Featured Clinicians

Kevin Sedatole serves as Director of Bands, Professor of Music, and Chair of the conducting area at the Michigan State University College of Music. At MSU, Sedatole serves as administrator of the entire band program totaling over 700 students.  He also guides the graduate wind-conducting program in addition to conducting the MSU Wind Symphony.  Prior to joining MSU, he was director of bands and associate professor of conducting at Baylor University. Before his appointment at Baylor, he served as associate director of bands at the University of Texas and director of the Longhorn Band, and as associate director of bands at the University of Michigan and Stephen F. Austin State University.

Sedatole has conducted performances for the College Band Directors National Association, American Bandmasters Association, Texas Music Educators Association, Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association, and the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, as well as performances in Carnegie Hall.  He has conducted across the United States, Europe, and Japan.  The MSU Wind Symphony, under Sedatole’s direction, has given featured performances at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, the national convention of the College Band Directors’ National Association, the American Bandmasters Association convention, Mid-Europe Festival and Carnegie Hall.  Most recently Professor Sedatole has taught courses and conducted in Germany at the Bundesakademie fur musikalische Trossingen and in Japan at the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music, Tokyo.

Dr. Charles Laux is the Director of Orchestras at Lassiter High School in the Cobb County School District, located just north of Atlanta, Georgia. He also serves as an Essential Elements clinician, consultant, and contributor for the Hal Leonard Corporation. Dr. Laux holds degrees in music education from Ohio University, the University of Nevada – Las Vegas, and a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University.

A full-time string educator since 1996, Dr. Laux has worked with diverse student populations from elementary school through the collegiate level. Previously, he served as Director of Orchestras at Alpharetta High School where his duties included directing five levels of orchestra, including the nationally recognized AHS Symphony Orchestra. He also served as Assistant Professor of String Music Education at Kennesaw State University and directed award-winning school orchestra programs in Nevada, Florida, and Ohio.

Dr. Laux is endorsed as an artist-educator by D’Addario Orchestral and Eastman Stringed Instruments. He has presented hundreds of educational sessions for state and national conferences and school district in-services. Dr. Laux is currently serving a two-year term as a Member at Large on the national board of ASTA and remains in frequent demand across the nation as an orchestra clinician, conductor, and adjudicator.  Dr. Laux enjoys giving back to the string and orchestra community through “The Orchestra Teacher” website, YouTube channel, and podcast that can be accessed at www.OrchestraTeacher.net.

Dr. Leigh Ann Garner is an Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Music Education at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. Prior to her appointment at St. Olaf, she taught elementary classroom and choral music for 23 years in the Hastings Public School District, where she was honored as a Teacher of Excellence in 2016. Garner also serves as the Director of the Kodály Institute at the University of St. Thomas, where she teaches pedagogy courses Levels I and II, Folksong Analysis and Materials, and Kodály Master Class.

A sought-after clinician, leader, and facilitator, Garner teaches interactive workshops throughout the United States specializing in early childhood music, Kodály-inspired pedagogy, curriculum development, standards-based assessments, and undergraduate music pedagogy. In addition to her teaching, she has served for over 20 years in leadership roles at the state and national levels for a number of music organizations. Currently, Garner is the President Elect of the Organization of American Kodály Educators.

Garner holds an EdD from the University of St. Thomas, an MA in Music Education (Kodály Concentration) from the University of St. Thomas, and a BA in K-12 Vocal Music Education from St. Olaf College.

Franklin Willis is a distinguished music educator, author, and clinician known for his dedication to promoting academic excellence through the arts. His exceptional instructional skills and commitment to inclusivity have earned him national recognition, inspiring peers to nurture the unique talents of every student.

As the former CMA Foundation’s Community Impact Director, Willis advanced music education initiatives both in Nashville and nationally. Now, as the Fine Arts Director at Metro Nashville Public Schools, he aims to elevate artistic and educational endeavors for students, educators, and the community.

Through his consulting enterprise, F. Willis Music, Willis provides innovative and engaging music education resources. These tools are designed to meet the needs of educators and students, helping them excel in their artistic and educational journeys.

Kamile Geist serves as Associate Professor and the Ava and Cordell Haymon Chair of Music Therapy at LSU, where she has been instrumental in developing a progressive and comprehensive music therapy program. The new Bachelor of Music Therapy, accepting its first cohort of students in Fall 2024, will be the first program at a public university in Louisiana. Dr. Geist’s program development extends beyond the classroom and into community engagement, where she partners with healthcare institutions and other community organizations to help train future music therapists and to grow the Music Therapy workforce in Louisiana and surrounding areas.

Dr. Geist is a National Endowment for the Arts grant recipient and most recently, she received the LSU Provost Big Idea Phase 1 award for her research. She and her interdisciplinary team explore the impact of rhythmic interventions on attention behaviors and stress reduction in young children and their caregivers. Dr. Geist’s dedication to the music therapy profession is reflected in national and international publications and presentations, her distinguished national service to the American Music Therapy Association, and her active role in training and mentoring the next generation of music therapists.

Ann Marie Stanley, an internationally known music education scholar, is Director of the School of Music at Penn State. Before her appointment at Penn State, Stanley was Professor of Music and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies at Louisiana State University’s College of Music and Dramatic Arts, and Associate Professor of Music Education at the Eastman School of Music (2007–2016). Stanley taught public school general music and children’s choir for seven years in California.

In addition to a doctorate from the University of Michigan, she has degrees in oboe performance from Wichita State University. Stanley is the chair-elect of the Society for Music Teacher Education, one of music education’s most prestigious national professional organizations. Stanley co-authored the Oxford Handbook of Preservice Music Teacher Education in the U.S. (2020). She has published over 30 textbook chapters and research studies in major music journals, including Arts Education Policy Review, Bulletin for the Council for Research in Music Education, Journal of Music Teacher Education, and Research Studies in Music Education. She also has written on interdisciplinary arts policy, including editorship of a special focus issue on international arts teacher collaboration for the Arts Education Policy Review journal.

Stanley has presented her research at more than 30 national and international conferences, including being the invited research headliner at the 2022 Pennsylvania Music Educators’ Association conference. She has been an invited scholar-in-residence for Temple University, the University of Florida and Wichita State University, and she has spoken at universities in the United Kingdom, Belgium, France and China.