TxAPME Board
President: Stephen T. Cox
Stephen T. Cox is a Texas music educator and Director of Music
Education for the Willis Wonderland Foundation. He leads nationwide
workshops on creative music-making and technology in the classroom.
Also a Grammy Music Educator Award recipient, he specializes in helping teachers integrate innovative, student-centered practices into their
programs.
Vice-President: Steve Moreland
Steve Moreland is a native Texan and cutting edge music teacher who has reimagined modern music education in a high school setting. Winner of Yamaha’s 40 Under 40 Music Educators in the country and featured in articles ranging from The Associated Press to Fine Arts Education Podcasts. With more than 15 years of teaching experience and a decade operating a music entertainment company in Austin, Texas, he brings a unique and modernized approach to teaching music to high school students from beginner to advanced.
Educated and trained as a classical musician, he bridges the gap between traditional music education and the evolving music industry. He serves as the Director of Fine Arts at St. Michael’s Catholic Preparatory School in Austin, Texas, where he has developed a modern approach to fine arts. In addition to his resume as an innovative educator, he is also a talented music producer, film composer, and musician with credits appearing on various streaming platforms including Amazon, TubiTV, and Spotify.
Secretary: Dr. Shauna Pickens
Dr. Shauna Satrom Pickens is an Assistant Professor of Music Education at Texas Tech University where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in band music education, brass methods, music technology, and popular music pedagogy.
As a researcher, Dr. Pickens’ work is focused on teaching music in low-SES urban and rural communities, gaze behavior of music teachers during instruction, music teacher preparation, popular music pedagogy, and instrument preferences of children. She has presented her research at the National Association for Music Education conference, the Symposium for Music Teacher Education, and the Texas Music Educators Association conference.
She has also co-authored articles published in Update: Applications for Research in Music Education and Texas Music Education Research. Dr. Pickens holds a Ph.D. in Music Education from Texas Tech University, a Master of Music in Trombone Performance from Southern Methodist University, and a Bachelor of Music in Trombone Performance from Texas Tech University.
Prior to her higher education positions, she served as a middle school band director in Pflugerville, TX for almost 10 years and she values her continued work with public school students as a clinician, guest conductor, and adjudicator.
Treasurer: Robert Packer
Robert Packer is the current Head Band Director for a large popular music program on the Fox Tech Campus in downtown San Antonio. This multi-school campus houses the Advanced Learning Academy, Cast Tech and Fox Tech Health and Law. His students regularly perform throughout the San Antonio area and travel for TxAPME and APME student festivals.
Mr. Packer holds a Master’s in Music Education from Stephen F. Austin State University and his Bachelor’s is from Sam Houston State University. Being a life longer learner, he continues to study drums with Henrique De Almeida and David Garibaldi through The Drum Set Coach Academy. Mr. Packer has studied with: Alec Warren, Jeff Gleason, Brandon Bell, Jim Payne, Mark Walker & Rod Morgenstein.
Since 2008, he has taught: Band, Orchestra, Private Lessons for: Percussion, Drum Set & Guitar and many Drum Lines throughout South to East Texas. He regularly performs with many professional & community ensembles throughout San Antonio. Mr. Packer has traveled with the Band and Bible Mission to Uganda to instruct drum sections in the Summers of: 2018, 2019, 2022 & 2024.
Prior to music, Mr. Packer proudly served as a corporal in the infantry of the United States Marine Corps & was deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004-2005 and Kenya in 2006.
Mr. Packer proudly endorses: Sabian cymbals, Encore Mallets & Salyers Percussion.
Member at Large: Topy Nguyen
Topy Nguyen is in his second year pursuing his Master of Music Education degree at Texas Christian University under Dr. Laura Singletary, where he also completed his Bachelor of Music Education in the Spring of 2021. His duties at TCU include assisting with the Music Education curriculum. He has also conducted and assisted with TCU’s performing ensembles such as the TCU Wind Symphony, Symphonic Band, and the TCU Athletic Bands. Topy has also performed with the TCU Trombone Choir under Dr. David Begnoche and Jazz Ensemble I under Mr. Allen Cordingley and studied Wind Conducting under Mr. Bobby Francis.
Prior to pursuing his Masters at TCU, Topy served as the Assistant Band Director at Williams High School in Plano, Texas where he led the symphonic band and jazz band, assisted in their marching band program, and taught beginner saxophone and flute at his feeder middle schools, Bowman MS and Otto MS. During this time, he also performed with the Dallas Asian Winds, an ensemble based in the DFW Metroplex that was started to promote and progress pieces written in Asia or by Asian composers. Topy is also a freelance musician that performs consistently as a trombonist for cover bands and has had the opportunity to travel across the country and internationally to perform.
In his undergraduate studies at TCU, Topy performed with the TCU Wind Symphony at the American Bandmasters Association Convention at TCU in 2017 and the College Band Directors National Association Convention in Phoenix in 2018. He also performed with the TCU Trombone Choir at the American Trombone Workshop in Washington D.C. in 2020. Topy also served as the President of the Kappa Kappa Psi chapter at TCU.
As a music educator, Topy believes that all music can have value, no matter the genre, and hopes to study and expand on the world of popular music education during his time at TCU. As an avid performer and enjoyer of popular music, he aims to study a curriculum that includes the use of more modern and diverse music while maintaining the effectiveness of a traditional music education.
Immediate Past-President: Dr. Rick Palese
Rick Palese is a band director and music teacher at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Austin, TX. His responsibilities include leading the symphonic and jazz band programs and teaching AP Music Theory. In addition, he serves as the Fine Arts Department Chair at the Upper School, a role in which he works collaboratively with colleagues in Music, Theatre, Dance, and Visual Arts.
Palese earned his PhD in Music and Human Learning at the University of Texas at Austin, and both his BMEd and MMEd degrees in Music Education at VanderCook College of Music in Chicago, IL. Rick started his teaching career at Prairie Hill School in Cary, IL, where he directed 5th and 6th-grade bands. His K-12 classroom experience includes teaching steel band, concert band, jazz band, classical guitar, modern band, and music theory. Throughout his career, he has taught private percussion lessons, performed as a guest artist, worked as a program consultant, led professional development sessions, and served as a clinician and adjudicator.
Before his return to K-12 teaching in 2022, Dr. Palese spent nearly a decade working in Higher Education. He served for three years as a Lecturer of Instrumental Music Education at The Ohio State University in Columbus, OH. Before his time in Ohio, he held the position of director of the Music Education Center of America (MECA) Continuing Education program and director of student teaching at VanderCook College of Music. Alongside his administrative responsibilities there, he taught music technology and supervised field experiences for instrumental music education majors. Furthermore, Dr. Palese has been an adjunct faculty member in the Division of Music Education within the College of Music at the University of North Texas, and at The University of Texas at Austin.
Dr. Palese has presented at the NAfME Music Research and Teacher Education National Conference, Association for Popular Music Education (APME) National Conferences, several state Music Education Association conferences, taught at the Wisconsin Center for Music Education, and presented several courses in the VanderCook MECA Continuing Education program. Rick’s professional memberships include The National Association for Music Education, the Texas Music Educators Association, the Association for Popular Music Education, the Percussive Arts Society, the Vic Firth Education Team, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. He is a founding member and immediate past president of the Texas Chapter for Popular Music Education. As an active performer, Rick plays steel pan, drum set, and percussion professionally. He has performed, recorded, and toured across the country, most notably with the orchestral folk ensemble, American Dreamer.