SOUNDS OF A NEW GENERATION

Kay Owens has taught secondary choral music in public schools for thirty-three years. Prior to joining the Arlington Independent School District, in 1993, she taught elementary, junior high and high school choirs in Natchez Public Schools, Natchez, Mississippi and Tupelo Public Schools, Tupelo, Mississippi. She received a BME degree with emphasis in piano and voice from Mississippi State University in 1983, and a Masters of Music in Choral Conducting from Mississippi College in 2000. Presently Ms. Owens is in her eighteenth year at Martin High School. During her tenure as the assistant director, Chamber Singers performed at the 1999 Fringe Festival in Aberdeen Scotland, TMEA and ACDA in 2005. Under Owens’ leadership, Martin Chorale debuted at Carnegie Hall in 2006, Varsity Women performed at TMEA in 2008, Chamber Singers performed at the National ACDA convention in 2013 and has been chosen to perform at the 2016 TMEA convention in San Antonio. Also at Martin, Owens serves as the Fine Arts Department Chair. Kay serves as organist at FBC Arlington and resides in Arlington.

Martin High School Chorale The Martin Chorale is comprised of the top students in the Martin choral program. The program has a total of 395 students involved in 10 performing organizations. Among the 100-voice choir, the students are involved in theatre, band, orchestra, athletics, student council and many different clubs on campus. Seventy-five percent of the students in Chorale take advanced placement courses. Martin Choirs have performed at four TMEA conventions (1995, 2005, 2008, 2016) and three National ACDA conventions (1997, 2005, 2013). In 2006, Martin Chorale was selected by Carnegie Hall as one of three high school choirs to perform at the National Youth Festival at Carnegie Hall. Martin Choirs consistently earn UIL sweepstakes each year and have an average of 8 to 10 students per year named to the prestigious Texas All-State Choirs.

Brad McCann is the Director of Bands at James Martin High School. This is Mr. McCann’s fifth year teaching at Martin; This is his first year as Director of Bands. He spent three years as a director and one as a private lesson teacher. An Arizona native, Mr. McCann holds a Master of Music degree in Instrumental Conducting and a Bachelor of Music Education degree, both from Northern Arizona University.

The Martin Wind Symphony is a concert Wind Ensemble of balanced instrumentation, selected from the most experienced and outstanding musicians in the total band program at MHS. Musicians in the ensemble continue the development of advanced performance techniques while cultivating superior musicianship. The Wind Symphony performs on and off-campus concerts, travels to regional and state-wide concert festivals, as well as other music festivals nationwide.

Michael Stringer is the Director of Orchestras at Martin HS in Arlington, Texas. Stringer graduated in 2000 from UT Arlington with a Bachelor of Music degree. Having taught at Martin HS since 2006, his orchestras have consistently won UIL Sweepstakes Awards and have been presented numerous awards by festivals across the nation. Under his direction, the Martin Symphony has been a finalist of the TMEA Honor Orchestra Competition eleven times, and in 2015 the Martin Symphony was named the TMEA HS String Honor Orchestra. In 2014 Stringer was awarded the AWARE Award for Educational Excellence by the Arlington AWARE Foundation.

The Martin Orchestra program services 286 students that are placed in six orchestras. The Martin Symphony has achieved 31 consecutive Sweepstakes Awards at UIL Contest and numerous Best in Festival awards at national music competitions. The Martin Symphony also has been chosen as a finalist in the TMEA Honor Orchestra Competition eleven times and was most recently chosen as the 2015 HS String Honor Orchestra. These awards and honors are a culmination of the teaching and learning that happen in the MHS cluster feeder schools, where over 1000 students are enrolled in orchestra this year.