Alex Tedrow is a composer, arranger, and educator who strives to connect performers and audiences of all ages with fresh, fun, and innovative music and technology. Offering a “vivacious and colorful” stylistic voice described as a “topography of beautifully integrated and deliberate sounds” (Eric Smedley), he regularly writes music for a wide variety of media. A regional Emmy-nominee and ASCAP Morton Gould Award winner, his works have been played internationally by musicians in both professional and educational settings — including the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Wet Ink Ensemble, multiple U.S. military premier ensembles, acclaimed broadway performer, Christopher Jackson, and middle school, high school, and college bands from nearly every continent. With his background and training as a music educator, he frequently works as a clinician/guest conductor with student musicians to realize their full potential as young artists.

Alex currently resides in Washington D.C. as full-time Staff Arranger for The U.S. Army Band "Pershing's Own," writing both original and arranged music performed at the White House and across the nation for officials at the highest levels of government and the military, including the most recent Presidential Inauguration. In addition to his professional activities, Alex is committed to community engagement. In 2016, he co-founded Composing for a Cause – a not-for-profit program in which professional musicians travel to hospitals for children across the United States to host songwriting and creativity workshops. In 2019, he joined the Jacobs Community Engagement Initiative focusing on cultivating sustainable development in rural Indiana communities through collaborative arts programming. Alex is a co-founder and member of the collective, District Composers, alongside colleagues JoAnne Harris and Andrew Kosinski.

Alex maintains a busy schedule as a freelance composer. As a SEAMUS Allen Strange Award recipient, he is best-known for his works combining live performers with electronics and digital media. In 2019, he studied at the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) in Paris, France during ManiFeste where he premiered Planet Playground — an interactive, real-time, data-driven project incorporating crowd participation via cell phones. Additionally, his music has been featured in multiple nationally-aired PBS documentaries, award-winning short films, video games on Steam and the Apple App Store, and community theater/ballet productions.

A Lilly Endowment Scholar, Alex holds B.M., M.M., and M.S. degrees in Composition and Music Education from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. At IU, he previously held positions as Associate Instructor of Music Education, Composition Department Coordinator, and as a faculty member with the pre-college Jacobs Academy. During summers, he has also worked as a Music Theory Instructor at the Brevard Music Center. Alex is a classical saxophonist, jazz bassist, and rock keyboard and guitar player; he can regularly be found playing weekend gigs in the Washington D.C. area. He is an avid traveler, hiker, podcast listener, animal lover, and failed latte art enthusiast — all themes that frequently inspire his work.

Dr. Suzanne Charney joined the USF Faculty in 2025. Her responsibilities include conducting the concert band and teaching undergraduate courses in conducting, wind techniques, music education, and learner-centered pedagogy. Charney earned a PhD in Music and Human Learning at the University of Texas at Austin where she taught undergraduate courses in instrumental methods, music education, and was a Field Supervisor for student teachers. She is passionate about cultivating future music educators who will create quality learning experiences for all students.
 
Originally from Ohio, she earned a Bachelor of Music Education graduating with High Distinction from Indiana University. Charney then taught for seven years as a middle and high school band director, earning consistent distinguished teacher and ensemble ratings. Throughout her career, Charney’s ensembles cultivated joy, and she was honored to be selected as a Top Ten Teacher of Influence three times. She returned to IU and earned a Master of Music Degree in Wind Conducting and a Master of Music Education. As an Associate Instructor at IU, Charney conducted the Marching Hundred, was the Interim Athletic Band Director, and served as a guest conductor for their wind ensembles.
 
Charney currently pursues research in memory and motor skill development and her work has been presented at the National Association for Music Education National Conference, the International Society for Music Education, the Society for Music Perception and Cognition, and the Texas Music Educators Association Clinic and Convention, all organizations of which she holds professional memberships. In addition, she received honorary membership to Tau Beta Sigma and is an active guest adjudicator and clinician. 

Laura Bock is currently a Ph.D. student in Music and Human Learning at The University of Texas at Austin where she is a teaching assistant and a field supervisor for student teachers. Her research explores the interacting effects of goal setting, motivation, and affect among musicians as well as phenomena related to K-12 teacher attrition and retention.

As a young musician, Bock grew up in Westminster, Maryland where she was an active member of her high school band and orchestra programs. She completed a double concentration in music education and flute performance at James Madison University and a master’s degree in Music and Human Learning at The University of Texas at Austin. 

Early in her career, from 2011-2015, Bock taught 5th and 6th grade band at Walker Upper Elementary School in Charlottesville City Schools and served as the District XIII representative to the Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association in 2014 and 2015. In addition to her teaching position, she also performed with the Charlottesville Symphony Orchestra as a 2nd flute and piccolo player.

Between 2017 and 2022, Bock was the Assistant Band Director at Blue Valley Southwest High School in Overland Park, Kansas as well as its associated elementary and middle school feeder schools where she worked with students in grades 5-12. She was also a co-conductor for the first Wind Ensemble program of Harmony Project KC which provides free music instruction to youth in the Kansas City urban core. During her time teaching in the Kansas City area, Bock also played flute and piccolo with the Crossroads Wind Symphony, the Midwest Winds, and the MidAmerica Freedom Band. 

From 2023-2025, Bock taught in the University of Texas String Project as an orchestra conductor and the Early Childhood Education Coordinator. Bock enjoys working with a variety of students across different musical content areas and age levels to create joyful learning experiences. 

Micah is the brass area coordinator and Assistant Teaching Professor in the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University. He is the former principal trumpet of the United States Air Force Band in Washington DC, where he served from 2013-2018 and recorded 7 albums. . Among others, Micah has performed or recorded with the Knights Orchestra, Sigur Ros, Queens of the Stone Age, The American Brass Quintet, The International Contemporary Ensemble, Barclay Brass, Diana Ross, NOVUS NY, Shakira, Father John Misty, the Colorado Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Walt Disney World’s Christmas Brass, and various Broadway shows.

Micah has given workshops and master classes at schools around the world, including The Colburn School, The Eastman School of Music, The Juilliard School, Royal Academy of Music, University of Oregon, University of Florida, Baylor University, Bowling Green State University, and The University of Connecticut. In 2017, he partnered with the Ramallah Orchestra and the al-Kamandjati school in Ramallah to perform around the West Bank. In 2019 he was awarded a Rainwater Grant for American Music, to bring instruments and brass instruction to a school for homeless boys in Kathmandu, Nepal.

His research, including eye-tracking studies and the analysis of expert practice, explores the cognitive and perceptual-motor processes underpinning music learning. His work has been published in the Journal of Expertise, Music Educators Journal, and the International Trumpet Guild Journal. He holds a PhD in Music and Human Learning from UT Austin, an MA in Music Education from Teachers College at Columbia University, and a BM in trumpet performance from the Juilliard School where he studied with Philip Smith.

Micah is a Yamaha Artist/Clinician.