Debra Lund djlund@archomaha.org
Debra has a BA from Augustana College in Sioux Falls. Deb has done graduate work in both music and education administration at Creighton, UNO, UNL, University of Miami, and South Dakota State University. A South Dakota native, she taught band and vocal music in South Dakota for two years, and has been with Music in Catholic Schools as a teacher, administrator, or both since the program was founded in 1979. Deb is a member of the National Band Association, The Association of Concert Bands, MENC, and NSBA. She sings alto in her church choir and plays tenor saxophone with the Nebraska Wind Symphony and the Swingtones. She is the past president of the Northwest High School Parent Student Teacher Organization and currently serves on the OPS Citizen's Advisory Committee. Deb is married and is the mother of three children, Rebecca; Andrew; and Joshua.
Melissa Delaney teacher@huntel.net
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Melissa is a Blair High School graduate who attended Drake University until transferring and graduating from UNO with a Bachelor of Music Education Degree in May, 1986. She studied oboe with Jay Light and Dr. Kermit Peters. She is in her 21st year of teaching, all with MCS except for a one-year stint in the Blair Public Schools. She has subbed on oboe and English horn in the Omaha Symphony and has played oboe in the Nebraska Wind Symphony and the Blair Community Band. She is a member of Nebraska State Bandmasters and is an active member of VFW Post #1251 in the Blair Ladies Auxiliary. She is married and has three stepchildren: Abby, Derek, and Dillon.
Dan Irvin mozartk622@cox.net
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Bachelors at UN-L in 1981 and Masters at UNO in 1986 has taught at every level from Kindergarten through college; vocal and instrumental. This is his 16th year teaching. That includes 4 years of substitute music teaching in the Omaha area, 3 years teaching outstate, 1 year at Roncalli Catholic High School and now his 11th year with MCS. (originally Northeast but now South & West) Mr. Irvin directs the Jazz Band on Thursday nights.
He was in Sioux Falls Municipal Band from 1988-93 serving as principal clarinetist and librarian. He has been a church choir director for various churches and a woodwind instructor and performer for various groups. Dan is the current president of the Oak Valley Elementary School PTA.
Dan is married and has one son, Scott.
Professor Charles Lott Miller CLottMiller@aol.com
A true educator who has been active in numerous sectors of the education community as musician, author, educator, conductor and artist. He matriculated at the University of Nebraska at Omaha where he was the first African American student to be awarded the Bachelors of Music Education Degree and eventually earned a Masters of Music Education Degree from The University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska. He later, in 1997, earned a Masters of Music in Jazz Performance Degree from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, where he graduated on stage with Wynton Marsalis, the famous Jazz/Classical trumpeter and Director of the Lincoln Center For Fine Arts in New York, City. He also attended the famous Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.
Beyond the local scene he has been instrumental in focusing national attention on inmates involvement in music during their incarceration period. His program, one of the first in the country motivated inmates to new heights of contentment while serving their time. Beginning as an artist in residence, he later became an Artistic Advisor on the Nebraska Arts Council Board, the most important service organization to professional artists in the country.
Later in 1997, Professor Miller taught for five years at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where as Adjunct Professor of Black Studies, he co-authored Dr. James L. Conyers’ book, African American, Jazz and Rap, Social and Philosophical Examinations of Black Expressive Behavior. In 1998, he began teaching band with Music in Catholic Schools.
He has recorded with many local groups, Harvey Brooks and The Fabulous Reinstones from New York City and the Rutgers Jazz Ensemble. He has recently released a new Jazz CD entitled, Changes For Tena, dedicated to his lovely wife, Chestene Miller.
In July of 2003, he was named to the McRae High School Music Hall of Fame, an honor received recently by Anita Pointer, a member of the famous singing group, The Pointer Sisters.
As of August, 2007, Erika Hipsher is no longer teaching with Music in Catholic Schools.
