Dr. Courtney Snyder is Associate Director of Bands and Associate Professor of Conducting at the University of Michigan, where she conducts the Concert Band, teaches conducting, and conducts the Michigan Youth Symphonic Band. Under her artistic leadership, the Concert Band was invited to perform at the College Band Directors Association North-Central Division Conference. Previously, Snyder served as the assistant director of bands and director of athletic bands at the University of Nebraska-Omaha where she conducted the “Maverick” Marching Band, conducted the Concert Band, served as associate conductor of the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, and taught courses in conducting, music education, and brass methods. While in Omaha, Snyder also served as music director for the Nebraska Wind Symphony, which, under her direction, was invited to perform at the Nebraska State Bandmasters Association annual conference. Prior to teaching at the collegiate level, Snyder taught high school and middle school band and orchestra in the Michigan public schools. Dr. Snyder is an active guest conductor and clinician. She has presented at national and international conferences including the Midwest Clinic, World Association of Symphonic Band Ensembles, College Band Directors National Association, College Music Society, and Women Band Directors International. Her current projects include research in conducting movement kinesiology, promoting equity through programming and commissioning works by women and minority composers, and building a strong community of women band directors. She is President of Women Band Directors International and serves on the editorial board for The Woman Conductor journal. Snyder is published in Music Educators Journal, The Instrumentalist, several volumes of Teaching Music Through Performance in Band, School Band & Orchestra Magazine, The Woman Conductor, and Association of Concert Bands Journal. Her chapter “Trailblazers: Five Pioneering Female Band Directors Recount Their Journeys Over the Last 50 Years” in the book The Horizon Leans Forward…Stories of Courage, Strength, and Triumph of Underrepresented Communities in the Wind Band Field will be published in December 2020. In 2018 she received Tau Beta Sigma’s Paula Crider Award. She earned 2nd Place of the 2017-2018 American Price in Conducting, Band/Wind Ensemble Division Competition and was given a Citation of Excellence award by the National Band Association. Dr. Snyder is a graduate of the University of Michigan (DMA – conducting), Baylor University (MM – conducting) and Indiana University of Pennsylvania (BME). She is a member of College Band Directors National Association, World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, Women Band Directors International, National Band Association, National Association for Music Education, College Music Society, Kappa Kappa Psi, Tau Beta Sigma, and Pi Kappa Lambda.

Dr. Brandon Waddles, a Detroit native, is no stranger to the city’s rich legacy of vocal music in schools. An alumnus of Renaissance High School, he was a member of the Renaissance High School Varsity Chorus, under the direction of renowned music educator Nina Scott. Waddles credits Scott and the late Dr. Brazeal Dennard as founding influences on his work in choral music. He went on to receive his B.A. in Music from Morehouse College (Atlanta, GA) and an M.M. in Voice Performance & Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College of Rider University (Princeton, NJ). Dr. Waddles earned his Ph.D. in Music Education with a Choral Conducting emphasis at Florida State University (Tallahassee, FL). Before pursuing his doctorate, he served on the Conducting and Sacred Music faculty at Westminster as conductor of the Westminster Jubilee Singers. As a composer, conductor, educator and music director, Dr. Waddles enjoys a multifaceted career spanning the musical gamut. His choral compositions and arrangements have been published and performed by choral ensembles around the world, including the Morehouse College and University of Michigan Glee Clubs, Oakwood Aeolians, Westminster Choir, Brigham Young University Singers and the Slovenian Philharmonic Choir. In 2019, he was awarded as the inaugural recipient of the ACDA Diverse Voices Collaborative Grant. For years, Dr. Waddles has worked as a transcriber of Black gospel music for numerous choral octavos, hymnals and hymnal supplements published by GIA, including his recent work as a contributor editor for the One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism hymnal. He recently released Just In Case You’ve Forgotten, the first selected compendium of works by the late Thomas Whitfield, the subject of his dissertation. Dr. Waddles has worked with a diverse array of artists, most recently serving as music director for Grammy-winning recording artist Ledisi, collaborating with the celebrated singer on multiple occasions, including her Ledisi Sings Nina concert series, the LEDISI: THE LEGEND OF LITTLE GIRL BLUE show-run at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, and Ledisi Live: A Tribute to Nina Simone as seen on PBS.At the heart of Dr. Waddles’s work is his unwavering passion for Black sacred music, instilled within him at a very young age by his father, Alvin Waddles, one of Detroit’s most beloved musicians. His scholarship on such has been experienced in the halls of Harvard, Yale, Morehouse and Hampton, and most recently on American Black Journal as seen on PBS. His particular areas of research focus on Negro spirituals, the evolution of contemporary gospel music, and the life and work of Thomas Whitfield. Dr. Waddles persists in his commitment to community as National Music Director of NAACP ACT-SO, in addition to his memberships with the National Association for Negro Musicians, Inc. and American Choral Directors Association. He also serves as Artistic Director of Rackham Choir, Detroit's oldest choir.

Jean Lee is the Instructor and Coordinator of String Music Education at the Michigan State University College of Music. She teaches string pedagogy and string methods courses while growing the string music education program through student recruitment and retention outreach programs. Lee is well-known throughout the Midwest as an accomplished clinician, conductor, Suzuki violin teacher, and adjudicator. She brings nearly two decades of experience to her role within the University along with a unique skill set as an entrepreneur and brand strategist. Whether in the classroom, leading an orchestra, or working one-on-one with students, Lee loves connecting with young musicians to help them develop their talents and see their potential through music education. Lee is a proud graduate of Michigan State University where as an undergraduate, she studied violin with I-Fu Wang and piano with Deborah Moriarty. She graduated in 2004 with a Bachelor of Music Education before also pursuing her graduate studies in Music Education at the University of Michigan. Before joining the university’s faculty, Lee taught music for fourteen years in the Okemos Public Schools, a district renowned for having one of the state’s strongest orchestra programs. Throughout her career, Lee has led orchestras of varying age groups—from elementary strings to university-level musicians. She also directed orchestras at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lakes, Michigan; the Michigan Chapter of the American Strings Teachers Association String Camp in Howell, Michigan; and the New England Music Camp in Sidney, Maine. She is an active member of the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association, the American String Teachers Association, and the Suzuki Association of the Americas. In addition to applying her expertise as a strings educator and orchestra director, Lee is actively developing new strategies and outreach programs to attract string musicians to careers in music education.