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to pursue the new degree,” said Dr. Alan Clark,
MGA’s director of bands. “They’ll be able to learn
more about the music industry that supports
bands in America.”
ACCOMPLISHED FACULTY
Clark is one of four full-time music faculty
at MGA, but the program is also supported by a
cadre of devoted adjunct instructors. One of them
is Miguel Castro, percussion coordinator and
band assistant. Castro is a composer, arranger, and
recording artist who has performed with various
professional orchestras in the U.S. and abroad.
With help from Clark and Castro, MGA
student Luke Ross, 21, of Byron gets regular
paid work playing the drums at gigs around the
region. With Castro, he sat in once with the Latin
American Orchestra of Houston, Texas. Ross also
teaches percussion part-time at two Houston
County schools.
Ross at one time wanted to be a studio
musician and performer but he is now, like Gaw,
interested in teaching full-time for a high-school
band program. He’s been at Middle Georgia State
for a while pursuing a two-year degree in music
the University is retaining while it builds up the
new bachelor’s program.
“I was literally about to transfer to another
university to work on my bachelor’s,” Ross said.
“Now I don’t have to. I’m excited I can continue
14 MIDDLE GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY
(R) Luke Ross was close to transferring to another
university before the B.A. in Contemporary
Musicianship came along. A prolific drummer who
regularly performs in and around Macon, Ross is
thinking about a career teaching percussion at the
high-school level.
(Center) A rediscovery of her love of the saxophone
led Rebecca Gaw to change majors once she
learned of the new B.A. in Contemporary Musi-
cianship. She now aspires to make a living in music.
PHOTOS BY JESSICA WHITLEY
to work with Miguel, who is the best percussionist
on the planet.”
Other full-time faculty are Lanning, mezzo
soprano, who has performed in recital, opera, and
oratorio throughout the U.S. and in France; Tisha
Simeral, bassist, a touring musician who has per-
formed for more than two decades with a variety
of artists; and Dr. Robert McTyre, chair of MGA’s
Media, Culture, and the Arts department, where
the music degree is based. A tenor, McIntyre per-
forms musical theater around the region.
A search for a fifth full-time faculty member
is underway. Lanning said the ideal candidate will
be a pianist with expertise in classical forms and
experience in other genre.
BUILDING A REPUTATION
Although a more formal launch of the music
degree doesn’t take place until the fall, the pro-
gram is already getting attention outside of MGA.
A newly created advisory board for the degree
program attracted some big names, including
Joey Stuckey, an award-winning guitarist, song-
writer, singer, composer, and producer who owns
Shadow Sound Studio in Macon; Georgia Music
Hall of Fame inductee Alan Walden, a music
manager, publisher, booking agent, promoter and,
with his brother Phil, co-founder of Capricorn
Records; and Emory Gordy, a 1964 graduate of
the former Middle Georgia College, now MGA.