Dr. Brandon Houghtalen currently serves as the Associate Director of Bands and Director of Athletic Bands at The University of Texas at El Paso. His responsibilities include conducting the Symphonic Band, teaching graduate and undergraduate conducting, and overseeing the athletic band program. He previously held conducting positions at Abilene Christian University, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of New Mexico. In 2018 he founded the On the List Project, a group of teachers that assists states as they work to make their required music lists more inclusive.
His professional activities include frequent engagements as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator, as well as conference presentations and social engagement projects. Recently, he has been featured on the podcasts Trilloquy and The Score and professional development events sponsored by CBDNA, TMEA, and NAfME. In 2015, he served as a featured clinician of the First National Band Camp of Guatemala, where he taught conducting, wind instrument pedagogy, and co-directed the first national marching band of Guatemalan students.
Houghtalen earned degrees in music education and conducting from the University of Tennessee, University of Colorado, and Arizona State University. His primary conducting teachers were Allan McMurray and Gary Hill. Prior to graduate study he taught in the public schools of Fayette County, Georgia. He is a member of CBDNA, TMEA, TBA, NBA, and Phi Mu Alpha, and serves on the executive council of the Institute for Composer Diversity.
After earning her Bachelor’s in Music Education from Wayne State University, Amy spent seven years as the K-12 Band and Music teacher before moving to her current position as the 6th-8th Band Teacher at Hart Middle School in Rochester Hills, MI. She earned her Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership from Oakland University in 2015 and is preparing for her 13th year of teaching. Amy has been a regular presenter at the Michigan Music Conference, hosting sessions on utilizing technology in band, social media for the classroom, Genius Hour, and selecting music by diverse composers. Amy was a clinician at the 2018 Orange County Music Education Association Multi County Conference in New York to host sessions on Google Classroom and Social Media and conduct a reading session. She has guest blogged for Band Directors Talk Shop, Flute Specialists, and SmartMusic and has served as an MSBOA adjudicator and an organizer for EdCamp Detroit. Amy is also proud to be a member of the Institute for Composer Diversity Executive Council and On The List Project. When not teaching or doing teaching related things Amy enjoys spending time with her family, gardening when the Michigan weather permits, rearranging her aquariums, and walking her two rescue mutts. Additionally, Amy occasionally blogs on her site The Noisy Room Down the Hall.
Tremon Kizer serves as the Associate Director of Bands, Director of Athletic Bands, and Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Central Florida. In addition to serving as the lead administrator for the UCF athletic band program, he conducts the Symphonic Band, teaches courses in music education, conducting, and observes music education student interns. Concurrently, he serves as the principal conductor of the Youth Band of Orlando, a high school honor wind ensemble based in Central Florida.
In addition to his work at UCF, Dr. Kizer serves on the National Band Association Revelli Composition Contest Selection Committee, is the chair of the Florida Bandmasters Association Commissioning Committee, and is on the Board of Directors for the Florida Youth Symphony Orchestra. He is an active guest conductor, adjudicator, and leadership consultant. As a guest conductor, he has conducted numerous district, regional, and state honor bands along with professional ensembles such as the United States Army Band. He has been on staff for numerous music camps, drum major clinics, and collegiate and high school concert and marching band camps.
As a champion for diverse music, he conducts and presents numerous works for chamber and wind band. Most notable is his research on two-time Prix de Rome winner, Ulysses S. Kay. In addition to his research on Kay, he frequently presents on programming literature that reflect the demographics of the students in the music classroom. He has given lectures and presented at the Midwest Band and Orchestra International Conference, the College Band Director National Conference (CBDNA), the Southern Division CBDNA Conference, the CBDNA Athletic Band Symposium, the Florida Music Educators State Conference, Kansas Music Educators State Conference, and the Kansas Bandmasters Association State Conference. He has been featured in Marching Arts Education and Teaching Music.
Prior to his tenure at UCF, he served on the conducting faculty at the University of Dayton, Coffeyville College, and taught courses at the University of Central Missouri. In addition, he taught 5-12 grade instrumental music in the state of Kanas and Missouri. Dr. Kizer earned an undergraduate degree from Kansas State University, a masters degree from the University of Central Missouri and a doctorate from the University of South Carolina.
Cory Meals teaches undergraduate courses in secondary instrumental music education focusing on band and graduate courses in music education research. A native of northwestern Pennsylvania, he earned his Bachelor of Music Education from VanderCook College of Music, his Masters of Music in Wind Conducting from the University of Houston, and a Doctorate in Music Education from the University of Washington.
Dr. Meals’ research interests include ensemble conducting, perception and cognition of gesture in music, sociocultural interaction within music ensembles, and diversity within music education. His work has been published in several journals including Frontiers in Psychology and Music & Science. He has presented at research and professional development conferences across North America, Asia, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
He previously served as Assistant Director of Bands and Assistant Professor of Music Education at Kennesaw State University (GA), and additionally served as a public-school band director in the Waller (TX), Klein (TX), and Keller (TX) school districts. He has an established history in the marching arts, both as an instructor for numerous groups including The Cavaliers, Santa Clara Vanguard, and the Boston Crusaders and as a visual designer for groups across North America.
He currently serves as the Head of Analytical Activities of the Institute for Composer Diversity. He is an active clinician in schools across Texas and is keenly interested in the cross-pollination of research and practice within instrumental music education.
Catharine Sinon Bushman is the Wind Ensemble Conductor and Associate Professor of Music Education at St. Cloud State University. Previously, Dr. Bushman served on the faculty of Winthrop University. In 2016 Dr. Bushman became the conductor of the St. Cloud Municipal Band, an all-adult band of musicians that performs year-round in central Minnesota. In 2018 the band travelled to St. Cloud’s sister city Spalt, Germany and toured throughout France and Switzerland.
Dr. Bushman received the DMA in Wind Conducting at The University of Texas at Austin in 2012. She holds degrees in Music Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern University. She maintains an active schedule as a guest conductor, adjudicator, and clinician for marching and concert bands. In 2009, she presented a clinic at the Texas Music Educators Conference, sharing her research on a successful band program in a disadvantaged southwest Texas community. She has also presented on woodwind pedagogy, mentoring of women band conductors and music by underrepresented composers at Minnesota Music Educators Association (2017) and the Midwest Clinic (2016 & 2018). Dr. Bushman launched the first satellite camp of Athena Music & Leadership Camp in Minnesota in 2018. Her professional memberships include College Band Directors National Association, Women Band Directors International, Society for Music Teacher Education and Minnesota Music Educators Association. She is a member of the Executive Council for the Institute for Composer Diversity and partner for And We Were Heard.
Dr. Bushman began her teaching career as Director of Bands at Crystal Lake Central High School in Crystal Lake, Illinois. She was the Associate Director of Bands at Lassiter High School in Marietta, Georgia from 1998-2007. The Lassiter Marching “Trojan” Band is a 280-member organization that has performed at the Tournament of Roses Parade, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and has won numerous regional and national championships.