Zandra Bell McRoy, Flute
EdD, Music Education, The University of Georgia (in progress)
MM, Music Education, The University of Georgia
BA, Music, The University of Georgia
BM, Music Education, The University of Georgia
Zandra Bell is a doctoral candidate in Music Education at the University of Georgia under the supervision of Dr. Mary Leglar where she also serves as a graduate assistant. In previous years, she was the Director of Bands at Youth Middle School on Loganville, Georgia, Pointe South Middle School of Riverdale, Georgia, and LaGrange High School of LaGrange, Georgia. She also served as the Assistant Director of Bands at Mount Zion HIgh School of Jonesboro, Georgia and Monroe Area High School of Monroe, Georgia. Ms. Bell performs with the Tara Winds Community Band, conducted by Dr. David Gregory. She is a member of GMEA, MENC, GAE, and NEA. She also serves as Education Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Walton County Music Guild, and as a clinician and adjudicator across the state. Other affiliations include Sigma Alpha Iota and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
Dr. Lara Saville Dahl, Oboe
DMA, Oboe, Arizona State University
MM, Oboe, Arizona State University
BM, Oboe, Brigham Young University
Dr. Lara Saville Dahl is currently the lecturer of oboe and music survey at Georgia State University. She studied with Martin Schuring at Arizona State University and with Geralyn Giovannetti at Brigham Young University. In fall 2003, Dahl was the sabbatical replacement for Giovannetti and Stephen Caplan at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Prior to her appointment at Georgia State University, Dr. Dahl was adjunct instructor of oboe at Utah State University. In addition to her university studies, during the summer of 2007 Dr. Dahl studied with Joseph Robinson, former principal oboist of the New York Philharmonic.
Dr. Dahl has performed with the Atlanta, Utah, and Phoenix Symphony Orchestras, the Arizona Opera Company and the Sunflower Music Festival Chamber Orchestra. She is a founding member of the Georgia Chamber Winds, and performs with Chamber Music Atlanta. Dr. Dahl is a guest principal oboist for Cobb Symphony this season, and currently substitutes with the Atlanta Symphony, Atlanta Opera Orchestra, Atlanta Ballet Orchestra and Macon Symphony and is an active freelance musician throughout Atlanta.
Dr. Shelly Unger, Bassoon
DMA, Bassoon Performance, The University of Georgia
MA, Rice University
BA, Indiana University
Biography coming soon!
Audrey Murphy, Clarinet
BM, Music Education, East Carolina University
Ms. Audrey Murphy is in her sixth year as Director of Bands at Hopewell Middle School. Although the school opened its doors in August of 2004, her ensembles have earned consecutive Superior ratings in performance evaluation appearances. Prior to accepting her position at Hopewell Middle School, Ms. Murphy was the band director at Mount Pleasant Middle School in Charlotte, North Carolina from 2000 until 2004, where her concert ensembles earned numerous superior ratings at adjudicated events.
A native of Columbia, South Carolina, Ms. Murphy is a 2000 graduate of East Carolina University, where she earned the Bachelor of Music degree in music education with Magna Cum Laude distinction. She was named both “Most Outstanding Senior in Instrumental Performance” and “Most Outstanding Senior in Music Education” by school of music faculty. While studying at East Carolina, Ms. Murphy served as head drum major of the Marching Pirates, as well as principal clarinetist of the symphonic band, wind ensemble, and symphony orchestra. Her additional performance experience includes the Long Bay Symphony Orchestra, the Olde English Wind Ensemble, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte Community Concert Band, the Charlotte Civic Orchestra, Peachtree Symphonic Winds, principal clarinetist of the Capital City Opera Company of Atlanta, and clarinetist for Atlanta-based woodwind quintet Highland5. Ms. Murphy has served as a guest clinician for, notably, the South Fulton Elementary Band Clinic, the District 13 Beginning Band Clinic, Encore! Summer Music Camp, the University of Alabama Crimson Music Camp, and the University of Georgia Middle School Band Festival.
Ms. Murphy holds membership in Sigma Alpha Iota, Pi Kappa Lambda, the National Band Association, the Music Educators' National Conference, and the Georgia Music Educators Association. She resides in Alpharetta, Georgia.
Patti Martin, Saxophone
Biography Coming Soon!
Kay Fairchild, Trumpet
One of Atlanta's leading brass clinicians, Kay Fairchild, is now in her seventh season as the co-director of The Atlanta Trumpet Ensemble (ATE). Under her direction, the ATE has performed at the Georgia Music Educators Association In-Service Conference, Atlanta Trumpet Festival and the Western Carolina University Trumpet Festival. Held in high esteem by the metro-Atlanta community for her commanding presence, versatility, and consummate musicianship, Ms. Fairchild is also an Artist Affiliate at Emory University where she teaches applied trumpet, coaches three Emory Brass Quintets (Emory Brass, Eagle Brass, and Dooley Brass), conducts brass sectionals, and directs the university's trumpet ensemble (ETC).
Ms. Fairchild is also the Director of Brass Bands at Pope High School in Marietta, Georgia and maintains an active private studio with the Pope Conservatory. She is also on the brass staff at Lakeside High School in Atlanta, and served as the brass coordinator at Central and North Gwinnett High Schools. Additional coaching engagements include the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony and Emory Youth Symphony Orchestras. Her students have been accepted to prestigious universities such as the Juilliard School, The Curtis Institute of Music, Indiana University, and Florida State University.
Before concentrating on education and conducting, Ms. Fairchild performed concerts around the world, touring the United States, mainland China, and Japan. She has performed with Doc Severinsen, Timofei Dokschitzer and The Indigo Girls. She is a founding member of the Ivy Street Brass and is currently staff trumpeter for First Baptist Church of Decatur, Georgia. Her professional affiliations include AFM, ITG, TPIG, GMEA, an MENC.
DMA, Horn, The University of Wisconsin-Madison
MME, Music Performance, The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
BS, Music Performance, The University of Miami
A native of coastal Georgia, Dr. Ellie Jenkins joined the faculty at the University of West Georgia in 2002. She performs regularly with numerous organizations in the north Georgia area, including the Rome and Carroll Symphony Orchestras, the Roman Festival Brass, and the Chamber Players of the South. She has also appeared with the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra, and toured Taiwan with the Atlanta Pops Orchestra in 2004. Prior to returning to Georgia, Jenkins lived in Wisconsin for 11 years, where she was an active freelance horn player and teacher, performing with many ensembles, including the Green Bay Symphony, Rockford Symphony, Dubuque Symphony, Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra, Matrix Brass, and the Chamber Winds. She has served on the faculties of Northern Arizona University, the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. Jenkins has appeared as a soloist on many occasions, including several performances of Schumann's Konzertstuck , and in Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante and Strauss's Concerto No. 1 . She was also recently one of the featured soloists in Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 1. Her primary teachers are Douglas Hill, Barry Benjamin, Robert Elworthy, and Maribeth Crawford.
Hollie Lawing, Low Brass
BM, Trombone Performance, Georgia State University
Additional Graduate Studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music
Ms. Lawing studied music at Georgia State University under the highly acclaimed trombone professor, Dr. Tom Gibson and is an avid freelance trombonist in the Atlanta area. Ms. Lawing has played with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as well as the Columbus, Augusta, Cobb, Carroll, Youngstown, and Warren Symphony Orchestras, among others in various locations. She has been principal trombonist with the Carla Rosa Opera Company U. S. Tour, the Sigmund Romberg Tour, and has perform on several occasions with the Atlanta Pops Orchestra, including a four-week tour to Taiwan. She is principal trombonist with the Georgia Brass Band, the only traditional style British Brass band in Atlanta. The band made another highly successful trip to Louisville, Kentucky, coming away with second place in the honors section at the 2007 NABBA Championships. Ms. Lawing is currently the low brass instructor for Lassiter, Pope, and Kell High School music conservatories in the Atlanta area.
Paula Williams, Percussion
BM, Percussion Performance and Music Education, Georgia State University
Paula Williams has been the Percussion Director at Alan C. Pope High School since 2002 and has been fortunate enough to study percussion and timpani with Jack Bell, Mark Yancich, and Cloyd Duff. She has performed with regional orchestras, and as an extra with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. As an arranging and composition student of Robert W. Smith’s, she generated several publications for Warner Brothers Music.
Ms. Williams has taught band and percussion in the Atlanta area and the southeast for almost 20 years. She spent 15 years in the drum corps activity, first as a member, then as an educator. She has had 10 years of experience in the WGI indoor percussion activity, culminating in 2006 with Pope’s bronze medal placement in the Scholastic Open Class at World Championships. Her private students consistently rank as principal players in District and All-State bands, and several have gone to study percussion at major conservatories. Ms. Williams is in her 4th year as Music Director at the High Meadows School in Roswell, Georgia, where she teaches elementary music and band.
Dr. Myra Rhoden
DMA, Conducting, The University of Southern Mississippi
MS, Music Education, The University of Alabama
BS, Music Education, The University of Alabama
A native of Tuskegee, Alabama, Dr. Myra Rhoden joined the faculty of Fayette County High School in Fayetteville, Georgia in 2003 and is presently Director of Bands at FCHS, a position she’s held since 2007. Under her leadership, the Fayette County High School Band received invitations to perform at the 2010 University of Georgia January High School Festival (Janfest), the 2009 Georgia Music Educators Association Annual In-Service Conference, the 2009 New Year’s Day Parade in London, England, earned the school's first "top 5" finish and class placement awards at a Bands of America Regional Championship, and won two marching band grand championships.
Before coming to Fayette County, Dr. Rhoden taught middle and high school band in the public schools of Alabama for nine years. She has received the National Band Association’s Citation of Excellence and Teacher of the Year, serves on the Board of Directors for the Southeastern United States (SEUS) Honor Band Clinic at Troy University, and served on the Board of Directors for the Alabama Bandmasters Association. As a clarinetist, she performs in the Tara Winds Community Band of Jonesboro, Georgia.
