Mrs. Ashley Dame is passionate about teaching from the heart. Mrs. Dame holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education from Mississippi College and a Master of Arts in Music Education from Texas Woman’s University. She currently serves as co-director of choirs at Wylie East High School, where she conducts the Varsity Treble Choir, Bella Voce Advanced Treble Choir, Select Treble Choir, and co-directs the other eight ensembles in the choral program.

Mrs. Dame is a frequent presenter at state and national choral conferences including NAfME, TCDA, TMEA, SWACDA, and the National MS/JH ACDA Conference.  Ensembles under her direction have been featured in performance at TMEA, SWACDA, and the National MS/JH ACDA conferences. She has received numerous awards for teaching, including the Texas Choral Directors Association (TCDA) Innovative Programming Award, Wylie East High School Teacher of the Year, and the TCDA Young Director of Distinction.  She is in high demand as a clinician-conductor, having served as an all-region and all-state honor choir conductor throughout Texas and in Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

Mrs. Dame’s additional professional experiences include performing arts marketing and event coordination for both the Dallas Symphony Association and the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts. This lifelong involvement in arts advocacy has fueled her enthusiasm for choral music education and has propelled her to dedicate her life to music education-based research and supporting educational programs in collaboration with the performing arts community.  In serving the choral community, her publications for adolescent male choristers are published through BriLee Music and she offers free choral resource videos online through her Youtube channel, InspireChoir. 

Dr. Nathan Dame is the Director of Choral Activities and Coordinator of Fine Arts at Wylie East High School. With extensive experience in music education, he has conducted choral ensembles ranging from elementary to collegiate level. At Wylie East, he leads the four leveled tenor-bass choirs, conducts the A Cappella Choir, and oversees a thriving choral program of 420 singers in twelve performing ensembles.  He holds a Ph.D. in Music Education (Choral Pedagogy) from the University of Kansas. Dr. Dame has held multiple regional, state, and national leadership positions in choral music and currently serves as American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) National Repertoire & Resources Chair for Tenor-Bass Choirs.  

Choirs under his direction have been featured at the 2014 and 2024 Southwestern ACDA Conventions, the 2025 National Tenor-Bass Seminar, and the 2022 and 2026 Texas MEA Conventions.  He has been featured as a clinician-conductor for over 80 honor choirs, festivals, and school choirs in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas.  He is National Finalist for the Dale Warland American Prize in Choral Conducting and is a member of the Yamaha “40 Under 40” Top Music Educators. 

While he is incredibly proud of his achievements, he attributes his success to his students, who commonly go on to be named as members of honor choirs, conduct and shape the next generation of choral singer, and serve their community as servant-leaders.  He is incredibly privileged to teach alongside his best friend and better half Ashley, co-director of choirs at Wylie East.  Together, they claim each student as their “own,” seeking to better the world by mentoring through music each day.

Chris Brown’s thirty years as a choral director and music educator have included positions in Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama. Dr. Brown has taught all grade levels including pedagogy classes for music education, choral, keyboard, AP Theory, and guitar instruction. His dissertation topic; “Influence of Musical Engagement on Symptoms of Tourette’s Disorder” has garnered attention from Regional, National, and International Symposiums, where he has been chosen to present his research. Dr. Brown has received numerous accolades and awards including Fine Arts Teacher of the Year and has been invited as an adjudicator, guest clinician, and/or presenter in both the Southeast Region of the United States and South America.

Dr. Brown also enjoys composing and arranging music for choirs. He has produced and recorded an album, and has sold multiple choral arrangements worldwide. He and his wife Cheryl have five children and five grandchildren and live in Robertsdale, AL with their dog, Rebel, and 24 chickens.

Carlton Copeland serves as Director of Choral Activities at Horn Lake High School. He is committed to building a student-centered choral program that values artistry, discipline, expression, and community. Through performance, literacy, leadership, and thoughtful music-making, he seeks to help students grow both as singers and as people. He holds degrees from Troy University and Florida State University and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Music Education at Auburn University. His professional interests include failure and resilience in the choral classroom, productive struggle, sight-reading pedagogy, music literacy, and the development of vocal jazz in secondary schools.

Dr. Eric G. Johnson is the Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Music Education at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, NC. At Gardner-Webb, he conducts the Webb Chorale, a non-auditioned ensemble for treble voices, and teaches a variety of courses for both majors and non-majors. Prior to pursuing a Ph.D. in Music Education with a choral conducting emphasis at the University of Mississippi, he served as choral director at Holmes Middle School in Eden, North Carolina, where he led a thriving choral program for ten years. 

Dr. Johnson holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education and Sacred Vocal Performance from Appalachian State University and a Master of Music in Music Education from Florida State University. He is active as an educator, clinician, and presenter, having presented at state, regional, and national conferences for both NAfME and ACDA. He has also conducted numerous honor choirs across North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, and Virginia. Dr. Johnson currently serves as President-Elect of the North Carolina chapter of ACDA and as Director of Music Ministries at Aldersgate United Methodist Church.

Jordan Langworthy is the Director of Choral Music at Germantown High School in Madison, Mississippi. She graduated from Mississippi College in 2012 with a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education and earned her Master’s degree in Secondary Education from William Carey University in 2017. Jordan is an experienced clinician, having worked with various honor choirs, including the Gulf Coast's 4th Grade Music in Our Schools Festival, the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) Children’s Honor Choir on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, William Carey University’s Honor Choir, Delta State Honor Choir, Tuscalousa Alabama’s Honor Choir, Vicksburg’s Elementary Honor Choir, Hinds County Honor Choir, Mississippi’s District 2’s Honor Choir, Mississippi’s District 5 and 8’s Summer Choir Camp, Mississippi’s All-State Showchoir, and multiple ensembles in the metro area. She has also adjudicated for Alabama’s State Choral Performance Association Assessment and several solo and ensemble festivals across Mississippi. She will also conduct the Alabama Middle School Treble All-State Honor Choir in 2027. 

In addition to her work as a clinician and adjudicator, Jordan serves as the President for the high school division for MMEA (Mississippi Music Educator’s Association). She is an active member of both the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) and the American Choral Director’s Association (ACDA). She has presented sessions at the Mississippi All-State Choral Conference and the Mississippi Music Educators Association Fall Workshop, and her students performed at the 2023 ACDA/MMEA joint conference and were recently chosen to perform at the 2025 ACDA/MMEA joint conference. She also conducted a concert on the stage of Lincoln Center through Distinguished Concerts International New York in March of 2026 as well as a concert on the stage of Carnegie Hall through DCINY in May of 2027. 

Jordan is a proud National Board Certified Teacher and has held leadership roles within the Mississippi Music Educators Association, including district chair for the choral division and President of the High School Division for both the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) and the Mississippi Music Educators Association. She was also just elected as the President-Elect for the Mississippi Music Educator’s Association. In 2023, she was honored as Germantown High School’s Teacher of the Year and Madison County School District’s High School Teacher of the Year. She has recently been recognized as Mississippi College’s Distinguished Young Alumna for the Department of Music as well as been awarded the NFHS’s Heart of the Arts Award for the state of Mississippi. She was also recently awarded the Bobby Sims Outstanding Music Educator Award for the state of Mississippi. Dedicated to inspiring and enriching the lives of her students, Jordan is committed to preparing them to be not only productive and accomplished adults but also to thrive in their personal and professional lives.