Music Notes

Faculty Headlines

Performances, service, and innovative teaching

• Josh Armstrong (percussion and Assistant Director of Bands) recently performed his lecture recital at the University of Arizona and defended his dissertation.

• Shelley Collins (flute and music history), Kumiko Shimizu (collaborative piano), and Andrea Cheeseman (former DSU faculty) performed at the National Flute Association convention in August 2013. Collins also performed with the Glacier Symphony Orchestra in Montana in July. Additionally, she has been named the new DSU representative to the Board of Directors of the University of Mississippi Press. 

• Kumiko Shimizu completed a recording project, the Co-op Press Fundraiser for Schools and Organizations (by invitation from the composer), which resulted in a donation to the Department of Music's Piano Fund. At the conclusion of the project, she learned that the composition she worked on was dedicated to her. 

• Nicholaus Cummins (Director of Choral Activities) was selected by the North Central Division of the American Choral Directors Association to present at the biennial division conference in March 2014 held in Des Moines, Iowa. He will be presenting on Performance Practices of the Renaissance for choral conductors at the conference. Dr. Cummins will also be presenting at Clarke University in Dubuque, Iowa prior to his arrival in Des Moines.

Alumni News

• Heather Bunkley (BME 2011) is the assisstant choral director at Terry High School in Terry, MS.

• Phillip Carter (BSIS - Music and Audio Engineering, 2010) is currently reference librarian at Carnegie Public Library in Clarksdale and enrolled in the MLIS program at Southern Miss and the MBA program at Mississippi State.

• Katie GIbson Chew (BME 2011) is a  PreK-5th grade music teacher and directs the Honor Choir at Luther Branson Elementary School in Canton, MS. 

• JJ Hatfield Curry (BME 2011) was named New Teacher of the Year for the Pontotoc County School District in 2012. She is now working at New Albany High School.

• Brittany Moxley Navarro (BME 2012) teaches 6-8 grade general music and is the choir director at Batesville Junior High in Batesville, MS.

• Timothy Powell (BME 2010) is the band director at Wesson Attendance Center in Wesson, MS. 

• Joe Raymond (BME 2010) has recently become one of the band directors at Wayne County High School and Middle School in Waynesboro, MS.

• Jessica Taylor (BME 2012) is starting her 2nd year as K-6 music teacher and 5th and 6th grade honor choir director at Bowmar Magnet School in Vicksburg, MS. She currently live in Clinton, MS.

• Matt Walker (BME 2006) received his M.M.Ed. in the Spring of 2011 from the University of Southern Mississippi. He returned to his home town of Waynesboro, MS to take over as Director of Bands for the Wayne County Band Program in August of 2013. He is also the Owner/Director of the Mississippi All-Star Band Camp, a summer band camp for middle school students held at Hinds Community College in Raymond, MS.

• Johnathan Williams (BME 2013) is the new choir and general music teacher at D. M. Smith Middle School in Cleveland, MS. He also directs the choir at First Presbyterian Church, teaches piano lessons through the DSU Piano Preperatory Program, and teaches piano and voice privately.