Nikki Cook

Director of Bands

405-366-5954 ext. 529127

Nikki Cook is excited to join the staff at Norman North High School as Director of Bands. Prior to teaching in Oklahoma, Nikki taught at Conway High School in Conway, Arkansas, where she conducted the High School Symphonic Band, assisted with the Marching Band, and taught 6th and 7th grade band students at Carl Stuart Middle School. Prior to teaching in Arkansas, Mrs. Cook served as the Associate Director of Bands at McKamy Middle School in Flower Mound, Texas.

Under the direction of Mrs. Cook, the Conway High School Symphonic Band was named the 2023 and 2025 DD/DDD Arkansas State Honor Ensemble. Nikki Cook was also selected as the 2023 Arkansas recipient for the School, Band and Orchestra Magazine, “50 Directors Who Make a Difference.” Mrs. Cook frequently serves as a region and honor band clinician and concert band adjudicator throughout the region.

Bands under the direction of Mrs. Cook have received consistent Sweepstakes Awards at Region Concert Assessment and University Interscholastic League competitions for Concert Performance and Sight Reading. A native of Arizona, Nikki Cook received her Bachelor of Music Degree in Music Education from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona. Mrs. Cook resides in Norman with her husband, Dr. Justin Cook, Assistant Professor of Trombone at the University of Oklahoma, their son, Eli, and daughter, Andie.

Kizer Brown

Assistant Director of Bands

405-366-5954 ext. 8247

kbrown@normanps.org

Kizer Brown is the newly appointed Assistant Director of Bands and Director of Jazz at Norman North High School. Mr. Brown recently completed a Master’s degree in Music from the University of Arkansas and a Bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of Alabama. An experienced educator and performer, Mr. Brown has taught at all levels from middle school through college, and is an active performer in jazz and orchestral settings. Mr. Brown also has specific and extensive experience both teaching and performing jazz, being a member of the Jazz Ensembles at both Alabama and Arkansas in addition to a professional affiliation with the Jazz Orchestra of the Arkansas Philharmonic.

Julianne Annesley

Whittier Middle School Band Director

jannesley@normanps.org

Julianne Annesley is starting her fifteenth year as a music educator and her second year with Whittier Middle School and Norman North High School. She has taught in Putnam City Schools, Edmond Public Schools, Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, Chickasha Public Schools and was an interim adjunct woodwind professor at USAO. Mrs. Annesley grew up in Edmond and attended UCO for her undergraduate degree. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with her Bachelor of Instrumental Music Education and a Minor in Voice in 2011. During her time at UCO, she was selected in 2009 and 2010 for the National Flute Society Collegiate Honor Flute Choir on Bass Flute and the OkMEA Intercollegiate Honor Band in 2011. Mrs. Annesley later received her Master of Music Education Degree with an emphasis in Instrumental Conducting from OU in 2019.

Since teaching, Mrs. Annesley has been the clinician for the OKCPS All-City Middle School Honor Band and the SCOBDA First Year Honor Band. In 2024, she served as the SWOBDA 8th Grade Honor Band Chairperson. Memberships include the Oklahoma Music Educators Association and the Oklahoma Music Adjudicators Association. She remains an active church musician in the Oklahoma City metro as a flutist and sings in the FCC Norman Chancel Choir. Mrs. Annesley resides in Norman with her husband Jon, who is also a band director, and her cat Dory.

Martha Griffith

Longfellow Middle School Band Director

405-366-5948

mgriffith@norman.k12.ok.us

Dr. Griffith is the band director at Longfellow Middle School.

Brian Dailey

Percussion Instructor

daileypercussion@gmail.com

Brian Dailey began his pursuit of a music career at the University of Oklahoma in 2008. There, he studied percussion with Dr. Lance Drege, Dr. Ricardo Coelho de Souza, and Dr. Nathan Daughtrey. In 2010, Brian won the spot of tenor captain with the Boston Crusaders Drum & Bugle Corps, a world-class organization that competes in the Drum Corps International circuit. As a member of the Boston Crusaders, he spent the summer touring and competing around the country. In May of 2012, Brian earned a Bachelor of Music in Percussion Performance degree and won the outstanding percussion undergraduate award that same year. Immediately after graduation, he signed a 6 and a half month contract with Carnival Cruise Lines playing drumset for the showband onboard the Carnival Splendor.

Brian has also been an active music educator, taking the position of head drumline coordinator at Putnam City High School for the past two years as well as coordinating percussion clinics and teaching privately in the Norman and Oklahoma City area.