Amanda R. Draper is an Assistant Professor of Music Education at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. Prior to her appointment she was part of the Music Education faculty in the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University. Her academic interests include investigating musical experiences for diverse learners with a focus on music and autism research, Disability Studies in music, and teacher preparation for special music education. Dr. Draper has presented regionally, nationally, and internationally and has articles published in the Journal of Research in Music Education and Music Educators Journal. A general music specialist, she previously taught elementary and middle school general music for 10 years, most recently for Chicago Public Schools. Dr. Draper holds a bachelor’s degree in music education from Coe College in Cedar Rapids IA and a master’s degree and PhD in music education from Northwestern University.

Recommended Resources from the episode:

Including Everyone by Judith Anne Jellison

Books by Dr. Alice Hammel

Heidi Waleson has been the opera critic of the Wall Street Journal for over 25 years. In addition to her regular criticism, her work for the Journal and other publications has focused more broadly on the changing profiles of musical institutions, new models for opera presentation, and the wider significance of opera and culture. She is a faculty member of the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Her book, Mad Scenes and Exit Arias: The Death of the New York City Opera and the Future of Opera in America, was published by Metropolitan Books (Henry Holt and Company) in 2018; in paperback (Picador) in 2019. Mad Scenes won the 2019 ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Award for Outstanding Music Criticism in the concert music field. She lives in New York City.

Read Opera News' review of Mad Scenes and Exit Arias HERE. 

Read more about Mad Scenes and Exit Arias HERE!

Check out Opera Philadelphia HERE 

Ian Rucker is a baritone from Oshkosh, WI, under the tutelage of Carol Vaness. Ian graduated with his Masters Degree in Vocal Performance from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music last spring. He is coming to Palm Beach Opera after a summer as a Renée Fleming Artist at the Aspen Summer Music Festival. He lived in Aspen, Colorado for two months and was featured in weekly masterclasses, concerts, and recitals. It was there that he was able to work with many well-renowned performers, coaches, and conductors in the opera, classical music, and musical theatre community.

Ian was an avid performer at the Jacobs School of Music, being featured as Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro in 2019, Figaro in The Barber of Seville in 2020, and most recently Papageno in The Magic Flute in September of 2021. It was at his undergrad at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, under the instruction of Kenneth Pereira, that he found his love for the spotlight. He performed roles in both Opera and Musical Theatre productions: The title roles in both Don Giovanni and Sweeney Todd, Officer Lockstock in Urinetown, and Ernst Ludwig in Cabaret.

Within the past year, Ian has had some success in vocal competitions. He was awarded an Encouragement Award in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition - WI District, and took 1st place in the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition.

He is glad to be back on stage performing for an audience. After such a hard year, it is such a breath of fresh air to see the arts alive and well!

You can check out Ian's website by clicking here!

Episode Music; Don Giovanni, K527 -  Ouvertura-1248; Gunther Hasselmann

Bob Habersat is a high school music teacher and co-founder of shedthemusic.com. He has presented clinics on music technology, guitar, and jazz at conferences and festivals across the country and has written articles for NAfME, Noteflight, JEN, and Soundtrap. Bob is the author of the Modern Musicianship Guitar Method and the Production Through Performance music technology curriculum. He is also the host of The Shed’s Spotlight podcast where he interviews and collaborates with artists, educators, and other notable figures in the music education orbit. When he is not teaching, Bob loves going on adventures with his wife Kristin and their children Lee and Brooke.

Beth Duhon is, to borrow Tracy King's phrase, the K-5 "ambassador of joy" at Travis Elementary in Rosenberg, TX. This is her fifth year teaching in Lamar Consolidated ISD.

Longer bio: Beth Duhon is, to borrow Tracy King’s phrase, the K-5 “ambassador of joy” at Travis Elementary in Rosenberg, TX. This is her fifth year teaching in Lamar Consolidated ISD. She has received over $14,000 in classroom grants for a keyboard lab, iPads, and music manipulatives in addition to regularly receiving travel grants for music education conferences. In 2021, she presented “Self-Care for the Music Educator: Not Just a Buzzword” for TMEA and the LCISD elementary music teacher cohort. Previously, Ms. Duhon was a successful horn private lesson teacher, clinician, and freelance performer in the West Houston area for over a decade. She also taught elementary music in Williamsburg, VA and middle school general music in Falls Church, VA before moving to Texas. She was an honors recitalist, principal horn in the wind ensemble and orchestra, cum laude and an inductee of Pi Kappa Lambda from Illinois Wesleyan University where she received a B.M.E. At the University of Houston, Ms. Duhon was a teaching assistant in the music history department, summa cum laude and a student of Roger Kaza (St. Louis Symphony) and Nancy Goodearl (Houston Symphony). She received an M.M. in horn performance. Ms. Duhon met her husband, Jimmy, when they were both performing as instrumentalists at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. They have a ten-year-old son, Mark.

You can watch Ms. Duhon's TMEA presentation "Self Care for the Music Educator: More Than a Buzzword" by clicking HERE!

You can access the "Self Care for the Music Educator: More Than a Buzzword" supplementary materials by clicking HERE!

You can access the F-flat Books THAW replay by downloading the session pack on the website!

Tonya Mitchell-Spradlin is Director of Wind Band Studies and Assistant Professor of Music at Penn State University. In addition to conducting the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, overseeing the graduate wind conducting program, teaching courses in wind band literature and wind conducting, she oversees all aspects of the concert band programs at Penn State. Her appointment at PSU follows three years as Assistant Director of Bands and Associate Director of Athletic Bands at the University of South Carolina. Prior to her tenure at Uof SC, Mitchell-Spradlin taught at Valdosta State University as Director of Athletic Bands and was Director of Bands at Chamblee High School in Chamblee, Georgia.

Mitchell-Spradlin has a diverse background as a clinician, adjudicator, educator, and speaker. She is a frequent guest conductor, and has presented regionally at the South Carolina Music Educators Association Conference, nationally at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, internationally at the International Society for the Promotion of Wind Band in Austria, and has served as Tau Beta Sigma’s local and national Women in Music Speaker.

As a proponent of new music, she is engaged in building the wind band medium. She led the consortium and premiere of Aaron Perrine’s Beneath a Canvas of Green for wind ensemble and percussion quartet which was also the source of her doctoral dissertation. Additionally, she is active in a number of premieres and consortiums for new music.

Mitchell-Spradlin serves as the National Vice President of Professional Relations for Tau Beta Sigma: National Honorary Band Sorority. She also holds memberships in Kappa Kappa Psi, the College Band Directors National Association, National Association for Music Education, and Women Band Directors International.

Learn more about the Penn State Music program here! https://music.psu.edu/

Dr. Michquelena Potlunas Ferguson currently serves as an Assistant Director of Athletic Bands at the Pennsylvania State University. In her role, she assists with the direction of the Penn State Marching Blue Band, the “Pride of the Lions” Pep Band, the Campus Band, teaches music courses, and supervises student teachers. Prior to her current appointment, she was a Lecturer of Music, teaching courses in music education and assisting with the direction of athletic and concert bands while concurrently completing her Ph.D. in Music Education from Penn State. Ferguson holds a Master of Music degree in Music Education from West Chester University, a Master of Business Administration degree from Alvernia University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education from Penn State.

Ferguson’s research interests include Title IX’s effects on women in collegiate athletic bands, investigating the role of women as leaders in music education, and athletic band musicianship. She has presented her research at state, national, and international music education conferences. Prior to returning to higher education, Ferguson taught in the Pennsylvania Public Schools for ten years, primarily in high school instrumental music. Ferguson previously served as the Senior High School Band Director and Music Department K-12 Chairperson in the Exeter Township School District in Reading, PA. At Exeter Township, Ferguson was responsible for directing the marching band, the concert band, the auditioned wind ensemble, jazz bands, AP Music Theory, and general music courses in popular music and music technology.

You can read Dr. Potlunas Ferguson's dissertation via link on the F-flat Books Website. 

You can access a NAfME Session/ more information on action research by reaching out to Marissa Guarriello, Maggie Harrigan, Sarah Gulish, Matt Clauhs, or Erik Piazza. Their contact info is available via the F-flat Books Website 

John Kratus is professor emeritus of music education from Michigan State University, where he served as chairperson and taught general music methods, philosophy, research, sociology, and songwriting. He has presented his ideas at conferences in Ireland, Scotland, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Greece, Egypt, Japan, China, Malaysia, Canada, and the United States. His articles have appeared in most of the world’s major music education journals. He previously chaired the Special Research Interest Groups in Creativity, Philosophy, and Popular Music Education for the National (USA) Association for Music Education. Kratus is currently an independent scholar residing in Tarpon Springs, Florida.

LISTEN to one of Dr. Kratus' songs here!

Take a LOOK at Dr. Kratus' CV here! Dr. John Kratus CV

ACCESS RESEARCHGATE HERE! 

Don't forget to check out the F-flat Books resources on creativity and song writing! Some examples include...

Lucy Green is Emerita Professor of Music Education at the UCL Institute of Education, London UK. She is internationally known for her work in music education, particularly in relation to popular music, informal learning, new pedagogies, gender, ideology, musical meaning and more generally, the sociology of music. She has written four academic books on music education, co-authored one, edited two, and written one practical handbook for teachers. Her publications have been translated into many languages including Greek and Chinese. She has presented keynotes in countries around the world and serves on the Editorial Boards of numerous journals. Lucy developed the research and development project “Informal Learning in the Music Classroom” within the British movement “Musical Futures” and this work is now being implemented in countries across the world. She holds an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Hedmark, Norway, for services to music education. Currently she is beginning work on a new project concerning self-accompanied singing. Research is in its very early stages but she has made two self-accompanied CDs of 17th and 18th century songs.

Check out some more of Dr. Green's content in the links below!

Educator. Encourager. Musician. Those are just a few ways that some would describe me. As a recipient of Grammy Music Educator Award for 2020, I have inspired both children and teachers through my motivational mixture of music and message. Through my love for the saxophone, I blend the roles of educator and entertainer to create a dynamic educational experience that entertains, educates and elevates everyone to excellence. I am dedicated to helping educators discover their sound. No matter what, the classroom challenge may be I help encourage others to keep on going.

Learn More at https://mickeysmithjr.com/about

Sound 180 Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/157225868266013