Find your brilliance!

Mr. Franklin J. Willis currently serves as the Elementary Music Coach for the Metro Nashville Public Schools district. In this role he provides instructional support for elementary music teachers in creating a learning environment that fosters meaningful cultural experiences in the performance, understanding and appreciation of music. Before this new role, Willis taught both general music and choir at the elementary and middle school levels for the past decade. He is a three time recipient of the prestigious Country Music Association Foundation Music Teacher of Excellence award. His student performance groups have been featured on national syndicated television programs such as NBC News with Lester Holt, Entertainment Tonight, and The Today Show.  He specializes in providing musical instruction that will empower and engage all children to achieve their best through authentic culturally relevant teaching experiences.

He is a graduate of the University of Memphis where he earned a Bachelor's of Music Education with an emphasis in choral music. Willis also earned the Master of Education Degree in Nonprofit Leadership at Belmont University. Most recently he completed an Educational Specialist degree in Instructional Leadership from Tennessee Technological University. To learn more about Franklin and his advocacy for music education visit his website at www.fwillismusic.com

Joanne Shenandoah, PhD, (Oneida-Iroquois) is Native America’s most celebrated musicians and lecturer. She carries beauty in her soul and voice but also through her interactions with diverse communities around the world.  She provides strength and passion for the people that is found in the likes of iconic philosophers and wisdom-keepers.  Holding a Grammy and 45 plus music awards, plus an Emmy nomination, she is an Ambassador of peace, human and earth rights, capturing the hearts of audiences all over the world.  Her philanthropic efforts have included works with organizations for earth and human rights specifically women and children.  In addition, she is a founding member of the Hiawatha Institute for Traditional Knowledge a non-profit educational organization who’s aim is to provide all with ancient knowledge of her ancestors.

Juan Carlos Tavarez is in his seventh year as a music educator.  He currently teaches elemental music at California Ave School and Northern Parkway School in the Uniondale School District in Uniondale, NY. He works closely with at-risk males and serves as mentor to his students as the supervisor of the Male Rites of Passage Club and Young Gentlemen’s Club, leads the Boy’s Chamber Choir, and is the director of the All-District Elementary Chorus. Prior to joining the Uniondale faculty, Mr. Tavarez taught for the NYC Public Schools, where he served as founding music teacher and school culture coordinator. He received his BM in Music Education from Five Towns College and his MM in Music Education from New York University with a certification in Kodály. Tavarez is pursuing his Doctoral Studies at Long Island University. His goal is to research, hands on, how music and music education develop the student as a person. How can music guide us to better understand human action and experience? He completed Orff-Schulwerk training at George Mason University in 2018. His approach demonstrates respect and dignity for the unique needs of children through play, exploration, and kindness. His charge as a music educator is to bring all of his students into a life-long love of music, while solidifying that appreciation with practical skills and true musicianship in his teaching and learning.

Madolyn teaches General Music and Choir at Friends Seminary, a Quaker school in New York City. Prior to joining the Friends Seminary faculty, Madolyn worked at VOICE Charter School where she prepared choirs to sing at renowned performance venues such as Symphony Space, El Museo del Barrio, Nassau Coliseum, and Madison Square Garden. Madolyn is a conductor for the National Children’s Chorus where she directs the Sonata Level and teaches Kodály Musicianship classes for the Junior and Senior Divisions. As a certified Kodály and Orff-Schulwerk teacher, Madolyn has continued her studies internationally at the Kodály Institute in Kecskemét, Hungary and at the Nunya Music Academy in Dzodze, Ghana. As a presenter, Madolyn has led sessions for the Organization of American Kodály Educators, the New York State School Music Association, Westchester County Arts Leadership Association, Suffolk County Music Educators’ Association, Hunter College, and UConn NafME collegiate chapter. Her writing has been published in Kaleidescope, a Collection of Standards-Based Lessons for the K-8 General Music Classroom (“Thōla Thōla Ngoana”, Alfred Publishing, compiled and edited by Denise Odegaard) and in the Orff Echo, (“Join the Line and Embrace the Band”, co-author Ardith Collins). 

Joan Isaacs Litman, has been a music educator and choral director in the New York City metropolitan area for forty years.  With a longing to stimulate curiosity and interest in less understood cultures, Joan has focused her interest and research on traditional songs of the Middle East. Highlights over years have been learning and teaching opportunities throughout the Middle East, and Latin America, most recently in Puerto Rico, Argentina, Mexico (and Poland!) Joan is deeply engaged in the study of cultural context often concealed in the lyrics of global songs—beyond American borders.

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Joan presently serves as Artist-in-Residence at the Mustard Seed School, Hoboken, New Jersey; of which she is a founder and Music Director Emerita. For many years she served on the music faculty of the United Nations International School in New York City.   She is the founding Artistic Director of Cantigas Women’s Choir in Hoboken.

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She is the proud mother of two grown children, Emily and Peter who are both teachers, and two highly expressive grandchildren, Claire Marion and Elijah James.

Peter Creekmore teaches K-5 music at Bradford Elementary School in Montclair, New Jersey and Co-Chairs the KONY Committee for Equity and Inclusion. Peter strives to create a humanizing pedagogy for his students which disrupts racism and other toxic influences. Peter finished Level III at the New York University Kodaly Institute and studied at the Kodály Institute in Kecskemét, Hungary. His capstone project proposed amendments to the Kodály song analysis template leading to greater understanding of the social content and messaging of songs. He has also completed one Orff Schulwerk level. Peter is completing his Masters of Music Education in Music Education from Teachers College, Columbia University (2021) and has a Bachelors of Music from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University in Jazz Performance, with a dual degree in American Studies. Peter is an actively performing flautist and saxophonist.

Czarina Jimenez is an elementary music teacher with an M.A. in Neuroscience and Education.

Music bridges communities and permeates all levels of culture. Education is not only about “what is” but also “what can be.” All students, especially students of the global majority, deserve music education that is inclusive, anti-bias/anti-racist, and culturally/socially relevant.

As a music teacher, she has the joy of guiding my students into becoming not only confident musicians, but also young people who listen, collaborate, empathize, and create. They give her hope for the future.

Her materials are available on Patreon and Instagram @littleupbeatclass.