Josh Money Middle Georgia State University Music alumnus Josh Money ('02) is a composer, digital arranger, and artist collaborator. His latest corporate project was scoring the music for the official Delta holiday commercial "Two Words." Among his most recent artist collaborations includes a project for Italian electronica super-duo, Pelussje. He was lyricist and laid the vocal tracks for "Down the River."  While at MGA, he was a guitar major and studied with Professor Cantwell. To learn more about Josh's music, check out his website: https://josh.money/.

Heidi Lancaster (’99) is a managing commissioner of the Macon Film Commission and a choral teacher at Rutland High School. Her work in and out of the classroom is inspiring. “Middle Georgia State University was where I launched my dreams, and every year I encourage my own students to consider MGA as a college of choice.”

Our new Bachelor of Arts in Contemporary Musicianship features coursework in entrepreneurship. One of our graduates, Bobby Hall (’02), is a good example of how to capitalize on the artistic product. He is the co-owner of The Halls of Music with his percussionist wife, Emily. They have created a successful business and manage multiple revenue streams ranging from applied lessons to private performances, to small classes.
“My time at Middle Georgia State University helped shaped my skills as a musician. The music professors at MGA are role models for me as a musician and a businessman.”

Gerald Ricks ('97) is the Minister of Worship & Creative Arts at Brown Missionary Baptist Church in Southaven, Mississippi (Metropolitan Memphis), a church with more than 10,000 members and 40+ enriched ministries, as well as foreign mission teams and a church in Ghana, Africa. Ricks leads and administers a growing worship and music ministry comprised of six vocal ensembles, a band of talented musicians known as “South Beach” and a staff of 15. The Rev. Dr. Bartholomew Orr serves as the Senior Pastor of the135-year-old congregation.
“Middle Georgia State was the perfect place for me at a pivotal time of my life. I learned about music and myself. I will forever be grateful for MGA!”

Heather Kemp ('12) was selected for the prestigious Music Therapy internship at the Florida Children's Hospital in Orlando. Upon completion of her internship, she will begin her career as an accredited Music Therapist. She combines a love of folk singing with her classical vocal training as she works with children in Orlando and begins to build her practice.
“At MGA I had unwavering support from the music faculty as I solidified my career goals. It was the springboard to my future!”

Rebecca Lanning is known as an engaging, artistically vulnerable performer with a rich, colorful tone. She has performed in recital, opera, and oratorio throughout the U.S. and in France. Symphonic appearances include the Georgia Symphony, Central Florida Symphony, Valdosta Symphony, Albany Symphony and Macon Symphony. Her musician's heart, however, lies at the fringes of the canon. She presented the world premiere of McNair’s Judas Wind with the Macon Symphony Orchestra, the Georgia premiere of Einhorn’s The Spires, the City, the Field with the Albany Symphony Orchestra, and regularly programs obscure works by lesser-known composers.

Lanning was named Young Artist of the Year by the Gretchen Bunche Endowed Recital Series and received the Irvin Bushman Award at the National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Auditions. As a member of Robert Shaw’s Chamber Singers and Festival Singers, she has performed several times at Carnegie Hall.

A versatile musician, Dr. Lanning received degrees in voice and continued with graduate studies in music history at Ohio University; and arts policy studies at Valdosta State University. She has done extensive research in the relationship between the arts, the academy, and the educational social contract. Dr. Lanning is the leading scholar of American composer, Kathleen Lockhart Manning. For her research of Ms. Manning, she received the John Houk Research Grant. She has been authorized to write the first official biography of Ms. Manning, using primary documents entrusted to her by Manning's family. Other research areas include private/public artistic partnerships, the relationship between arts education and the contemporary cultural economy, and music entrepreneurship.

An active choral conductor, Dr. Lanning has presented choral master classes and clinics throughout Georgia. She is Professor and Coordinator of Music at Middle Georgia State University and was named the sole recipient of Outstanding Teaching Award in 2010. She received the American Patriot Award from the US Army Reserves in 2009 for outstanding service to veterans in her classroom. She currently serves as the President of the Georgia Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing.

Contact: rebecca.lanning@mga.edu 

Dr. N. Alan Clark is currently Director of Bands at Middle Georgia State University. He has taught and conducted at all levels from middle school through high school to professional military bands. While teaching High School in Lakeland, Florida he also served as an adjunct music faculty member at Florida Southern College and as an instructor with the Suncoast Sound Drum and Bugle Corps. In 1987 he entered the U.S. Air Force and served as saxophone section leader and Assistant Drum Major of the Air Force Band of the West in San Antonio, Texas. In 1990 he was commissioned as an Air Force Band Officer and appointed Deputy Commander of the Band of the United States Air Forces in Europe. While stationed in Germany he conducted concert tours, ceremonies, and special marching performances in seventeen countries across Eastern and Western Europe. 

In 1993 Major Clark was appointed Deputy Commander of the Air Force Band of Flight in Dayton, Ohio and served as rehearsal conductor of the Miami Valley Symphony Orchestra. In 1996 he assumed command of The Band of the United States Air Force Reserve in Warner Robins, Georgia. Major Clark accepted the appointment as Air Force ROTC Commandant of Cadets at Louisiana State University in April 2004, and he retired from the Air Force in 2007 after twenty years of service. While an Air Force music director Major Clark worked with such notable artists as Celine Dion, Amy Grant, Vince Gill, Lee Greenwood, Wynonna Judd, Crystal Gayle, Ernie Watts, Clint Black, and others. He is a member of the National Association for Music Education, National Band Association, College Band Directors National Association, Pi Kappa Lambda, Kappa Kappa Psi, and Phi Mu Alpha. He holds both the Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Fine Arts in Saxophone Performance degrees from the University of Florida as well as the Master of Science in International Relations from Troy University. He received his Ph.D. in Music Education with a minor in composition from LSU in 2012.

Contact: norman.clark@mga.edu 

Robert McTyre is the Chair of Media, Culture, and the Arts and Associate Professor of Music at Middle Georgia State University.  He also serves as the Interim Music Director at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church in Perry.  While in the central Georgia area, Robert has performed numerous musical theatre roles including Carmen Ghia in Brooks The Producers and Clemment Musgrove in Uhry & Waldman’s Robber Bridegroom.  He has also been guest soloist at Perry United Methodist Church.  Robert has previously performed with the Hattiesburg (MS) Civic Chorus and Concert Association, Capitol City Opera (Atlanta) and the Savoyards Musical Theatre Co. (Atlanta). 

Robert completed his D.M.A. at the University of Southern Mississippi in 2005, and his M.M. at Georgia State University in 1997.  He produced numerous music reviews and served as music director for shows on the Cochran campus including Finn, Sheinkin, and Feldman’s The 21st Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Ebb, Fosse, and Kander’s Chicago, and Jones and Schmidt’s The Fantasticks.  Robert enjoys teaching Music Theory and Aural Skills when he is not busy with his administrative duties.

Contact: robert.mctyre@mga.edu 

After earning a performance degree from the Ohio State University School of Music, Tisha began appearing regularly with a variety of small and large groups in her hometown. She was a member of the Columbus Symphony Pops, the Afro-Rican Ensemble, and Vaughn Wiester's Famous Jazz Orchestra, and also performed with many vocal and instrumental artists throughout central Ohio. A regular at the annual Columbus Arts Festival, she once set the record for appearing with the greatest number of bands. In Columbus, Tisha became an in-demand music educator. She taught at Capital University and at Fort Hayes Career Center and served in the Columbus Arts Council's Artists-In-Schools program. She then relocated to Nashville in 2004, taking her career to a whole new level. 

Tisha has since performed with a vast array of artists from across the musical spectrum: Grammy-winning singer-songwriters Darrell Scott and Jon Vezner, bluegrass legend Roland White, rocker Trey Anastasio (Phish), contemporary jazz guitarist Denny Jiosa, hit songwriter Thom Shepherd, and country-rock artist Eric Heatherly, to name only a few. Her recent projects include the alternative classical music collective Chatterbird and the Kelli Cox Collaborative, a modern jazz sextet. From 2006 to 2014, Tisha worked with Americana artist Brian Ashley Jones. Together they appeared at such legendary venues as the Kerrville Wine and Music Festival (Kerrville, TX), the Sundance Film Festival (Park City, UT), Eddie's Attic (Atlanta, GA), and Nashville's renowned Bluebird Café. One of the duo's Bluebird performances was featured in the U.K. television series “Amanda Holden's Fantasy Lives.” In addition to her bass work, Tisha is a respected composer and arranger. Her scores have been performed by jazz trombonist Sarah Morrow, the Women In Music Columbus Orchestra and String Sinfonia, the Land Of Legend Philharmonic, and the Prevailing Winds Quintet. She's also an accomplished harmony vocalist. Tisha attended graduate school at Middle Tennessee State University, completing a Master of Arts in music in 2014. Following graduation, she taught in MTSU's Department of Recording Industry and School of Music. In 2016, Tisha joined the faculty of Middle Georgia State University in Macon, Georgia, as Assistant Professor of Music in the Department of Media, Culture, and the Arts. Tisha's affiliations include ASCAP, the International Society of Bassists, and the American Federation of Musicians #257.

Contact: tisha.simeral@mga.edu 

Mr. Baker holds a Master of Music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, MA, and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Chicago College of the Performing Arts, Chicago, IL. He has studied with the leading trombonists in the country including Douglas Yeo, of the Boston Symphony Orchestra; Mark Fisher of the Chicago Lyric Opera; and Charles Vernon of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Baker has been an active trombone teacher and freelance player in the Atlanta, Hartford, New York and Boston metropolitan areas. Mr. Baker has held teaching positions with several area secondary schools as a brass coach and trombone instructor, including two years at the University of Connecticut as bass trombone professor. Mr. Baker joined First Presbyterian Day School as the Director of Bands in 2007.

A member of Phi Mu Alpha Music Fraternity, member of the National Association for Music Education, the International Trombone Association, the American Federation of Musicians and the Georgia Music Educators Association, Baker is a frequent adjudicator for audition panels for district, state, and marching competitions. Mr. Baker has been a clinician, guest conductor and guest artist in New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Georgia, as well as Rondonopolis, Brazil. Baker received the FPD Star Teacher Award for 2014, as well as First Presbyterian Day School’s Teacher of the Year for the 2013-2014 academic school year. 

Mr. Baker has been involved in a wide range of recording projects including three recordings with the Albany Symphony Orchestra in New York, a studio recording for an independent film, soundtracks for WGBH Boston Public Television/Radio, television commercials, a promotional video for John Hancock Insurance Company, two recordings with the New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble, and recordings with artist Ernesto Klar’s nine-piece jazz-fusion group, Klarmusic, as well as a recording session with Para Music recording artist Aunray the Great, hip-hop artist in Atlanta. Mr. Baker has performed with numerous symphony orchestras, including the Hartford Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, Vermont Symphony and New Hampshire Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Albany Symphony Orchestra in NY. Mr. Baker also performed a two-year Broadway National tour of The Music Man from 2001-2003 and a mid-west tour with the New Sousa Band under the direction of Keith O’Brion. Mr. Baker is currently a member of the Mabel White Baptist Church Orchestra, a substitute player with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and the Macon Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Baker can also be heard playing shows regularly at Macon Little Theatre, Theatre Macon and with the Civic Club of Macon. Mr. Baker resides in Macon with his wife Juciene, from Brazil. They have three beautiful daughters, Isabella, Sophia, and Olivia.

Contact: jonathan.baker@mga.edu 

Thomas Brown is in demand throughout the southeast as an adjudicator, clinician, and clarinet instructor. He has judged marching bands in Georgia, Alabama and Florida.  He has judged concert bands in Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina and has been a Head Adjudicator in Georgia since the program’s inception.  He has been an Honor Band Clinician in GMEA Districts one (1), two (2), 10, 11 and 13.  He has been the guest conductor for the Southeastern United States (SEUS) Concert Band Clinic Middle School Honor Band at Troy University and was the first High School Director ever invited to conduct one of the SEUS High School Honor Bands in 2010.  He has been listed in Who’s Who Among American Teachers and was the Jeff Davis County 2007 Teacher of the Year.  He is a four-time recipient of the National Band Association Citation of Excellence.  In January 2009, he was named the GMEA State Music Educator of the Year.  He has served GMEA as a Vice-president for All-State Events, the District and Instrumental Chairman for District 8 and served as Instrumental Chairman for District 11.

Mr. Brown retired from public school teaching after a 38-year career. In his last position, he served as the Director of Bands at Veterans High School in Kathleen, GA, where he helped open the school in 2010. The 240-member program earned superior ratings in marching and concert band every year since opening. In 2009, the Veterans Wind Symphony was invited to perform at the Southeastern United States Concert Band Clinic at Troy University in Alabama. Prior to this, Mr. Brown held the same position at Jeff Davis High School in Hazlehurst, GA for 17 years. The Jeff Davis Concert Bands received Superior ratings at the GMEA State Large Group Performance Evaluation for 17 consecutive years while performing the highest quality band literature. In 1996, the Jeff Davis Band was selected to perform at the SEUS Clinic in Troy, Alabama. In 1998, the band was chosen to perform at the GMEA State In-Service Conference, one of the few rural school bands in Georgia to ever be so honored. In 2006, the band again performed at the SEUS Clinic in Troy, AL. In 2007, the band was honored to perform for a second time at the GMEA State In-Service Conference. In 2008, the band was invited to perform at the prestigious University of Georgia Janfest. Additionally, in 2008, the band was named an Honor Band of Georgia by Columbus State University. In 2009, the band was selected to perform for the third time at the SEUS Clinic in Troy, Alabama.

In addition to his public school work, Mr. Brown served as an adjunct professor of Woodwinds at Brewton-Parker College and Fort Valley State University. Mr. Brown currently works as the clarinet instructor at Middle Georgia State University, as a band and woodwind consultant for four (4) high schools in Houston County and has 20 active students in his personal Clarinet Studio.

Contact: Thomas.brown@mga.edu   

Dr. Sarah Cain holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in clarinet performance from the University of North Texas, as well as Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees, both in clarinet performance, from Wichita State University.  As a clarinetist, she has appeared with many bands and orchestras across the country including the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra, Oregon Mozart Players, North Texas Wind Symphony, Hutchinson Symphony, Eugene Symphonic Band, American Bel Canto Opera, Opera in the Ozarks, LaGrange Opera, LaGrange Symphony, the Dodge City Symphony, and Peach State Summer Theatre.

Dr. Cain has given recital performances in numerous cities and conservatories throughout the Czech Republic, and recently she was invited to and performed at the North American Saxophone Alliance conference in Phoenix, AZ.  She can be heard on several recordings, including Voices of Dissent from MSR records, and several recordings featuring The University of North Texas Wind Symphony and the GIA Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series.  Dr. Cain was the Interim Assistant Professor of Clarinet at Valdosta State University from 2013-2015. She also taught music as Assistant Professor of Music at Dodge City Community College from 2007-2010. In summer 2008, Dr. Cain taught woodwinds and directed the Wind Ensemble at the prestigious Georgia Governor’s Honors Program for gifted high school students.  Dr. Cain currently teaches an online Music Appreciation course and a Humanities course for Middle Georgia State University, where she has taught for 14 years!  In 2009, she was voted “Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Member” by the MGA administration and faculty.

Terry Cantwell earned both a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in performance at the University of Georgia. He is currently on faculty at Middle Georgia State University, Mercer University and Wesleyan College, and has given concerts throughout the Southeast. His students have received awards at all levels and continue to earn; significant scholarships and assistantships for graduate schools at major U.S. music programs, including the conservatories of Eastman, New England, Cincinnati, San Francisco, Oberlin, Stony Brook, and Peabody.

Miguel Castro studied music from 1977 to 1983 at the "Conservatorio Nacional de Musica" in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic earning a Master's Degree in Music Performance. After that, he went to New York to study at Drummers Collective International in 1984-85 where he had the opportunity to study with some of the world leading percussionists such as Steve Gadd, Doug Allen, and Frank Malabé to name a few. From 1989 to 1992 Miguel lived in Germany where he played in numerous Latin American, jazz, pop, and chamber groups as well as pursuing an extensive recording career. He performed on tour throughout Europe with various groups, including the Puerto Rican Salsa star Marvin Santiago. Miguel has been a recording artist with ARC Music record label since 1992 and has produced 15 Compact Discs with them.  

He has performed with various professional orchestras including the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional of the Dominican Republic, the Swiss Philharmonic Orchestra, the Carol Morgan Operatic Society, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Maracaibo, the Macon Symphony Orchestra, and currently the Latin American Orchestra of Houston Texas. Mr. Castro served as Director of Percussion Studies at Mercer University in Macon for eight years and was Director of Percussion Studies and Jazz Band at Middle Georgia College in Cochran from 1998 to 2012. He is currently our lead percussion instructor and band assistant here at Middle Georgia State University. He serves as the Percussion Coordinator for the Houston County School System. Mr. Castro is regularly in demand as a percussion clinician (Percussive Arts Society International Convention, Georgia Music Educators Association Conference, Georgia Percussive Arts Society Conference, and the Southeastern United States Band Clinic), adjudicator, composer, arranger and recording artist, maintaining a busy schedule in and outside of the United States.

Contact: Miguel.castro@mga.edu 

Maggie Hollis earned a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, where she studied with Jay Bocook.  She also has a Masters of Music in Music Education from the University of South Carolina.  She was an instructor, clinician, and performer in the upstate of South Carolina throughout her undergraduate and graduate school careers, assisting with band camps, concert band preparations, and private lessons instructions. 

Mrs. Hollis was the Director of Bands in the Crawford County School System from 2005-2011.  In that position, she was tasked with rebuilding a declining, rural band program.  Within one year, the marching band tripled in size.  Within three years, the concert band attended LGPE for the first time and earned their first superior and excellent ratings. The band program grew steadily each year, both in numbers and reputation, a result of Mrs. Hollis’s vision and leadership. 

Mrs. Hollis opened her own woodwind studio in 2011, beginning with just three students.  Her expertise quickly became in demand and she soon held a studio of nearly 30 flute, clarinet, and saxophone students of all ages and abilities.  She has coached several students to placement in District Honor Band, as well as chairs in the All Region and All State Bands.  During this time, Mrs. Hollis also served as the Woodwind Coach for the inaugural season of the Mercer University Marching Band. She has assisted numerous local high school bands during marching and concert band season, and has performed with the Macon Youth Orchestra, the Middle Georgia Concert Band, and the Ingleside Baptist orchestra. Mrs. Hollis’s affiliations include Sigma Alpha Iota, Who’s Who Among American Women, Americans for the Arts, GMEA, and NAfME.

Mrs. Hollis lives in Macon with her husband, Jason, and two children, Cooper and Diana.

Contact: maggie.hollis@mga.edu 

Contact: james.penndorf@mga.edu 

Contact: nancy.schriner@mga.edu