The Tennessee Arts Academy is the nation’s premier professional development institute for arts education. A program of the Tennessee Department of Education, the Academy has been held annually since 1986 on the campus of Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee! This page will serve as the starting point whenever there is a need to conduct virtual TAA programming. Information will be provided here on when and how to access the virtual site. Please feel free to contact the TAA office by email (taa@belmont.edu) or by phone (615-460-5451) if you desire further information.
Lindsay Halford is the fine arts coordinator for Rutherford County Schools. She has also served as an elementary general music teacher and middle school band director. Halford holds degrees in music education from Middle Tennessee State University and a doctorate in learning organizations and strategic change from Lipscomb University. She advocates daily for arts education and supporting the teachers that provide this vital work in schools.
Join us for a collaborative discussion about supporting arts programs by creating proposals for grants and funding.
Randal Box retired in 2018 after twenty-seven years as director of bands at Brentwood High School and assumed the position of director of bands at the Academies of West Memphis High School and supervisor of instrumental music for the West Memphis School District in Arkansas. He retired from teaching in December 2021 and continues to maintain an active schedule as a guest conductor, concert and marching band adjudicator, and a presenter of clinics and student leadership workshops. Box is a past-president of the Middle Tennessee School Band and Orchestra Association and the Tennessee Bandmasters Association, a John Philip Sousa Foundation laureate, and in 2022 was inducted into the Tennessee Bandmasters’ Hall of Fame.
The concepts of literacy and fluency, and the distinctions between them, are usually associated with the art of language. These concepts can be applied to music as well as other creative and performing arts, and mastering these skills will help students in all stages of development to move to higher levels of excellence.
Michael Chandler is an assistant professor of music and coordinator of music education at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in music education and supervises student teachers. Chandler taught elementary general music in Texas public schools for sixteen years where his student groups performed as invited ensembles at the Texas Music Educators Association conference. He was a collaborative pianist for the Children’s Chorus of Greater Dallas for ten years and is the current founding conductor of the Clarksville Children’s Chorus. Chandler teaches all three levels of Orff Schulwerk basic and recorder in several teacher education courses across the United States. His work has appeared in the Southwestern Musician, Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, The Orff Echo, and Orff-Schulwerk International.
Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of long-range, unit, and individual lesson planning asked of you while simultaneously being expected to guide your students toward mastery of their specific grade-level standards? Is the process of selecting repertoire and musical materials a challenge for you? The curricular responsibilities placed on elementary general music teachers are substantial. During this online session, participants will learn about the presenter’s approach to managing curriculum planning at the long-range, unit, and lesson stages while also considering an effective process for repertoire and material selection.
Michele Henry is division director and a professor of music education at Baylor University, where she teaches music education courses, supervises student teachers, and oversees the music education program. Specializing in vocal sight-reading instruction and assessment, Henry is the co-author of the Level Up! sight- reading series, which focuses on a systematic approach to individualized sight-reading instruction and assessment.
Creating independent musicians is a major goal in any music classroom, but instruction for sight-reading can be complex, intangible, and will require a long-game approach. In this session, participants will discover how to break down the sight-reading process for students at any level—beginner to college—and create procedures for students that will make the intangible tangible and set students on their journey to musical independence.
Sarah Hankins is a director, actor, teacher, and theatre administrator with a strong focus on collaboration, physical theatre, and heightened language. She recently joined the Tennessee Shakespeare Company as the manager of education and outreach. Hankins was recently the artistic director at Triad Stage, a professional regional theater in North Carolina, and previously she was a freelance theater artist in New York City. She has taught theater education programs from Maine to Florida, for students ranging from kindergarten to college, including teaching and directing at Greensboro College and Guilford College.
This workshop is designed to get your heart pumping and your laughter going with a series of fun physical activities and vocal warm-ups. Participants will be able to take this sequence back to their classrooms to encourage risk and playfulness. Activities in this session are inspired by the approach to clown technique of Christopher Bayes of the Yale School of Drama. This workshop is a great introduction to the world of clowning.
Amanda Pintore is a director, choreographer, and educator focusing on movement, dance education, devised theatre, and creating theatre and dance performances with and for children. She also specializes in arts integration, creative facilitation strategies, and training in teaching artistry. She is a Fulbright specialist, and in the fall of 2023 she collaborated with students and faculty at the Atlantic Technological University in Ireland.
Amanda Pintore will lead participants in a series of community building activities designed to help students learn embodied storytelling. These activities invite students to recall memories and objects that are important to them and to activate these ideas with their peers using their voice, body, and imagination. These concepts are best enjoyed by students in first through twelfth grades.
Ekundayo Bandele began his career as a playwright with Talking About My Man and Down in Heaven’s Basement, which were followed by many other successful productions.
In 2006, Bandele founded Hattiloo Theatre in Memphis, Tennessee, with the mission to develop a Black theatre that is accessible to, relevant to, and reflective of a multicultural community. Each year he curates a season of seven plays, which have featured film and television stars such as Harry Lennix, Geoffrey Owens, and Debbi Morgan. In addition to his Hattiloo Theatre credits, Bandele has directed numerous plays, and assisted Tony Award-winning director Ruben Santiago-Hudson for the Willamstown Theatre Festival’s production of Paradise Blue. In 2019, he took a production of Ain’t Misbehavin’ to Spazio Teatro No'hma in Milan, Italy. In 2020, he returned to Milan with Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, and again in 2023 with Mahalia: Queen of Gospel.
Bandele raised $4.3 million which resulted in the construction of Hattiloo’s 14,000 square foot venue, and then he raised $5.5 million to establish an endowment. He negotiated with the city of Memphis a $1 per year, twenty-five-year lease for a closed public school that he converted into the Technical Theatre Center. In 2022, he launched the Hattiloo Black Theatre Studies Institute at LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis, Tennessee.
Bandele is a graduate of Leadership Memphis’s executive program, and a graduate of the University of Maryland’s DeVos Institute of Arts Management Fellowship. He served as chairman of the city of Memphis’s Division of Office of Youth Services and as a founding board member of the Overton Park Conservancy. Bandele currently serves as a founding board member of the National Black Theatre Owners Association and the Chicago-based African American Museum of the Performing Arts. He and his wife of thirty years, Nicole, have two adult daughters named Hatshepsut (Hatti) and Oluremi (Loo), whose combined nicknames are the inspiration for the theatre’s name: Hattiloo.
The Tennessee Arts Academy Virtual Winter Retreat is proud to once again present “Tennessee Talks.” Tennessee Talks is designed to showcase the thoughts and reflections of a notable Tennessean whose life’s work has had a major influence on the arts, arts education, and the lives of all citizens throughout our great state. Much like the Academy’s “Musings,” Tennessee Talks is a time of meaningful inspiration and introspection.
This year’s Tennessee Talks guest of honor is Hattiloo Theatre Director and Founder, Ekundayo Bandele of Memphis.
Hannah Sorrells-Tyler
Hannah Sorrells-Tyler is a violinist from Asheville, North Carolina, and now resides in Nashville. She received her bachelor degree from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, and performed in the the St. Olaf Orchestra under Steven Amundson. She earned her master’s degree from Belmont University while serving as concertmaster of the Belmont Symphony. Sorrells-Tyler has performed in venues all over the world including the Grand Ole Opry, Carnegie Hall, St. Thomas’s Church in Leipzig, Germany, and the Kennedy Center. She is first violinist in La Vie Quartet, a chamber ensemble she founded in 2017, which performs the highest caliber repertoire of classical string quartets, current Top 40's arrangements, and beyond. Sorrells-Tyler started the Opus Project, which attempts to connect classical music to common human experience. Through music-making and performing, she desires to allow people to be in touch with themselves, and with something much greater.
Gabija Žilinskaitė
A native of Fort Mill, South Carolina, Gabija Žilinskaitė attended Vanderbilt University where she earned a double major in violin performance and psychology. She received the Linde B. Wilson Scholarship and the Jean Keller Heard Prize for musical excellence. Under the instruction of Stephen Miahky, she enjoyed many performance opportunities, including appearances with the Vanderbilt Symphony Orchestra and the Vanderbilt Opera. A resident of Nashville, Žilinskaitė frequently plays as a substitute section violinist in the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. She has appeared with the Nashville Chamber Music Society and regularly performs in the greater Nashville area. Žilinskaitė works full time at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders as a research analyst. She hopes to attend graduate school for child psychology and enjoys sharing music with children at the Vanderbilt Acorn and at the W.O. Smith Music School.
Samuel Bender
Hailing from Nashville, Tennessee, violist Samuel Bender attended Vanderbilt University where he earned a double major in music and computer science. A recipient of the Dean's Honor and the Laura Kemp Goad Scholarships. While at Vanderbilt, Bender used his time to further realize his aspirations as both a musician and tech nerd. His former primary teachers include Kathryn Plummer, Daniel Reinker, and John Kochanowski. Bender has spent multiple summers at both the Brevard Music Festival and the Eastern Music Festival, where he had the opportunity to work with Maestros Gerard Schwarz, José-Luis Novo, Grant Cooper, Keith Lockhart, and Ken Lam. His private instructors included Erika Eckert, Jenny Snyder Kozoroz, and Peter Chun. Currently a full time software engineer at a Nashville-based global technology firm, Bender indulges his ardor for music by pursuing as many performance and recording opportunities as his schedule will allow.
MaryGrace Bender
Cellist MaryGrace Bender is a performer, teacher, and believer in the beauty of music and the important impact it has on how we see the world. She earned an undergraduate degree from the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University and a master's degree in cello performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and she is versed in the Suzuki Method. Bender founded the Nashville Chamber Music Society and performs with the group on a regular basis in a variety of spaces for diverse audiences. She performed with the McDuffie Center for Strings in Carnegie Hall, as a Young Artist for the Rome Chamber Music Festival in Italy, and has recorded with orchestras under Philip Glass’s Orange Mountain Music label which the Wall Street Journal called, “impeccably polished.” Bender regularly records in Nashville and currently lives in Huntsville, Alabama. As a Suzuki teacher, she leads a full studio of cellists in the Nashville area, as well as a studio in Huntsville.
About The Nashville Chamber Music Society
The Nashville Chamber Music Society (NashvilleCMS) is a group of musicians dedicated to the performance and promotion of chamber music in Nashville and the surrounding areas. The group is currently in residence at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Nashville and in Huntsville, Alabama at Tangled String Studios. As a nonprofit organization, NashvilleCMS partners with local schools, retirement homes, homeless shelters, and a variety of concert venues to bring artistic excellence and beautiful experiences to the neighboring community. The Music City Review stated, "NCMS audience members feel they are enjoying an evening of fine music with friends." NashvilleCMS is proud to bring chamber music back into smaller spaces so that both the performer and listeners interact and feel known. Performers for today’s TAA concert include Hannah Sorrells-Tyler, violin; Gabija Zilinskaite, violin; Samuel Bender, viola; MaryGrace Bender, cello.
.png)
