Recognition & Archives
2023 TMTA Teacher of the Year: Sheri Stoner-Harris
Sheri Stoner-Harris has been an active prize-winning private studio teacher for over 30 years. Her pedagogical ideas have helped numerous pre-collegiate students excel and realize their natural talents and gifts. Sheri received her Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance at Centenary College of Louisiana on full scholarship, where she won the Aria/Concerto competition, and received both the Outstanding Junior Music Major and Outstanding Senior Music Major awards. After being accepted as a graduate assistant to teach piano class at Louisiana State University, she earned her Master of Music in Piano Performance and graduated Summa Cum Laude. She was primarily a student of Constance Knox Carroll but also studied with Jack Guerry, Nancy Garrett, and Michael Gurt.
Upon graduating, Sheri was hired at Centenary College of Louisiana’s pre- collegiate piano department, where she developed new offerings that enhanced the program and assisted the school financially. When she moved to St. Louis, MO, Sheri continued to teach in the private studio setting as well as studio piano classes and continued to be active in local organizations. After moving to Murfreesboro, TN ten years ago, Sheri began teaching at MTSU as adjunct piano faculty and continued her private studio. She has been a frequent adjudicator for festivals and competitions, as well as a presenter and guest lecturer.
Sheri has been an active member of MTNA as well as NFMC for over 25 years. She has served as Auditions chair in her local MTMTA for 10 years, Vice-President for several years, and is the current President. She began the annual PianoFest festival for MTMTA nine years ago to cater to all students, as well as raise funds for the local chapter.
Her students have received awards such as MTNA State level winners, runners-up and honorable mentions in Louisiana, Missouri and Tennessee. She has had Tennessee area piano competition winners, acceptance to Governor’s school of Tennessee and invitational piano camps, and scholarship recipients for collegiate piano study. Most recently at the 2022 TMTA State competition she had the Runner-up in the K-1 division, runner up in the 10 th grade division, and winner of the 12 th grade division.
2022 TMTA/MTNA Foundation Fellow: Emily Ross
Emily Ross is a resident of Germantown, Tennessee, where she is an independent piano teacher. She earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Tennessee at Martin. Following her bachelor’s degree, Emily completed graduate work in Suzuki at the University of Memphis and pedagogy at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. A member of the Greater Memphis MTA and Germantown Collierville Piano Teachers Association, she formerly served as president and in other leadership positions. Emily is also a member of the National Guild Association. Her professional career has included teaching at University of Tennessee Knoxville, University of Memphis, Lausanne Collegiate School, and Rhodes College.
2023 Distinguished Service Award: Kevin Richmond
Kevin Richmond is Associate Professor and coordinator of class piano at the University of Memphis Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music. Dr. Richmond has presented lectures on collaborative teaching techniques at state and national conferences, and workshops, lectures, and recitals worldwide on extended piano techniques in both student-level and artist-level literature. Often featuring the works of George Crumb, he has performed in Australia, China, Costa Rica, Estonia, France, Germany, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia and across the United States. He has held teaching positions at the Universität Kassel (Germany), the Loire Valley Music Institute (France), and the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Published in the Music Teachers National Association’s e-Journal, his article “Non-Traditional Notation and Techniques in Student Piano Repertoire” was awarded MTNA’s Article of the Year in 2014. He has served on the editorial board of MTNA’s American Music Teacher and as President of the Tennessee Music Teachers Association. Dr. Richmond holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison andthe University of Texas at Austin.
TMTA Newsletters
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