Clinician Bios

Dr. Christopher Azzara 
Pianist, arranger, author, and educator, Christopher Azzara has made important contributions to advancing the understanding of creativity and improvisation in the music learning process. An innovator in the area of music teaching and learning, Dr. Azzara is Professor and Chair of Music Education and Affiliate Faculty of Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media at the Eastman School of Music.

Teaching and performing internationally, he is the author of numerous articles, arrangements, and books, including Developing Musicianship Through Improvisation, Creativity In Improvisation, and Jump Right In: The Instrumental Series (GIA). His arrangements for instrumental and vocal ensembles include A la nanita nana for choir and chamber orchestra or piano (Oxford), and Concert Selections for Winds and Percussion (GIA). His research and publications are concerned with meaningful relationships among listening, creating, improvising, reading, composing and analyzing music in vocal and instrumental settings. Dr. Azzara’s work has appeared in journals such as the Journal of Research in Music Education, the Music Educators Journal, Early Childhood Connections, and in The New Handbook of Research on Music Teaching and Learning (MENC/Oxford). He performs as a soloist and in various ensembles, including the Chris Azzara Quartet, and has played on and produced many studio and educational recordings. In Rochester, he performs with free-lance musicians, members of the Eastman School of Music faculty, and members of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. An active teacher and clinician, he has taught and performed extensively throughout the United States, and in Canada, the Caribbean, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Japan, and Australia. He has presented clinics and workshops in a variety of settings, including TEDxRochester, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and leading music schools in this country and abroad.

Christopher Azzara is a native of Virginia and attended public schools in Fairfax County. After receiving the Bachelor of Music degree from George Mason University, he taught instrumental music in the Fairfax County Public Schools and performed as a pianist in the Washington D.C. area. He later received a Master of Music and a Ph.D. in Music Education from the Eastman School of Music. Prior to joining the Eastman faculty, Dr. Azzara was a professor at The Hartt School of Music, Dance, and Theatre of the University of Hartford, CT.

Jessica Corwin is the Director of the Adaptive Music Program at the Community Music School of Springfield, a role that she assumed after fifteen years as a proud Massachusetts public school teacher. As a multi-instrumentalist, Jessica's varied resume includes work as a Strings Director, Assistant Conductor of the Brookline Chorus, Kodaly educator, and infant and toddler music teacher. In 2016, she was a recipient of the Pioneer Valley Excellence in Teaching Award from the Harold Grinspoon Foundation.

Jessica holds a Graduate Certification in Music Education and Autism from Berklee School of Music as well as degrees from Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Boston Conservatory, and Kodaly certification from the Hartt School of Music. She also serves as the Chair of the Sunderland School Committee and is an active member of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. Jessica plays viola professionally and was a founding member of the mission-based chamber ensembles Larcom Strings and the Quark Quartet.

Jennifer L Kass (MA, MT-BC) is a board-certified music therapist practicing in Western Massachusetts. Jen studied music at Clark Univeristy and earned her graduate degree in Music Therapy from Lesley Universty. She has been a practicing music therapist since 2001, working with populations ranging from preschool to geriatrics. In addition to her music therapy consulting work, Jen has worked at the Community Music School of Springfield as a music therapist since 2006 and the Adaptive Music Program since 2016. Her role as an AMP Teaching Artist includes direct adaptive music instruction and also supporting public school music teachers to provide real time trouble shooting and support, a job affectionately and accurately referred to as "Chaos Interpreter".

After writing her graduate thesis on the importance and value of music making as self-care for the music therapist, Jen is a frequent participant at her local weekly open mic event, where her focus is on process rather than product. shen she is not working in the music therapy and education fields, Jen is a perpatual art maker and amateur instrument repair enthusiast.

Lillie Feierabend is known for her work with young children and instilling a love of music within them. She has been an early childhood and general music educator for over thirty years and was conductor for the Connecticut Children's Chorus for eighteen. She has twice been honored with her respective district's Teacher of the Year Award for her inclusive and innovative music programs, and in 2008 also received the Outstanding Elementary Music Educator Award from the Connecticut Music Educators Association.  She is a frequent clinician at local, state and national conferences, and has presented over two hundred sessions on music and movement development. She conducts regional honors choirs and teaches weeklong workshops around the country including Anderson University (IN), Gordon College (MA), Silver Lake College (WI), and the University of Hartford (CT). Over the course of her career, Lille has mentored twenty-three student teachers and will forever be grateful for the opportunity.

Lillie is a founding and lifetime member of FAME. She is also a member of NAfME, OAKE, CMEA, and ACDA, where she served as the National Children's Honor Choir Chair for the 2010 Conference.  She is a member and former president of KESNE (Kodaly Educators of Southern New England and President-Elect of the regional chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, an international organization which supports and promotes excellence in education.

While Lillie taught First Steps in Music and Conversational Solfege as they evolved, she became an endorsed Teacher Trainer in both curriculums in 2012.

Joshua Hawkins Nannestad is a proud music educator, currently an Associate Professor of Music Education at Morningside Univerity where he teaches methods, literature and music history, conducts two choirs, and supervises student teachers. Previous appointments include a similar position at Southeastern Oklahoma State Univerosty, K - 2 classroom music and high school choral activities in Massachusetts, and in a variety of music positions in Lutheran, Presbyterian, Congregational and Episcopal congregations.

Dr. "J", as he is known to his students and his classical radio audiences, has won faculty awards for teaching and scholarship and has been published in the Choral Journal. He has given presentations for the DePaul Humanities Center, the Oklahoma State Department of Education, and ACDA and NAfME conferences of various states and regions. Josh holds degrees from Boston Univeristy, Gordon College, and Saint Olaf College. Formative musical experiences include years in the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, the Saint Olaf Choir and his mother's church choirs. He is the proud father of Miriam and Moses and the lucky husband of Joanna.