Carlos Abril was named Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Music Education at the University of Miami Frost School of Music. Prior to this appointment he served as Associate Professor and Coordinator of Music Education at Northwestern University Bienen School of Music. Abril’s research focuses on socio-cultural issues in music education, arts education policy, and music perception. He has published articles in Journal of Research in Music Education, International Journal of Music Education, Music Educators Journal and the Bulletin for the Council of Research in Music Education, and serves on many editorial boards. He co-edited the book, Musical Experience in Our Lives (Rowman & Littlefield) and has written chapters for other books, including The Handbook of Research in Music Learning (Oxford) and Alternative Approaches in Music Education (Rowman & Littlefield). His music arrangements and instructional materials are published by World Music Press and in the Macmillan/McGraw-Hill textbook series, Spotlight on Music. Abril received a Ph.D. in music education at Ohio State University, M.M. in performance at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and a B.M. in music education at the University of Miami. He is fully certified in Orff Schulwerk and has received extensive training in Dalcroze Eurhythmics. He is a former general music and choral educator in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, where he was honored as Region V Teacher of the Year and with the Cervantes Outstanding Educator Award.
Don D. Coffman, Professor of Music Education, will chair the Department of Music Education and Music Therapy at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Iowa. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Society for Research in Music Education and chaired MENC’s Adult and Community Music Education SRIG and ISME’s Community Music Activity Commission. He currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Research in Music Education and the International Journal of Community Music. His passion is making music with “chronologically gifted” adults in wind bands. He is the founding director of the Iowa City, Iowa New Horizons Band, which has provided an opportunity for senior adults to learn or reacquaint themselves with wind and percussion instrumental music since 1995. In 2006 he was honored for his work with this New Horizons Band with three awards: The University of Iowa President's Award for State Outreach and Public Engagement, the State of Iowa Governor’s Volunteer Award, and the Outstanding Continuing Educator Award from the Johnson County chapter of AARP.
