If you walked into the Fine Arts Building at the end of last week, chances are you may have been met with an eerie silence.

If you happened to be across the state in Nashville at the time, you might have wondered if the Department of Music was considering a change of location.

Three of the university’s top ensembles and over half the faculty from the Department of Music were in Nashville Thursday and Friday for the 2006 Tennessee Music Education Association State Music Conference and the 2006 Tennessee American Choral Directors Association Conference.

The UTM’s Steel Drum Band, led by Assistant Professor of Music Julie Hill, played for the opening of the TMEA Conference’s exhibit hall on Thursday.

The Steel Drum Band is new to the music program this year and their repertoire includes a variety of Latin American standards and popular favorites.

Performing at 2 p.m., Thursday in the TMEA exhibit hall, was the UTM Clarinet Choir, directed by Dr. Amy Simmons, Assistant Professor of music. “We were proud to represent UTM on the state level. The Clarinet Choir played artistically and were very well prepared,” she said.

The New Pacer Singers sang for many of the state’s K-12 and collegiate choral directors at the opening luncheon of the ACDA Conference Friday at 12:30 p.m. New Pacers, led by Assistant Professor and Director of Choral Activities Dr. Mark Simmons, sung a wide selection of pieces including William Schuman’s Carols of Death and Simmons’s Gloria, for treble voices.

“The New Pacer Singers sang for the State ACDA Convention for the first time in the history of the Department of Music,” Simmons said.

“The performance demonstrated the great artistry and commitment our students have to performing at the highest levels. I am very proud of the performance of this group and of all the hard work that went into this performance at such a high profile choral event.”

“I think the performance went as well as it possibly could for the large group [of directors] we were singing for,” said Rachel Chadwick, junior history major and member of the ensemble.

Dr. Fred Spano and Dr. Dwight Gatwood also participated in the TMEA conference on Thursday, leading informative discussion sessions for the educators present. Dr. Spano taught two sessions:

Rethinking the Choral Warmup and Collegiate Members: Tips for Passing Praxis II Music. Dr. Gatwood led the session An Introduction to Middle Eastern Music.

More information can be found about the TMEA conference at www.tnmea.org and the ACDA conference at www.tnacda.org.