Director of Bands

Joshua Schechter is in his 21st year of teaching and his 20th year at Smithfield Middle School. He has served as the head band director since 2017. Under his leadership the bands of Smithfield Middle School have won multiple local band competitions, received consistent first division ratings at UIL, progressed to the Area level of TMEA Honor Band Contest, and been recognized as a National Winner in the Mark of Excellence competition in 2020, 2021 & 2022. Mr. Schechter attended Texas Christian University where he studied clarinet with Gary Whitman. While at TCU, Mr. Schechter also played tenor saxophone in the jazz bands, and served as Drum Major for the Horned Frog Marching Band. When Mr. Schechter isn’t working in the band room; he enjoys spending time with his wife and twin boys spending time outdoors hiking, biking and camping. Mr. Schechter also spends some of his spare time as a professional audio engineer for DBP Audio. Mr. Schechter’s professional affiliations include the Texas Music Educators, Association and Texas Bandmasters Association.

Assistant Band Director

Jim Atilano is in his 4th year of teaching at Smithfield Middle School. Under his direction, the SMS Symphonic Band has received consistent first division ratings at UIL Concert & Sight Reading, and was named a Commended Winner in the 2023 & 2024 Citation of Excellence Project. Mr. Atilano graduated summa cum laude from the University of North Texas where he received his bachelor’s degree in Music Education. While at UNT, Mr. Atilano studied Trumpet with Professor Caleb Hudson. He has performed with the UNT Wind Symphony, Brass Band, 6 O'Clock Lab Band and UNT Trumpet Ensemble, which was a quarter-finalist at the 2019 and 2020 National Trumpet Competition. Mr. Atilano was also a member of the Green Brigade Marching Band and the Volleyball Band. Mr.Atilano's professional affiliations include the Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Bandmasters Association and the International Trumpet Guild. Outside of teaching, Mr. Atilano enjoys watching sports, playing volleyball, running and traveling. He also plays trumpet professionally in the DFW area. 

Percussion Director

Akira Robles is currently the Percussion Director at Birdville High School in North Richland Hills, TX. Prior to coming to the Birdville High School cluster,     Dr. Robles has served as Percussion Director of Ryan High School in Denton, TX. Dr. Robles earned his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Percussion Performance and Literature at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign under the tutelage of William Moersch and Ricardo Flores. He started teaching in the Chicagoland area, while also clinicing around the country, including parts of Texas. The Texas tour culminated with a showcase performance at TMEA with the Tarleton State University percussion ensemble as a featured snare soloist. Dr. Robles has been involved in the marching percussion activity since 2003. He has performed with the Pioneer Drum and Bugle Corps (2003-2005) and the Phantom Regiment (2006-2007) as a bass drummer, as well as the 2008 WGI World Champion Rhythm X. As an educator, he worked with the Phantom Regiment in 2010, and with the Santa Clara Vanguard from 2011 to 2022 both under the direction of Paul Rennick, and has been a part of seven Fred Sanford award winning percussion ensembles. Akira is an educational artist with Pearl/Adams, Innovative Percussion, Remo and Sabian.

Assistant Percussion Director

Cameron Bright is a percussionist and educator from Fort Worth, Texas, and currently serves as the Assistant Percussion Director for the Birdville High School cluster. Cameron holds a Bachelor's in Music Education from Texas Christian University, and a Master's in Music Percussion from the University of Alabama. 

As an educator, Cameron has worked with numerous band programs in the DFW metroplex, from Allen ISD, Mansfield ISD, Keller ISD, Midlothian ISD and more. As a performer, Cameron has had the honor of performing with world-class groups in Drum Corps International, as well as professional orchestras, such as the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra.

Cameron has also had the honor of performing on the PASIC stage with both the TCU and UA Percussion Ensembles, as well as performing with the Grammy award-winning chamber ensemble Eighth Blackbird.

Soloist   

Critics have hailed Michael Schneider as “a pianist with exceptional insight” and a “performer with great panache” in performances across the states and abroad. Michael has performed in legendary venues such as the château of George Sand in Nohant, France, Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, and the Library of Congress. He has been a featured guest artist at the International Chopin Festival in France, the Music Festival of the Hamptons, directed by Lukas Foss, ‘Pianotune’ Festival in Brussels, the Hungarian Festival in Cancun, Mexico, the American Liszt Society Annual Conference, the Paderewski Festival in Paso Robles, CA, and for seven summers was an audience favorite at Pianofest in the Hamptons. On February 5, 2011, with one day’s notice, Michael gave a full length solo recital in place of the cancelled San Angelo Symphony Concert due to inclement weather.

In recent years, Michael has performed the Liszt E-flat Concerto with the San Angelo Symphony, the Beethoven Triple Concerto with the Irving New Philharmonic Orchestra, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Concerto in F with the San Angelo and Plano Symphonies, the Brahms D minor Concerto with the Lewisville Lake Symphony, and the Poulenc Concerto for Two Pianos with the UT University Orchestra. Other concerto appearances have included the Elgin Symphony Orchestra (IL), the Richardson Symphony Orchestra (TX), the Bartlesville Symphony Orchestra (OK), the Harding University Orchestra (AK), and the Big Spring Symphony (TX).

Championing the music of Franz Liszt, Michael is quickly becoming known for his portrayal of Franz Liszt in his monodrama “Liszt and the Last Years”, which combines an original script based off of factual events with performances of works completed with a PowerPoint backdrop. This has been featured at the annual conventions of the Music Teachers Association of California and the Texas Music Teachers Association as well as performed at the University of Texas at Austin for numerous donor groups. Other lecture/presentations Michael has given include “Gottschalk: Life and Works”, “The Common Mistakes of Practicing”, and “Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue” – a children’s book by Anna Harwell Celenza read by Michael while providing soundtrack from the piano.

As a collaborator, he has performed recitals with violinists Frank Almond (concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony), Jun Iwasaki (concertmaster of the Oregon Symphony), cellist Boris Andrianov (3rd prize winner of Tchaikovsky Competition) and many others. He is a regular performer with Mélange Musical, a chamber series in the Dallas/Ft Worth metroplex. In July 2010, with only a few days notice, he performed with several stars in the trombone world, including full recitals with Jorgen van Rijen (international recording artist), Ian Bousfield (principal trombonist of the Vienna Philharmonic), and Jacques Mauger (trombonist of the Paris Opera and teacher at the Paris Conservatoire). In 2014, Michael finished recording a CD entitled "Multiple Personae: The Family of Clarients" for clarinet and piano by Virko Baley with clarinetist Dr. Timothy Bonenfant on the TNC Classical Label.

Michael is the creator and artistic director of the San Angelo Piano Festival, a classical music festival in West Texas with an emphasis on the piano repertoire. Annual events include guest artist recitals, impromptu musicales, a composition contest, and a young artist program that includes a competition, master classes and a showcase recital. Michael is also a co-creator of the Austin Piano Festival, established in 2013.

Michael holds degrees from the University of North Texas, where he studied with Dr. Pamela Mia Paul, and the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying with Mr. Paul Schenly. After two years as adjunct Professor of Piano at Youngstown State University in Ohio, he returned to Texas to study with Anton Nel at the University of Texas at Austin where he received his Doctorate of Music in May 2011. In the fall of 2010, Michael guest taught in place of artist-in-residence Dr. Michelle Schumann at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. He has also been adjunct faculty at the University of Texas at Austin and Concordia University-Austin. He resides in the Dallas/Fort Worth area with his wife, Alissa,  his two daughters, Clara and Madeleine, and his son, Michael.