Four students and two professors are representing Tyler Junior College this week at the 2018 Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) convention in San Antonio.
TMEA is an annual meeting of Texas elementary through college music programs, including band, choir, orchestra and elementary music. It is one of the largest such conventions in the country, attracting some 10,000 active music educators and about 30,000 attendees from across the nation each year.
TJC students to perform in all-state choir
Four TJC students have earned places in the Texas Two-Year College All-State Choir:
• Matthew Brooks, general studies major from Lindale
• Audrey Dean, dental hygiene major from Bullard
• Hunter Dickens, music major from Bullard
• Taylor White, music major from Paris
“This is the first time in at least 18 years that TJC has had students qualify for the all-state choir,” said Dr. Eric Posada, TJC director of choral music. “We are very proud of our students and congratulate them on a job well done.”
Following three days of rehearsal to learn seven musical selections, the group will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17, in the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.
The choir will be conducted by Dr. Wallace H. Long Jr., director of choral activities at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.
Posada will also assist with teaching the bass section.
TJC professor Bell to premiere new work at TMEA
For the second consecutive year, TJC music professor Micah Bell will be premiering a new musical composition at TMEA on Friday.
In 2017, his new works “The Pursuit” and “Diversity United” were performed on the TMEA stage.
This year, Bell composed “Happy Medium” at the request of his wife, Dr. Sarah Roberts, a music professor at UT Tyler.
“It’s a fun, little R&B piece for eight saxophones that blends a sweet melody that becomes a bit grittier at the end,” he said.
Roberts will perform the piece with the UT Tyler Saxophone Ensemble at 11 a.m. Friday in the convention center.
Bell will also play trumpet during a performance with the Mansfield High School Men’s Choir.
For more on TJC music programs, go to www.tjc.edu/music.