Originally from Pineville, North Carolina, Mr. Michael T. Sanders currently serves as the Director of Instrumental Music, Choral Music, and AP Music Theory at John Taylor Williams Secondary Montessori in Charlotte, NC. Now in his ninth year at Williams and his twenty-third year in public school music education, Mr. Sanders has built a thriving music program with over 45% of the school’s student population enrolled in one or more music classes.

Mr. Sanders holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), where he specialized in Music Education and French Horn. His prior teaching experience includes positions at Lexington Middle School (NC), Durham School of the Arts in Durham, NC, and both Northwest School of the Arts and Winterfield Elementary in Charlotte.

A passionate advocate for community-based music education, Mr. Sanders has served as a teaching artist for Arts+ Project Harmony since 2011. He is also the Co-Founder of the Greater Charlotte Summer Arts Camp, which provides comprehensive visual and performing arts instruction to students ages 6-12. For the past two decades, he has worked as a counselor and camp band conductor at both UNCG Summer Music Camp and Arts+.He is also serving as conductor of the Charlotte Symphony Youth Ensemble. As a performer, he plays french horn with the Catawba River Winds in Fort Mill, South Carolina. 

Mr. Sanders remains deeply engaged in the broader music education community. He is a member of the North Carolina Bandmasters Association (NCBA), North Carolina Music Educators Association (NCMEA) and currently serves as Member-At-Large #2, National Association for Music Education (NAfME), and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. He currently serves on the Popular Music Education Committee (PMEC) of the NCMEA, a group dedicated to recognizing, embracing, and advocating for the inclusion of popular music within music education at the state level. His additional leadership roles include 9-12 Band Lead Teacher, AP Music Theory Lead Teacher, high school representative on the CMS Superintendent’s Teacher Advisory Council, and member of the community advisory board for Charlotte’s classical music station, WDAV.

A frequent guest clinician for honor bands across North and South Carolina, Mr. Sanders also mentors students in middle and high school programs, including those in the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestras. In 2025, he was honored as the Teacher of the Year at John Taylor Williams Secondary Montessori and named a finalist for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Teacher of the Year.