Julie Derges is associate professor and chair of music education at the University ofHouston, where she teaches courses in elementary and secondary general music and music education research. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and also holds master’s and doctorate degrees from Michigan State University. Derges’s research exploring popular music learning and music teacher professional development has been published in international and national publications, including the Journal of Research in Music Education, International Journal of Music Education, The Orff Echo, and the Oxford Handbook of Social Media and Music Learning. She is an active clinician for general music teachers and has twice been named the Texas Invited Clinician for Elementary Music at the Texas Music Educators Association annual convention. Derges has taught general music in Virginia and Michigan, and is certified in Music Learning Theory and Orff-Schulwerk.
Ruth E. Dwyer is internationally recognized as a youth and children’s choir specialist and Kodály educator. She is a frequent guest conductor and clinician for national and international colleges, universities, honors choirs, and festivals. Dwyer has recently retired from the Indianapolis Children’s Choir after thirty-six years as a conductor and director of education and as artistic director of the Columbus Indiana Children’s Choir. Her ensembles have performed across North America, Spain, and central Europe. Her teaching experiences also include nineteen years as a public school music educator and adjunct professor with Butler University. Dwyer has authored several music education text books for Illinois Central College and is a frequent guest author for the Hal Leonard choral music text book series. She is an accomplished composer, arranger, and is the editor of the Ruth Dwyer Choral Series with Colla Voce Music.
Jacque Schrader and Rick Layton have been teaching adults in Orff Schulwerk teacher education courses, state conferences, and national conferences in the United States for more than twenty-five years. Since the late 1980s they have taught together at the University of North Texas, Southern Methodist University, and George Mason University. In addition to their work in this country, both have taught internationally, including courses in Australia, Canada, China, Dubai, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, and Taiwan, and twice at the Orff Institute in Austria.
For the past thirty years, Jacque Schrader taught in the first school, lower school, and middle school at the Key School in Annapolis, Maryland. Most recently, Schrader has been appointed as the director of the Discovery Outreach Program for the Annapolis Symphony Academy. In this role, she has launched the Discovery Outreach Program for children from age five to ten. Schrader holds a degree from Drake University, and Orff Schulwerk Level III certification from Hamline University.
Richard Layton’s teaching has included being a professor of music theory at the University of Maryland, College Park since 1992, and teaching at the Key School in Annapolis, Maryland since 1979 where he was the upper school performing arts department chair. He holds a degree from West Chester University, and his master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Maryland. He is co-author of The Elemental Style: A Handbook for Composers and Arrangers.
Felicia Barber is an adjunct associate professor of choral conducting, and conductor of the Yale Camerata at Yale University. In addition to teaching graduate-level and undergraduate choral conductors, Barber is developing a new initiative designed to prepare Yale students to work with young musicians on choral music in both school and church settings. Her research interests include effective teaching strategies, fostering classroom diversity, incorporating equity and justice initiatives in choral curricula, and the linguistic performance practice of African American spirituals. Barber regularly engages as a guest conductor at All-State festivals and will conduct at the American Choral Directors Association eastern division conference in 2024 and the Carnegie Hall Festival in 2025. She holds a degree in vocal performance from Oral Roberts University, a master’s degree from Mansfield University, and a doctorate from Florida State University.
Arris Golden is the assistant director of bands and associate director of the Spartan Marching Band at Michigan State University (MSU). In this capacity, Golden teaches the MSU Concert Band, courses in conducting and marching band techniques, coordinates the MSU Performing Arts Camps, and assists with all aspects of the total band program. She held a similar position at UNC-Chapel Hill and also had a distinguished eighteen-year career as an educator in the public schools of North Carolina. Golden holds degrees from the UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Greensboro, and completed the doctor of musical arts in wind conducting from Michigan State University as a 2014 recipient of a Michigan State University Distinguished Fellowship. She maintains an active schedule with engagements throughout the United States and internationally as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator.
Robert (Rob) Russell Pethel is a musician, educator, and content creator based in Atlanta, Georgia. Pethel holds degrees from Georgia State University, including a doctorate, and a master’s degree from Auburn University. He has worked for Atlanta Public Schools since 2008 and taught at Sutton Middle School and Peyton Forest Elementary. Pethel currently serves as the lead technology teacher, music instructor, Apple learning coach, and eSports coach at the Atlanta Virtual Academy. He is also active as a professional development speaker and has presented for the Georgia Music Educators Association, Louisiana Music Educators Association, and the Georgia Educational Technology Conference. Pethel is the creator of BlueGuitar Classroom Curriculum (www.BlueGuitar.us), Music Prism (www.YouTube.com/@MusicPrism), and Armuchee Craft (www.ArmucheeCraft.com).
