Recording Academy announces APSU alumni as quarterfinalists for 2024 Music Educator Award

(Posted on Friday, June 16, 2023)

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - The Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum recently announced 212 music teachers as quarterfinalists for the 2024 Music Educator Award, including two Austin Peay State University Department of Music alumni: Vanessa Cobb and Jordan Tupper.

Cobb, the director of bands at Montgomery Central High School, and Tupper, the Lower School music teacher at the Episcopal School of Baton Rouge in Louisiana, were selected from more than 2,000 initial nominees across the U.S.

“Going from 2,000 to 200 is a huge step, and it made me feel really good to be named a quarterfinalist,” Cobb said. “Sometimes you get in your everyday routine, and you can’t tell if you’re making changes or making a difference, but you are. I think [this is] a way of telling other teachers that what you do is important and that you matter.”

The 2024 Music Educator Award recognizes current teachers who have made significant and lasting contributions to music education and are committed to maintaining music education in schools. Anyone can nominate a teacher, from students and parents to colleagues and community members.

“It’s a huge honor, especially for music educators who sometimes don’t get a lot of recognition,” Tupper said. “We’re very present in the schools and have a big impact on a lot of kids; I see every single kid in the building, so it’s nice to feel that recognition on a larger scale. It’s a big deal that the Recording Academy makes it part of their process to recognize that music education is important.”

Semifinalists for the award will be announced in September, and the winner will be recognized during GRAMMY week in January 2024. The 10^th annual honoree will receive a $10,000 honorarium for their band program and a trip to Los Angeles to attend the 66^th GRAMMY Awards. Finalists and semifinalists will also receive honorariums with matching school grants of $1,000 and $500, respectively.

“We could definitely use the $10,000 here,” Cobb said. “[MCHS is] an older school and a lot of things need replacing. When I started, we had two small band classes, and next year I’m going to have four … we could use the money to get some things we don’t have enough of, like tubas and euphoniums. The growth of the program is a challenge, but it’s a good challenge.”

Tupper plans to use any funding to encourage his students’ involvement in community arts programs and expand their musical horizons.

“I would want to use my honorarium to support some of the community arts programs we have here, whether that’s through attendance and participation, encouraging kids to go to the symphony or supporting jazz club start-ups,” he said. “I want the kids to be participating in those things, and I’d use my honorarium to engage our school with the larger community.”

For a complete list of quarterfinalists or to learn more about the 2024 Music Educator Award, visit

More about Vanessa Cobb:

Cobb graduated from Austin Peay in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts, and in 2013 with a master’s degree in music education. Before taking on her job at MCHS, she led Northwest High School’s band program and served as an instructor at the University of Tennessee at Martin.

“I’m so thankful for my time at Austin Peay,” she said. “I met my husband there, and I’m so blessed to have learned from the professors in the music department that I had.”

Cobb said Dr. Gregory Wolynec, director of bands and orchestral studies, and John Schnettler, director of athletic bands, were particularly impactful on her career. She noted that Schnettler recommended she apply for her job at MCHS, which provided a sense of stability for her students after the two previous directors resigned a few months apart.

“When I came here, I would say the morale was really low,” Cobb said. “We started building the program for a few years, so I spent a lot of time loving on them and continuing to work with them on the fundamentals of playing to get the quality up.”

Since then, the MCHS band has been recognized with an Advocacy in Action Award from Music for All for its fundraising activities, performed at Walt Disney World and taken on new challenges as musicians. 

“I think our biggest accomplishment was not any kind of award, but on our spring concert recently,” Cobb said. “We played a piece called ‘Second Suite,’ which is a really difficult piece, but the kids played all four movements and did an amazing job.”

No matter where they perform, Cobb said her No. 1 goal is that her students have fun along the way. Her approach to music education was inspired by the late Brad Kinney, her band director at White House High School.

“I want the kids to love music, and I want them to play for life,” she said. “There’s just something about music – it does something that words can’t because it’s a universal language, and it’s just a special thing. So I want them to walk away with this passion for it, whether they’re in a community band or they play in college.”

More about Jordan Tupper:

Tupper graduated from Elon University in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in music and religious studies, and from Austin Peay State University in 2014 with a master’s degree in music education. Before taking on his job at the Episcopal School of Baton Rouge, he led a variety of band programs in the Baton Rouge metropolitan area and served as a longtime teacher and band director in the Cheatham County School District.

“Austin Peay taught me to think about music education in a way that wasn’t necessarily focused on contests and trophies,” Tupper said. “What’s important is fostering a love of the arts and encouraging everyone to participate, rather than it being elitist or just about whether we won the marching band competition.”

Tupper said Dr. Eric Branscome, the former chair of Austin Peay’s Department of Music, was especially helpful in teaching him that mindset. He hopes to instill those same values at the Episcopal School of Baton Rouge, where he works with approximately 600 students from preschool through fifth grade.

“What I love most depends on the grade level I’m working with, but for the little ones it’s when they’re excited about the goofy songs we’re singing,” he said. “They come in and ask, ‘Can we do this song? Can we play that?’ When they really want to play the bells or whatever it may be, that’s super exciting.”

As Tupper’s students move into the second, third and fourth grades, they start learning more about music history and instrumental education.

“I love seeing the light bulbs go off when we’re talking about music history and they make a connection to something else they’ve been studying,” he said. “Or when they’re playing the recorder and all of a sudden ‘Hot Cross Buns’ comes out and it sounds great for the first time. Their enthusiasm just explodes because they’re so excited they did it.”

Tupper said his fifth graders spend most of the year working on their own compositions using software like GarageBand and Soundtrap.

“Probably about six times a year I’ll have these days where the kids are just sharing the work they’ve done, and they stand up there so proud of what they were able to accomplish,” he said. “They can articulate exactly what they were trying to do … and for them to get their hearts in the moment is a huge deal.”

By working with younger children on a variety of musical concepts, Tupper’s goal is to inspire a passion for the arts in each student.

“My value as a music teacher is not found in plastic trophies on a wall,” he said. “It’s found in all the kids that go on to become professional musicians, educators or just find something they like about music. Those are the people who are going to keep the music going because they love and appreciate it.”