MY teachers did not tell me that! - Things that were missing in my education degree!

Having worked as a music educator in many varied environments in Australia and in the USA, Dr. Joanne Heaton currently serves as Head of Bands at Haileybury College in Melbourne, Australia. After completing a Masters of Music majoring in conducting performance at the University of Utah, Joanne also undertook the position of Band Director at Eastmont Middle School at Sandy, Utah. Most recently, Joanne completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree specialising in Wind Band Conducting at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Joanne is in demand as an adjudicator, conductor, guest lecturer and has been a guest lecturer and conductor at Monash University, the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and The University of Melbourne. Joanne was invited to be a guest conductor of the Southern Mississippi University Honor Band in February 2007, guest conductor of the Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asian Schools Honour Band in Kuala Lumpur in 2014 and guest conductor for the Colorado State University, Pueblo, Festival of Winds in 2018. Major clinic presentations include the 2012 Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, the 2019 World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles Conference in Spain, the 2019 Oxford University International Conducting Studies Conference in Sydney and the 2019 Australian Society for Music Education conference in Perth.

In 2000 Joanne was awarded the Jordan Education Foundation’s Outstanding Educator of the Year for her work in Utah schools, and in February 2017 she was honoured with an ABODA Victoria Excellence in Music Education award. The Victorian branch of the Australian Band and Orchestra Directors’ Association awarded Joanne with a Life Membership award in January 2020.

Nicholas Enrico Williams is a Professor of Music and serves as the Director of Bands at the University of Georgia, where he coordinates one of the country’s largest and most comprehensive university band programs, conducts the University of Georgia Wind Ensemble, and oversees the graduate wind band conducting area. Prior to his time in Athens, he was the Director of Wind Bands at the University of Melbourne Conservatorium of Music (Melbourne, Australia). Before venturing to Australia, Dr. Williams flourished for sixteen years as the Assistant Director of Wind Studies, the Conductor of the Wind Ensemble, Brass Band, and Concert Band, as well as the Director of Athletic Bands at the University of North Texas.

For a decade, he was the Conductor of the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra Wind Symphony and continues to be a frequent guest conductor of the Dallas Winds (formerly Dallas Wind Symphony), one of America’s few professional civic wind bands. Professor Williams earned the Bachelor of Music (music education), MM (performance-conducting), and DMA (conducting) degrees from the University of North Texas.

As an advocate of chamber music, Professor Williams was the founder and conductor of the East Plano Brass and was the principal guest conductor for the Harmoniemusik chamber ensemble. In the wind band world, he has been a guest conductor with the World Youth Wind Symphony at the Interlochen Arts Camp; Royal Australian Navy Band; United States Air Force Band; Dallas Wind Symphony; Lone Star Wind Orchestra; at the annual Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, Illinois; the College Band Directors National Association regional conference; the Texas Bandmasters Association Convention; and the Texas Music Educators Association Annual Clinic/Convention in San Antonio, Texas.

Dr. Williams is active in Australia, Canada, Europe, Southeast Asia, and the United States as a conductor, clinician, adjudicator, consultant, and arranger; his arrangements and transcriptions for wind band, percussion ensembles, drum corps, and school pageantry ensembles are performed by outstanding organizations throughout the world. A member of the Recording Academy (GRAMMYs), he is a sought-after recording session producer, associate producer, editor, and conductor, having been involved with numerous CDs and DVDs on the Klavier, Mark Records, and GIA labels, as well as UNT projects, including the 2019 worldwide release of “FIESTAS” by the University of North Texas Wind Ensemble. In addition to his work in the recording arts, he has written several conductor study guides published in the multivolume series of Teaching Music Through Performance in Band. He is a primary consultant of Women of Influence in Contemporary Music and is an honorary member of Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity for women. His professional affiliations include the Georgia Music Educators Association, Australian Band and Orchestra Directors Association, Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Bandmasters Association, College Band Directors National Association, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and Phi Beta Mu, an international bandmasters fraternity.