Clinician Biography
Dr. Virginia Wayman Davis is Professor of Music Education at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in 2005 and has taught public school music at all levels. She is on the editorial boards of General Music Today, The Journal of Popular Music Education, and the Desert Skies Symposium on Research in Music Education. Her research interests include drums and percussion, meaningful music education practices, secondary general music, and popular music education. Dr. Davis stays active as a musician, currently playing percussion with the Valley Symphony Orchestra in south Texas and her faculty pop/rock band The Minör Revisiöns.
Jesse Rathgeber, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Music Education at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois (as of August 20202). At Augustana, Jesse teaching courses on assessment and evaluation of music learning and general/classroom music methods. He also supervises student teachers and is the National Association for Music Education collegiate chapter advisor. As an active researcher, Jesse explores issues related to disability, anti-ableism, inclusion, contemporary music learning, and music teacher development. He is a frequent presenter on creativity, composition, disability, inclusion, listening, and progressive approaches to music teaching and learning at state and national conferences throughout the United States.
Spencer Hale is a former public school music teacher and currently works as the Senior Manager of Teaching and Learning at Little Kids Rock, where they create popular music education resources and trainings for classroom teachers and students. Outside of work, Spence is an avid songwriter, skateboarder, and cat mom. They also run a YouTube channel (YouTube.com/c/SpencerCHale) of music education resources, which has over 23,000 subscribers and over 5 million views.
Christopher Kavi Carbone, serves as a faculty member and Program Coordinator for Salve Regina University’s graduate programs in the Expressive & Creative Arts, in the Department of Counseling, Leadership and Expressive Arts - bringing personal and group transformation through the arts. Christopher also offers programs in regional communities as a professional musician, performing artist, yoga educator / yoga therapist, and registered drama therapist. He has been engaged in holistically sharing the creative and healing arts with a broad range of settings and population groups in local communities for over 25 years - including a special focus in child/family programs, mindfulness practices, and working creatively with individuals with developmental delays and disabilities.
Sam Schmetterer is part of the nationally recognized team of music teachers in Duxbury, Massachusetts, where he teaches instrumental music from grades 5‐12. A graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and American Band College of Sam Houston State University, Sam has been teaching music in Massachusetts for over 12 years. Sam is an active percussionist and performs regularly with many Boston‐area orchestras, including the New England Philharmonic, Mercury Orchestra, and Quincy Symphony Orchestra.
