Melissa Livings – Director of Orchestras – Pearce HS
Melissa Livings began her music career in the Paris ISD band programs. Under the direction of director and mentor, Mr. Gary Meggs, she was a flutist in the Paris HS Wind Ensemble, bassist in the PHS Jazz Band and Drum Major of the Wildcat Marching Band.
From 1996-2002, Mrs. Livings was inspired to military service by her HS band director and joined as the youngest member of the 531st Texas Air National Guard (TxANG) Band. During her periods of active duty service with the Guard, she performed in many concerts throughout the United States and beyond, including an international tour to the Czech Republic in 1999.
In 2000, Mrs. Livings graduated cum laude from the University of Texas at Arlington with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education. She acquired her initial exposure to the orchestral world as the principal flutist in the UTA Symphony. Under the direction and support of conductor, Dr. Chris Lanz, and master teacher, Dr. Anne Witt, Livings chose to pursue a teaching career in orchestra. In 2009, she completed her Master’s Degree in Music Education (also at UTA) where she studied theory intensively with professor, Dr. Graham Hunt, and conducting with Dr. Clifton Evans.
Mrs. Livings began her career as Head Director of the Pearce Orchestra in 2000. Since that time, membership in the orchestra program has more than quadrupled. Under her direction, Pearce has consistently earned many honors and accolades (UIL and otherwise) and competed successfully both in and out of Texas. Mrs. Livings is also the enthusiastic teacher of two sections of AP Music Theory at Pearce HS.
Mrs. Livings is a current member of the Texas Music Educator’s Association (TMEA), Texas Orchestra Director’s Association (TODA), and the Texas Music Adjudicator’s Association (TMAA). She is an active adjudicator and clinician and serves as a volunteer on the region and state level in many capacities.
Mrs. Livings resides in Richardson, TX with husband, Forrest, and daughter, Echo. She enjoys reading Stephen King particulary, exercising to stay sane, and spending time with family and friends (particularly her colleagues).
Kaitlin Teske-Gallman – Associate Director of Orchestras – Pearce HS
Kaitlin Teske-Gallman is originally from Arlington, Texas where she began studying the violin in the 5th grade. She studied privately with Mrs. Joan Stanley throughout her school career, participating in All-Region Orchestras, Solo & Ensemble competitions and the Arlington Youth Orchestra. Mrs. Teske-Gallman was inspired to pursue a career in music education by her high school orchestra director and master teacher, Royce Coatney.
As a third generation Aggie, Mrs. Teske-Gallman went on to study music with an emphasis in violin performance at Texas A&M University. She was a founding member of the A&M Student in Resident String Quartet, played professionally as co-principal 2nd in the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra and was a member of Professor Marianne Henry’s violin studio. She graduated Cum Laude with a BA in Music in 2010.
Mrs. Teske-Gallman attended graduate school at the University of North Texas where she studied music education under Karrell Johnson and received her teaching certification; she recently completed her UNT career in Julia Bushkova’s violin studio. Ms. Teske completed student teaching requirements through Plano ISD in the Spring of 2013, where she was mentored by Brian Coatney and Sue Ewing.
Mrs. Teske-Gallman is an active member of the Texas Orchestra Directors Association and Texas Music Educators Association and currently resides in Richardson. She enjoys spending time with friends and family, watching classic movies, drinking cherry coke, Rangers Baseball, and planning her wedding to fiancé, Chad Gallman (Texas A&M Law 3L).
David Moran – Director of Orchestras – North JH
Mr. Moran fell in love with music when he was a child in Tulsa, beginning his studies with piano at age 7, and continuing with viola at age 10, flute at age 11, and, finally, hammered dulcimer at age 12. His interest in the dulcimer led him to compete in and win several regional and national contests, culminating with the National Hammered Dulcimer Championship in 1982 when he was just 15.
Mr. Moran pursued a degree in Music Education with a minor in flute performance from the University of Tulsa, winning the Presser Award for Excellence in Music Education in 1989. While at TU, he studied flute with Jan Dailey and Susan Klick, alto saxophone and clarinet with Dwight Dailey, and music composition with William Heinrichs. He graduated in 1990, and went to the University of North Texas to further his studies in composition. His composition professors at UNT included Cindy McTee, Newell Kay Brown, and Joseph Klein. Mr. Moran completed his Master’s Degree in Music Composition in 1994.
Mr. Moran was simultaneously principal flute with the University of Tulsa Wind Ensemble, and lead alto sax with the Lab Band. On dulcimer, he performed in the Houston and Dallas premieres of George Crumb’s Quest with the Da Camera Society and Voices of Change. Additional dulcimer performances include Ephemerides by Robert Keefe, Hymnody of Earth by Malcolm Dalglish, and several recordings for radio, TV, and film. Mr. Moran continues to clinic and perform at acoustic music festivals across the country, including the Summer Solstice Festival in Los Angeles, Kentucky Music Week in Bardstown, Kentucky, the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas, and the Kentucky Music Weekend in Louisville, Kentucky. He also teaches annually at the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View, Arkansas.
In 2010, Mr. Moran collaborated with Melissa Roth, choir director at North Junior High, on an arrangement of the traditional American folk song “Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair,” which has since been published by Alliance Music Publications.
Mr. Moran lives in Richardson with his wife and son, and enjoys baseball, cooking, reading history, and burning stuff with a magnifying glass.
Erin Fox – Director of Orchestras – Parkhill JH
Ms. Fox is from Richardson, Texas and attended Plano public schools. She received her Bachelor of Music from the University of North Texas in 2001, and studied Early Music in England through the Cambridge Early Music Summer School. Her principal instruments are oboe and violin. Ms. Fox studied modern oboe with Dr. Charles Veazey, Baroque oboe with Ms. Joyce Alper and Ms. Gail Hennessey, and violin primarily with Edina Pastyik. Her background in Early Music was developed by participating in UNT’s Collegium musicum under the director of the late Dr. Cecil Adkins and Dr. Lyle Nordstrom. During her time at UNT Ms. Fox studied conducting under Mr. Dennis Fisher and Dr. Bradley Genevro.
Ms. Fox is an orchestra director in Richardson ISD at Parkhill Junior High, and has served fifteen years in Texas schools as both a band and orchestra director and music history teacher. Additionally, she teaches piano and viola privately, and provides accompanist services for chamber performances.
Currently Ms. Fox is a performing member for the New Texas Symphony Orchestra where she plays Principal second violin and acts as Librarian. Ms. Fox’s past performing experiences include Principal Oboe of the Mesquite Symphony, New Texas Symphony, Frisco Symphonia and Collegium musicum, playing oboe and violin in various modern and Baroque small ensembles and chamber groups, in addition to playing piano, oboe, violin and viola for various events around the Dallas area.
Ms. Fox’s other musical interests lie in the field of composition. Several successful premieres of her works have been performed over the years in Texas, Colorado and North Carolina, and have been featured in radio commercials in Colorado. Several of her arrangements are being used by string quartets in the Dallas area.
Ms. Fox lives in Plano and enjoys cooking, wood turning, carpentry, reading, studying languages and traveling. Additionally, she owns her own carpentry and calligraphy business, which she operates in any remaining spare time she has. (www.SharpArtNames.com).