Celebrating Steve Moreland, Yamaha Award Recipient! (By Laura Duggan, Director of Marketing & Communications)

Yamaha Corporation recently unveiled its inaugural "40 Under 40 List of Top Music Educators" awards, and  Steve Moreland, St. Michael's Director of Fine Arts, was selected from more than 450 educators from across the country for their positive impact on their students, school, district and wider musical community. 

"I'm extremely humbled and honored to receive this recognition from Yamaha. It's further proof that what we've created at St. Michael's is special and a viable future for music education. I am grateful for the support of the students, faculty, and administration for allowing me to push boundaries and think outside of the box. This award has given me the confidence and momentum to keep working towards bringing a modern approach to music education to others and start reimagining the possibilities of what music education can be," Moreland said.
According to their press release, the "40 Under 40" music education advocacy program was established by Yamaha to celebrate music educators at all grade levels, public or private, as well as private music instructors, selected from hundreds of music education leaders nominated by students, parents, other teachers or administrators, local instrument dealers and mentors last fall.

Moreland,  who has a Master’s degree in Conducting and at one time was pursuing a career as a conductor,  understands traditional and contemporary sides of the music world, which is why the program still has a certain amount of traditional components mixed with our innovative, non-traditional components.

Steve certainly "fits the bill" for having received this recognition, which affirms his "ability to proactively take the necessary steps that lead to a stronger music program; propose and implement new or bold ideas; show innovation and imagination in achieving plans and objectives; and establish and grow or improve music education in their schools and communities," as described in the Yamaha award criteria.

Steve's Modern Band Lab program also garnered nationwide attention from the Associated Press and local NBC affiliate KXAN at the beginning of the pandemic with its highly successful transition to an online format. 
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