Music Education

Donald A. Hodges - click for web site

Donald A. Hodges is Covington Distinguished Professor of Music Education and Director of the Music Research Institute. His degrees are from the University of Kansas (BME) and the University of Texas (MM and PhD). Previous appointments include the Philadelphia public schools, the University of South Carolina, Southern Methodist University, and the University of Texas at San Antonio. Dr. Hodges is contributing editor of the Handbook of Music Psychology and the accompanying Multimedia Companion and has published numerous book chapters, articles, and research papers in music education and music psychology. He has made presentations to state, national, and international conferences and has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Research in Music Education, Music Educators Journal and Update: Applications of Research in Music Education. He is past president of the Texas Music Educators Conference and Texas Coalition for Music Education, has served on scientific organizing and review committees for the International Society for Music Medicine and the International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition, and was Chair of the Music Perception and Cognition Special Research Interest Group (Music Educators National Conference) and Research Chair for NCMEA. Recent research has focused on a series of brain imaging studies of musicians. 336-334-5176 or email: dahodges@uncg.edu.

Rebecca MacLeod

Rebecca MacLeod is assistant professor of music education, specializing in string education. She earned her degrees from Duquesne University (BSME) and Florida State University (MME and PhD). Prior to her position at UNCG, she taught elementary, middle school, and high school orchestra in the public schools of Pennsylvania . She has published in the Journal of Research in Music Education and the Florida Music Educator's Journal and her research on at-risk string programs, vibrato technique, instrument preference, and music perception has been presented at the Music Educator's National Conference, American String Teacher's National Conference and the Florida Music Educator's State Conference, respectively. She is a frequent guest conductor and clinician in various high schools and colleges in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Florida, Georgia, and Illinois. 336-256-0167 or email: rbmacleo@uncg.edu

Constance McKoy - click for web site

Constance McKoy holds a BM in Music Education from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and both an MM and PhD from UNCG. She has served as Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Southern Mississippi and, for nineteen years, served the North Carolina public schools as a lead teacher, general music teacher, choral director, and band assistant. McKoy’s research has focused on children’s world music preferences and music teachers’ cross-cultural competence. She has presented at research sessions of MENC: The National Association for Music Education, The American Orff Schulwerk Association, and the College Music Society. Her research has been published in The Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, Music Education Research, and the Southern Music Education Journal, and she serves on the editorial review committee for the MENC publication The Music Educators Journal. She is an active clinician for state, regional, and national music education organizations, is Orff-certified, has served on the Educational Advisory Board for Kindermusik International, and is a past president of the North Carolina Music Educators Association. Her responsibilities in the School of Music include coordinating student teaching, and teaching courses in elementary general music methods, pre-school music methods, and multicultural music education. 336-334-5478 or email: clmckoy@uncg.edu

Brett Nolker

Brett Nolker is an associate professor of Music Education, specializing in choral and secondary-level general music education. Prior to joining the faculty at UNCG, Dr. Nolker served as the Director of Music Education and conductor of the Collegiate Chorale and Jenny Lind Women's Ensemble at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. Dr. Nolker has also held the position of Director of Music at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, where he was music director for the Festival Choir of the Winston Churchill Memorial and St. Mary Aldermansbury Chapel. He is active in music education research, with areas of interest including music teacher development, and promoting music reading skills for the choral ensemble. Active in Professional organizations such as the American Choral Directors Association and MENC: the National Association for Music Education, he is presently serving as Teacher Education Chair for the North Carolina Music Educators Association. His frequent workshops and teacher development presentations include serving on faculty for the Music Education Centers of America at VanderCook College of Music in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Nolker has taught instrumental and vocal music in the public schools of Colorado and Missouri and appears frequently as a guest conductor, clinician, and festival adjudicator. He holds degrees from Central Methodist College, Fayette, Missouri, The Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas and the PhD in Music Education from the University of Missouri-Columbia. 336-334-3642 email: dbnolker@uncg.edu

Patricia Sink

Patricia Sink earned BM and MM degrees in Music Education from UNCG and the PhD degree from the University of Kansas. She also is a Registered Music Therapist. She taught choral and general music in North Carolina and Iowa Public Schools and served as a Music Therapist in the Menninger Foundation Children's Hospital in Topeka, Kansas. While in Iowa, she was the Chair of the Music Education Division at Drake University. She is active in the MENC: National Association for Music Education and the North Carolina Music Educators Association, having held offices in both organizations. She has published research in the Journal of Research in Music Education, Bulletin of Historical Research in Music Education, and the Southeastern Journal of Music Education. She also published a chapter in the Handbook of Research in Music Education pertaining to middle school general music teaching and learning. Currently she is serving on the editorial board of the MENC affiliated journal UPDATE: Applications of Research in Music Education. Sink's teaching responsibilities in the School of Music primarily involve teaching graduate music education courses, advising dissertation research, and teaching an upper level undergraduate course focused on special music education. 336-334-5469 or email: psink@triad.rr.com

David Teachout

David J. Teachout is Associate Professor and Chair of the Music Education Department. His degrees are from West Virginia University (BME), the University of Oklahoma (MME), and Kent State University (PhD). Prior to joining the faculty at UNCG, he taught undergraduate and graduate courses at the University of Minnesota and at Pennsylvania State University; he also enjoyed ten years of successful public school instrumental music teaching experience in Moore, Oklahoma. Dr. Teachout’s research interest is in pre-service music teacher development. His work has been presented at state, regional, national, and international conferences and published in Journal of Research in Music Education, Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, Psychology of Music, Arts Education Policy Review, Journal of Music Teacher Education, Journal of Band Research, Contributions in Music Education, Southeastern Journal of Music Education, Curriculum Innovation in Music, and On the Sociology of Music Education. Dr. Teachout is Co-Principle Investigator for a $374,000 National Science Foundation grant funded to develop interdisciplinary teaching modules for grades 2-5 that explore natural intersections between science and music. Further, Dr. Teachout serves on the editorial review board for Research Issues in Music Education, on the national advisory board for Desert Skies Symposium on Research in Music Education, and on the national steering committee forSounds of Learning: The Impact of Music Education, an initiative of the NAMM Foundation supporting research that examines the roles of music education in the lives of school-age children. He is a past National Chair of the Collegiate Division of Music Educators National Conference, a past National Chair of the Society for Music Teacher Education (SMTE), and Symposium Chair for the 2005, 2007, and 2009 Symposium on Music Teacher Education. 336-334-4759 or email djteacho@uncg.edu

Jennifer Stewart Walter

Dr. Jennifer Stewart Walter is currently an Associate Professor of Music Education at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, specializing in instrumental music education. She has received degrees in music education from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, OH, The University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Walter taught elementary, middle, and high school band in North Carolina and Tennessee and she is an experienced clinician. She is also active in the field of music education research and has presented her research at state, regional, national and international conferences. Dr. Walter's current research involves the level of noise exposure experienced by music teachers and students and the successful inclusion of students with disabilities in music classrooms.  Dr. Walter lives in Greensboro, North Carolina with husband Donny, son Andrew, and daughter Charlie. 336-334-5969 or email: jlstewa7@uncg.edu