Artists and Clinicians

At Dance and Sing! Music, our goal is to bring participatory music experiences to people of all ages.  Our faculty members are performing artists committed to accessible high quality music education for the enrichment of life.

They are available for solos and ensemble performances, clinics, master class workshops, as well as entertainment events such as weddings, corporate and private parties, and musical theater productions.

Suann A. Strickland

Pianist, Collaborative artist, Choral conductor, Musical director

Suann A. Strickland grew up in Southern New Mexico, studying piano from age 6 on. Her earliest memories are of sitting on her grandmother's lap at the piano, while her grandmother played the piano around her.  From elementary grades through high school,she played piano for solo recitals,  school choirs, Sunday School classes, church worship services, music festivals and competitions, community musicals, and government and civic functions.

Suann holds undergraduate degrees in Sociology and Piano Performance.  She received the Master of Music Performance in Piano Pedagogy from The Florida State University, where she also earned  a World Music Certificate and completed 30 hours of graduate study in choral conducting performance.

Collaborative recital accompanist:  Suann performs regularly as a collaborative pianist with both vocal and instrumental performers and has performed with professional soloists around the country and in France, Russia, and Estonia. She has performed as a piano soloist with the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra.  She has been an accompanist for faculty, guest and student artist performances at several universities including Florida State University, New Mexico State University, Mercer University, Georgia Southwestern State University and Georgia College and State University. She has been the staff accompanist for the Georgia Governor’s Honors Program and has performed for official dignitary functions.

She also tours with her husband as a member of "Sculptures in Wind and Ivory"

Educator and Clinician:  Suann has taught all ages of students from pre-school and kindergarten ages through elementary and high school grades to college students, adults and senior citizens. For nine years, she was the Director of the Yamaha Music School of Durham, NC, which offered keyboard fundamentals classes for children ages 4-12.  She has been a guest clinician at daycare and kindergarten facilities, giving staff members resources for teaching singing and music games to their students.

Suann began an interest in teaching adults who had dropped out of piano lessons earlier in their lives and now wished to resume their studies while she lived in Chicago.  She began teaching the Rockefeller Foundation Course, "How To Play The Piano Despite Years of Lessons," for the City Colleges of Chicago and eventually toured the course in piano stores throughout North Carolina teaching it to over 600 adults over the course of 8 years.

Suann has been a college lecturer at several colleges and universities in Georgia, teaching college class piano, piano pedagogy, and classroom music methods for elementary teachers.

At Mercer University, Suann serves as the Administrative and Program Director for the Mercer Music For Young People Preparatory Program.  She has developed and implemented the curriculum for the musical skills and ensemble classes and trains and supervises the university student teaching assistants as well as teaching all the group classes for children and maintaining her own studio of private students.



Solo piano artist:  Suann holds bachelor and master degrees in music performance in piano and specializes in recitals of music inspired by dance and literature traditions in Southern Europe and South America




Composition, Conducting and Musical Theater: As a teenager, Suann discovered choral accompanying and musical theatre, both of which kept her joyfully playing the piano when scales and exerciese had paled in pleasure. Suann has served as music director/pianist/conductor for over 60 community and professional musical theater productions in Chicago, New Mexico, North Carolina and Georgia.  She was the resident music director for the Halcyon Repertory Company in Chicago and some of her original compositions are performed annually in the Raleigh(NC) Little Theatre production of Cinderella.  In 2002, one of her art songs for voice and piano was chosen for inclusion in the Meredith College Festival of Women Composers.

In addition to preparing musical theatre choruses, Suann has conducted church choirs, elementary honor choirs, and community choirs, including the Schola Cantorum of Las Cruces, New Mexico, and the Tallahassee Senior Singers of Tallahassee, Florida.  She is currently the coach-accompanist for the Mercer University Children's Honor Choir.

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F. Charles Anderson

Trombonist, Instrumental Conductor, Band and Ensemble Clinician, Dixieland Specialist

Trombonist:  Charles is a trombonist with the Band of the U. S. Air Force Reserve, on active duty at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia.  He performs in over 100 concerts annually throughout the United States, and has performed across Europe and in Japan. 

He is active as a soloist and clinician, performing Classical, Dixieland, and Jazz Standard literature. 

Charles is available for solo bookings, collaborative ensemble concerts and band and symphony fill-in performances.

Conductor:  An instrumental conductor for band and orchestra, Charles holds four degrees in music including the Diploma of Fine Arts in Conducting, and degrees in music education and trombone performance.

Clinician:  Charles coaches brass players in playing and ensemble techniques.  He also
offers clinics and master classes in brass solo techniques and ensemble playing.

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