CMENC Fall Kick-off will take place at Middle Tennessee State University. I hope to see many of you there! Tennessee Tech will be hosting workshops and conferences on a variety of music education related topics throughout the 2008-2009 academic year. I invite all of you to visit the TTU campus, especially to attend one of our workshops. I am looking forward to a great year!
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Hello, my name is Rebecca Johnson and I am the newly elected CMENC President for West TN. Currently, I am a student at the University of Memphis finishing up my certification to teach music. I received my Bachelor’s Degree in Music at Lambuth University where I was involved with instrumental and vocal music. A personal goal of mine is to one day be a high school choral director.
When I first began getting involved with CMENC at Univ. of Memphis, I began to recall the very reasons as to why I wanted to teach music. Truthfully speaking, it began to reignite my passion for not only making music, but for the chance to reach out to children through music. When I would help to fundraise with other friends/students at Univ. of Memphis, I would get excited about the opportunity to be in the classroom with students to help them be apart of something bigger than themselves, music. One of my favorite things about being involved with CMENC is the opportunity to go to TN State Conference. Call me a music geek, I know, but I honestly really enjoy getting to pick from different sessions about teaching tenors to have better tonality, or what to expect in your first year of teaching music in public schools. It is always a treat for me to go to the All-State concerts at the end of the state conference and hear the bands, orchestras, and choirs that have been working so hard to be the best musicians they can be.
As President for the West TN CMENC chapter, I would like increase the communication between the CMENC chapters within our area so that we can get ideas bounced around to help our chapters grow. I personally feel that if we can reach out to future music educators and help one another, we could really show others the value of music in the classroom.
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Lara Spiesser - CMENC President Middle TN
My name is Lara Spiesser. I am a sophomore in MTSU’s vocal-general music education program, and I have been having a blast. I came to MTSU from a high school whose music program was not worth mentioning by the time I got there. So suddenly finding myself in a building full of musicians and constantly surrounded by music of all sorts has been an eye opener and a blessing. Shortly after I arrived at MTSU I heard about an organization for music education students and decided that it definitely sounded like something I wanted to check out. During the fall semester of last year, my involvement in CMENC was minimal. I was more focused on my schoolwork. But in the spring I became much more involved and realized how much fun I could have within the organization.
Sadly, being more involved in CMENC quickly made me see how few students from the school of music were really a part of the organization. It was always the same five or six students who attended meetings, volunteered for events, and went to conferences. That is something that I hope to help change this year. I want to work closely with my chapter’s president to ensure that more of MTSU’s music education students recognize the value of being part of an organization like this. I want all of the chapters throughout the state to make a push for not just recruitment, but more involvement within their local organization. I would also like to see more relationships and interaction between chapters throughout the state. Be it through fundraisers, conferences and other educational opportunities, or social functions, we all need to be involved with one another because one day we will be colleagues. What better time to build a solid foundation amongst each other than now, when it will be the most beneficial.
In closing, I am here to help the state, and especially the Middle Tennessee region, CMENC organizations take flight. I want us to be viewed as a group of people who come together to advance our music education preparation. We should help one another, our schools, and our communities to advance the fight for music education. Let’s each start within our own chapter, and see what kind of an effect we can have on the organization as a whole.
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Will Sugg - CMENC President East TN
Will Sugg is currently a senior undergraduate student at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Prior to attending UT, he grew up in Nashville and attended Father Ryan High School. During that time, Will was actively involved with the Father Ryan music program as well as several local community orchestras and church music programs in Nashville and Mount Juliet. While at UT, he has had the opportunity to take advantage of the great resources of the Music Education program, including CMENC, by participating in supplemental studies and programs covering topics such as conducting, low brass teaching philosophy and pedagogy, arranging of conventional and Orff instruments, drill design, and assessing and administrating marching band programs. This year Will intends to complete a Senior Project in Music Education, which will focus on research into the components of effective middle school band programs, the expansion of knowledge of middle school and high school band literature, and the understanding of instrument repair techniques.
As the East Tennessee CMENC representative, he will attempt to listen and share ideas about ways to utilize the CMENC community, provide resources to colleges and universities in the area that will promote the organization and its possibilities, and encourage collaborative CMENC projects across the state.
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