Dr. Warren Gramm, director of music education and assistant professor of music, published “Implementing Peer Mentoring in Modern Band Classrooms” in SBO (School Band and Orchestra). Dr. Gramm provides some good practical advice for teachers in the piece. 

Dr. Sharon Davis, director of music education and associate professor of music, presented two sessions at the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association annual conference in early April. She presented her first session, “Modern Band in the Classroom: Performing, Creating, and Assessment,” with three graduates of the Modern Band Certificate Program, Dan Brenner ’02, Dean Packard-Howey ’16, and Kayla Kurtz. Brenner and Packard-Howey also earned their bachelor’s at LVC. Dr. Davis also presented on the “Redefining General Music” panel discussion. 

Dr. Sharon Davis, associate professor of music and director of music education, presented “A researcher’s journey” at the Music Education Research Day at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, on June 21.  

The music faculty recently announced that Tessa Shaffer ’22, a double major in music and music education, was named the 2021–22 Presser Scholar. Shaffer, one of three students to win the most recent Concerto Aria competition, earned the College’s most prestigious music award. The Presser Scholar is “Selected by the music faculty guided solely by consideration of excellence and merit. This award is an honor award and the student, in their senior year, is known as a Presser Scholar. The award includes a generous stipend to aid in continuing musical studies.”

Dr. Sharon Davis, assistant professor of music and director of music education, presented “Reflections on an inter-collegiate music creation collaboration,” at the Modern Band Colloquium.

MusicalAmerica Worldwide recently named Joan Squires ’79, music education, to its “Mover & Shaper” list. Squires, president of Omaha Performing Arts and former president and CEO of the Phoenix Symphony, is the only Tony Award voter in Nebraska, among other prestigious acknowledgements.

Madeline Teitsma ’21, a music and music education double  major from Newton, N.J., was one of just 18 students from nine Jersey counties to be selected to attend a national 4-H Congress in Atlanta, Ga., later this month. According to the article, “The conference will focus on the Cooperative Extension System’s belief that young people can be significant partners in addressing the issues that face our nation, especially those affecting youth.”

Joan Squires, a music education major from the Class of 1979, was recently named as Broadway Presenter of the Year by the Broadway League in New York City. Squires, Omaha Performing Arts President, received the Samuel J. L’Hommedieu Award for Outstanding Achievement in Presenter Management in May at the league’s spring conference. She was recognized for her contributions to the Broadway industry and the arts in Omaha, Neb.