Axe ’Em, Jacks!
Dr. Tamey Anglley
Dr. Tamey Anglley is director of bands at SFA. She also conducts the Wind Ensemble, oversees the instrumental conducting graduate program and teaches music education courses. Her previous experience at SFA also includes associate director of bands, director of the Lumberjack Marching Band, conductor of the Wind Symphony, assistant director of bands, associate director of the Lumberjack Marching Band, conductor of the Symphonic Band and director of the basketball band.
Prior to joining SFA's School of Music faculty, Anglley was director of bands at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, where she oversaw the winds/brass/percussion department, including concert, athletic and jazz bands and all instrumental music education courses.
Anglley was a doctoral conducting teaching assistant at Texas Tech University from 2006-09, where she studied with Dr. Sarah McKoin. While at Texas Tech, Anglley worked with the four university bands, the Goin' Band from Raiderland and the basketball pep bands. She was awarded the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant award for the School of Music in 2009.
She was associate director of bands at Cooper High School in Abilene from 2003-06, where she conducted the second and fourth bands and taught at the two feeder middle schools.
Anglley is an active clinician and teacher, conducting honor bands and clinicing band programs in Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. Her professional associations include:
- Texas Music Educators Association
- College Band Directors National Association
- College Music Society
- Sigma Alpha Iota
- Kappa Kappa Psi
- and Tau Beta Sigma.
Anglley resides in Nacogdoches with her husband, Jeff, and their son, Harry.
Dr. Tod Fish
Dr. Tod Fish received his bachelor's and master's degrees in music from SFA. He studied conducting with Dr. Terry Eder and Dr. Tim King while studying voice with Dr. David Jones. In 2009, Dr. Fish completed his Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from the University of Kansas under the tutelage of Dr. Paul Tucker and Dr. John Paul Johnson. Under the direction of Fish, the University of Kansas Men's Glee Club was the only collegiate choir selected for the 2008 Kansas Music Educators Association conference.
Prior to joining SFA's School of Music faculty, he enjoyed a successful 13-year career as a high school and middle school choral director. While teaching in Seguin, Round Rock and Lubbock, his choirs earned numerous sweepstakes awards, significantly increased enrollment and saw several former students pursue careers in the music field.
Fish has conducted several Texas Music Educators Association All-Region Choirs and guest conducted in Colorado, Kansas, Missouri and Ohio. He served as a Texas All-State Mixed Choir section leader in 2005 and 2012. Fish made his international clinician debut through a series of lectures at the VocalTerra International Choral Festival in 2020. This festival served choral directors from upwards of twenty nations on four different continents.
Fish leads the Kantorei (treble choir) and the Singin' Axes (tenor-bass choir) at SFA. In 2020, Kantorei was the only collegiate treble choir to sing at the Southwestern American Choral Directors Association conference in Little Rock, Arkansas. It was the first time for a non-auditioned choir from SFA to perform at a peer-reviewed conference.
Fish is the founder of the Stone Fort Chorale, a community chorus for the greater East Texas area.
Dr. Gregory Grabowski
Dr. Gregory Grabowski earned his bachelor's degree in music education from the University of North Texas, his Master of Music from Southern Methodist University and his Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of North Texas, under primary conducting teachers David Itkin and Paul Phillips.
Grabowski grew up in Edison, New Jersey, where he began his musical studies as a jazz saxophone player and woodwind specialist.
Prior to joining SFA's School of Music faculty, Grabowski served as orchestra director at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. Under his leadership, the Susquehanna University Orchestra increased in size and prestige and was featured in two nationally broadcast public television performances aired in 2017.
He has led several orchestras, including the:
- Longview Symphony Orchestra
- Bakersfield Symphony
- Baltimore Chamber Orchestra
- Richardson Symphony
- Flower Mound Symphony
- Lewisville Lake Symphony
- and Fairbanks Festival Orchestra.
He also has studied conducting under Don Schleicher, Nicolás Pasquet, Markand Thakar, Robert Franz, Paul Vermell, Samuel Jones, Harold Farberman and Leon Botstein.
Upon moving to Texas, Grabowski served as interim director of the Flower Mound Symphony Orchestra. He also was the assistant conductor for the Lewisville Lake Symphony, guest conductor with the Richardson Symphony and the Dallas Asian-American Youth Orchestra, and served as graduate assistant conductor at both the University of North Texas and Southern Methodist University.
Other performance highlights include a benefit performance of the Mozart Requiem, a performance of Shostakovich’s rarely-heard chamber opera, Anti-Formalist Rayok and a gala concert in the newly opened Winspear Opera House in Dallas with the Meadows Symphony Orchestra.
Grabowski has taught and advocated for music education at every level from elementary school to professional. He began his career in the public schools of Frisco, where he was the associate director of winds and percussion at Roach Middle School for three years.
Since beginning his orchestral career, he has conducted youth orchestras, regional honor orchestras and has been a guest clinician at numerous high schools. He also has been an adjudicator for orchestra and band competitions as well as student solo competitions.
Showcased works
Dr. Daniel Haddad
Dr. Daniel Haddad serves as the associate director of bands and the director of the Lumberjack Marching Band at SFA. He also conducts the Wind Symphony and teaches music education courses.
Prior to joining SFA's School of Music, he was the associate director of bands and the director of athletic bands at Georgia Southern University. He directed their Southern Pride Marching Band, Wind Symphony and pep bands in addition to teaching marching band techniques and graduate drill writing and arranging.
Haddad received his:
- PhD in education with a cognate in curriculum and instruction and an emphasis in music education and wind conducting from Kansas State University
- Master of Arts with an emphasis in music education and instrumental conducting from Florida Atlantic University
- and a Bachelor of Music Education and Bachelor of Arts in percussion performance from the University of Washington.
He also spent seven years as the director of bands and the arts department chair at Cheyenne High School in North Las Vegas, Nevada, where his groups traveled and performed at a high level throughout the United States.
He is a member of the:
- National Association for Music Education
- Texas Music Educators Association
- College Band Directors National Association
- Vic Firth Educational Team
- and an honorary member of both Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma.
He resides in Nacogdoches with his wife, Amanda, and his three daughters Zoey, Heidi and Opal.
Chris Kaatz
Chris Kaatz earned his bachelor's degree in music education from Michigan State University and his Master of Music with a concentration in conducting from University of Missouri-Kansas City, studying with Steven D. Davis. He also has completed a coursework residency towards a doctoral degree at Northwestern University where he studied with Dr. Mallory Thompson.
Prior to joining SFA's School of Music faculty, Kaatz served three years as the director of bands at Mater Dei Catholic High School in Breese, Illinois. During his tenure at Mater Dei, he was the sole administrator of the music program, conducted the Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, Marching Knights, basketball pep band, Jazz Combo and Noon Chorus. He also taught courses in both beginning chorus and music appreciation.
He is the assistant director of bands at SFA, serving as the associate director of the Lumberjack Marching Band and director of the Roarin' Buzzsaws Pep Band. He also conducts the Symphonic Band, teaches courses in undergraduate conducting, mentors music education majors as a student teaching supervisor and teaches at the SFA band camps.
Kaatz has been an instructor at Smith Walbridge: Music for All Summer Symposium and the Drum Major Clinic. Outside of his professional ventures, he enjoys a wonderful community of friends in Nacogdoches and treasures his regular travels to visit family in Michigan.
Dr. Michael Murphy
Dr. Michael Murphy is the director of choral activities and a professor in SFA's School of Music where he teaches choral conducting, ensembles, repertoire and methods courses, and oversees the graduate conducting program.
Before joining the School of Music faculty in 2017, Murphy was the director of choral activities and associate professor at the University of Idaho for nine years. During this time, he was founder and artistic director of the Idaho Bach Festival and was recognized with the UI Faculty Award for outstanding scholarship, teaching and engagement.
He is an active clinician, adjudicator and author, and research interests include training and developing the holistic conductor, rehearsal techniques, new choral compositions and investing and creating impactful connections in our global community through music.
Murphy's international conducting and teaching experiences include Austria, China, Czech Republic, Ecuador, England, Germany, Norway, Panama and Sweden. The Confucius Institute awarded Murphy with the "Understanding China Fellowship" and asked him to serve as visiting scholar at Sun Yat-sen University, South China University of Technology and Guangzhou University of Foreign Studies.
Murphy is the coauthor and editor of "Conducting Primer in Practice,"" has been published several times in "Choral Journal" and contributed to volume four of "Teaching Music Through Performance in Choir."
As a passionate champion of music for all, Murphy has experience teaching all ages and levels and several auditioned and nonauditioned collegiate, community, school and church choirs. His choirs have been invited to perform for several state and regional American Choral Directors Association and The National Association for Music Education conferences. He also has held several international, national and state leadership positions in International Choral Conductors Federation, ACDA, NAfME, and National Collegiate Choral Organization.
Murphy received his degrees in conducting and choral music education from Florida State University and East Carolina University.
Contact the School of Music
Call: 936.468.4602
Visit: Wright Music Building, Room 150
schoolofmusic@sfasu.edu
Faculty and Staff Directory
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 13043, SFA Station
Nacogdoches, Texas 75962