Sigma Alpha Iota

sai-national.org • SUMMER 2017 • PAN PIPES 31 University in March. Price, a soprano, teaches graduate vocal pedagogy courses and applied voice, and directs the Presser Voice Laboratory at Westminster. She previously served as Voice Area Coordinator and Assistant Professor of Music at Mississippi State University, as well as taught voice/vocal pedagogy and coordinated the School of Music Vocology Laboratory at The University of Kansas. She also worked as an intern in Clinical Voice Assessment at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Additionally, Dr. Price has taught voice and diction at William Jewell College in Missouri and at Northern Virginia Community College (Alexandria Campus) where she was also the choral director. She has offered private voice instruction in Kansas City (Missouri), and in Vienna and McLean, VA., is a founding member of the Washington Vocal Consortium, and conducts the acclaimed D.C. women's ensemble, Philomela. Dr. Price has performed as soloist in such distinguished venues as The Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall, The National Museum for Women in the Arts, in a solo concert tour of the Czech Republic, and has sung and conducted at The White House. Most recently, she served as soloist and clinician at the Festival Internacional de Música de Campina Grande, Brazil, at Texas A & M University, Mississippi State University, and as guest artist for Florida's ArtsAlive!, a program that provides resources for public school children to receive arts instruction. A frequent performer at the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington, D.C., Dr. Price recently sang the title role in a concert version of Dvorak's Rusalka. Her current research interests include lifespan female singing voices focusing on menopausal vocal transitions, aging voice, historical vocal pedagogy with particular emphasis on female pedagogues, the role of voice teachers in interdisciplinary voice rehabilitation, and voice assessment procedures for colleges and universities. Refereed presentations to date include the International Physiology and Acoustics of Singing Conference (PAS 4), National Association of Teachers of Singing Conventions, and the Music Educators National Conferences. She has been published in the Journal of Research in Music Education and the NATS Journal of Singing. Benjamin Rauch Benjamin Rauch was initiated as a Friend of the Arts by the Eta Mu Chapter at the University of Hartford in April. Rauch is a freelance vocalist and professor of ear training and choir at the University of Hartford's Hartt School, his alma mater, where he received his Bachelors of Music in Voice Performance, Music Composition, and Choral Conducting. He is extremely dedicated to the education of music and strives to be the best possible support system for each one of his students. He is a founder of a lucrative summer program for adult vocalists where students frequently end up spending their summers experimenting with many musical genres in order to challenge themselves in ways they hadn't before. Members of Eta Mu are familiar and fond of Mr. Rauch due to his rigorous Ear Training curriculum. He acts as a role model to many sisters and is a constant source of encouragement and light. Dr. James Romain Dr. James Romain was initiated as a Friend of the Arts by the Pi Chapter at Drake University in April. He is professor of saxophone and assistant director of jazz studies at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. A graduate of the University of North Texas and the University of Illinois, Dr. Romain is a performer and clinician locally, nationally, and internationally. He is a member of Oasis Quartet and the New Third Stream Quartet, and he can be heard playing in various jazz ensembles and in the Minnesota Orchestra and Des Moines Symphony when saxophones are called for. Dr. Lisa Runner Dr. Lisa Runner was initiated as a Friend of the Arts by the Epsilon Theta Chapter at Appalachian State University in April. A Virginia native, Dr. Runner holds degrees from Milligan College, East Tennessee State University, and Appalachian State University, and completed all levels of Orff-Schulwerk Certification at Western Carolina University with Konnie Saliba. Dr. Runner is the faculty sponsor for the Appalachian chapter of the National Association for Music Education. She is the campus coordinator for the Silver Burdett/ Pearson Summer Music Institute held on the Appalachian campus each summer. She serves as the coordinator for the Orff- Schulwerk certification at Appalachian and also teaches recorder for all levels courses. An active accompanist, she currently collaborates with the ASU Men's Glee Club as well as The Civic Chorale, a regional auditioned choir based in Johnson City, TN. Crystal Sessoms Crystal Sessoms was initiated as a Friend of the Arts by the Mu Gamma Chapter at Hampton University in May. Born and raised in Hampton, Virginia, her love for the arts began as a small child singing in the church choir and with her mother around the house. Sessoms went on to attend James Madison University, where she majored in English. Known for encouraging others through her verbal vibes, she began to add music to her poetry embarking on her first steps as a spoken word artist and as a songwriter. Her love for writing led her to become a news and entertainment journalist as well as a published poet. But it wasn't long before the acting bug resurfaced leading her to perform in various productions including The Fifth, Everyman, Victory Manor, For Colored Girls…, The Last Song, The Abolitionists' Museum, African Kings and Queens, What's on the Hearts of Men featuring Malik Yoba, Be Be Winans and Stephanie Mills, Barry, Bowles' Nothin' 2 Lose and Eubie. Additionally, she has served as a theatrical educator for Kaiser Permanente and a drummer and dancer for Giwayen Maata, African Dance Company in Atlanta, Georgia. Sessoms has founded SEEDAHOPE Productions, a full-service entertainment entity designed to entertain, heal, love, and inspire through quality artistic productions and publications. Its first in-house production, Sisters Without Voices, was a theatrical success and was followed by the stage play Truth and Freedom, which highlights the lives of DISTINGUISHED MEMBERS Price Rauch Romain Runner Sessoms

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