Chair
Christopher Perez (2022-2024)
Orlando, FL
NAfME member Christopher Perez is the Director of Guitar Studies at Freedom High School in Orlando, Florida and a graduate of Western Illinois University. Selected as a Quarterfinalist for the 2017 GRAMMY Foundation Music Teacher of the Year Award, he remains very active as a teacher, presenter, adjudicator, clinician, and musician. Mr. Perez is a member of NAfME (National Association for Music Education), serving as Guitar Council Chair (2020-2022), FMEA (Florida Music Education Association) serving on the FMEA Guitar/General Music Committee, GFA (Guitar Foundation of America), and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.
Mr. Perez continually serves on several local and state music assessment writing teams. His music is published with Drop6 Media, Inc. and has several arrangements on the FBA State Music List. He is a percussionist with the Southern Winds Symphonic Band and with Walt Disney World’s “ENCORE! Cast Performing Arts”. Mr. Perez has presented sessions at NAfME, FMEA and OCPS Music Conferences and his Guitar Ensembles continually perform on local, state, national and international stages. Under his direction, the FHS Guitar Ensembles performed several times as a demonstration music ensemble and in concert at FMEA All-State Music Conference, the Stetson University Guitar Day (DeLand, FL), the Florida Guitar Festival at Florida State University (Tallahassee, FL) and in concert at the 2013 & 2017 Long Island Guitar Festival at Long Island University, (Brookville, NY).
He may be contacted at Christopher.Perez@ocps.net. To learn more about the Freedom High School Guitar Program please visit www.fhsguitar.net.
Eastern Division Representative
Jason Martinez (2022-2024)
Newark, NJ
North Central Division Representative
Ruth LeMay (2021-2023)
Minneapolis, MN
Northwest Division Representative
Erik Larson (2022-2024)
Boise, ID
Southern Division Representative
Kevin Vigil (2021-2023)
Leesburg, VA
Southwestern Division Representative
Gwen Marie Lerch (2022-2024)
Albuquerque, NM
Western Division Representative
Darin Au (2021-2023)
Honolulu, HI
Member-at-Large Representative
Brian Levanger (2022-2023)
North Las Vegas, NV
Member-at-Large Representative
Ricardo Paz (2022-2023)
Albuquerque, NM
Member-At-Large Representative
Rob Pethel (2022-2023)
Atlanta, GA
Chair-Elect
Chair-Elect selected by President-Elect Confredo, June 2023
Terms begin on July 1 and end on June 30 of the years noted above.
Review the Council’s tip sheet for Guitar Best Practices, years 1-4.
NAfME’s Council for Guitar Education is pleased to be able to provide two articles reprinted with permission from the Guitar Foundation of America (GFA) magazine Soundboard – The Journal of the Guitar Foundation of America, Vol. 48, No.3, September 2022 issue. NAfME thanks the following members of the Guitar Foundation of America (GFA) staff for granting permission and helping bridge GFA and NAfME to promote better music education practices and applications: Martha Masters, GFA President & Artistic Director; Robert Ferguson, GFA Editor-in-Chief; Chuck Hulihan, GFA Education Director.
Creating Music with a Neurodiverse Population: 3 Strings Is Dismantling Music Education Inequality
In this article, Ruth LeMay (NAfME Council for Guitar Education North Central Division Representative) created an adaptive music class called “3 Strings – UnLoCkeD.” The goal was to provide musical learning and performance experiences for students with special needs who otherwise would not receive music education. The 3 Strings – UnLoCkeD ensemble performed in concert at the 2019 NAfME National Conference Keynote in Orlando, Florida.
A Seat at the Table: Guitar Education in Virginia
Through his leadership and vision, Dr. Kevin Vigil (NAfME Council for Guitar Education Eastern Division Representative) worked closely with the Virginia Music Educators Association and the Virginia Department of Education to develop curriculum, educational processes and bylaws that helped form the VGDA (Virginia Guitar Directors Association). In this article, Dr. Vigil describes how guitar earned its “Seat at the Table” within the VMEA.
