Executive Board 

President: Janice Lumpkin

Janice Lumpkin operates a large private piano studio in DeSoto County, MS, outside the greater Memphis area.  With over 29 years teaching experience of students of all ages, her desire is to produce lifelong musicians, encouraging students to have a passion for music.  She is past president of the Greater Memphis Music Teachers Association (GMMTA) and awarded Teacher of the Year for 2015.  She has served on the Executive Boards of GMMTA and TMTA since 2009, holding various positions.  She received Teacher of the Year from Amro Music Store in 2015, where she also co-directed a technology teaching forum for music teachers.  She is a member of the National Guild and has adjudicated at local festivals and competitions for over 10 years.  Many of her students participate in local festivals and auditions each year, earning excellent ratings.  She has served as a church pianist for over 35 years.   Janice holds an Associate degree from Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga, TN.  She regularly attends business and teaching workshops and conferences to further her continued education and stay current with music trends.

Immediate Past President: Arunesh Nadgir

Dr. Arunesh Nadgir is the Coordinator of Keyboard Studies at Middle Tennessee State University where he teaches undergraduate and graduate piano students. He maintains a private piano studio in Murfreesboro where he teaches students of all ages. He has previously held teaching positions at New England Conservatory's Preparatory and Continuing Education Departments, the Eastman School of Music, the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, and the Point CounterPoint Music Camp. His students have been accepted to music festivals and college music programs across the country and have won top prizes at pre-college and college level music competitions.

Nadgir has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in the United States, South America, Europe, and Asia. He has performed in venues including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Kodak Hall at the Eastman Theatre, and Jordan Hall, and has participated in several international music festivals including the Millennium International Piano Festival, The Moulin d’Ande Festival, and the Kneisel Hall Summer Music Festival.

Nadgir holds degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music, The Juilliard School, and the Eastman School of Music where he studied under Wha Kyung Byun, Robert McDonald, and Natalya Antonova, respectively.

President-Elect: Brendan Jacklin

Canadian-American pianist Brendan Jacklin is a performer, teacher, lecturer, and new music advocate. A special interest of his involves performing interdisciplinary and multimedia music, performing works with electronics, video, poetry, and dance. Brendan has presented at conferences across the USA, including topics on recording technology, performance practice, and pedagogy.

Brendan is a co-founder of A Seat at the Piano, an initiative to create a more equitably representative body of piano works, as well as Director of Programming for the Nashville Chamber Music Society. He currently serves as Assistant Professor of Piano at Fisk University.

Brendan completed his D.M.A. at the University of Cincinnati, with cognates in piano pedagogy and multimedia music. He received his M.Mus. from Bowling Green State University, and his B.Mus. at Brandon University with minors in cello performance and history. Previous teachers and mentors include Awadagin Pratt, Michelle Conda, Thomas Rosenkranz, Megumi Masaki, and Leanne Zacaharias.

Based in Nashville, TN, when he is not doing any of the above, you can probably find Brendan running, baking, or reading. You can follow his baking at with Instagram (@brendanjacklin) or find upcoming concert and project details at www.brendanjacklin.com.

Executive Secretary/Treasurer: Simone Parker

Simone Parker joined the Austin Peay State University (APSU) department of music faculty as an adjunct instructor in 2012 and teaches piano, violin and viola at her independent studio.  Since 2014, she is a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music (NCTM), accredited through the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA). She received the Excellence of Teaching Award from the APSU-Community School of the Arts in 2010. The award recognizes Simone Parker for her continuous and consistent dedication to realizing the very best from her students, teaching them that in music as in life, great endeavors bring great rewards.

Simone Parker has a Bachelor of Arts (magna cum laude) in Piano Performance and a Master in Music (with honors) in Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy at APSU. There, she studied piano and composition with Dr. Jeffrey Wood and piano pedagogy with Dr. Patricia Halbeck.  She continued her professional study with Sally Ahner, a certified Alexander Technique (AT) teacher, and graduated from a three year teacher certification process with the Chesapeake Bay Alexander Studies Program.

As a native of Germany, Simone Parker speaks fluent German and English. While living in Germany, she has earned a Bachelor degree in International Business Administration from the Berufsakademie Mosbach - Bad Mergentheim.

Recording Secretary: Derek Hartman

Derek Hartman is a lecturer of piano at the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University, where he teaches students of all ages and coordinates the beginner piano curriculum. He is an alumnus of the Post-Graduate Pedagogy Fellowship at the New School for Music Study in Kingston, New Jersey, and he is an active member of the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy. He regularly partners with PianoArts of Wisconsin to design and implement music education programs in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

An internationally-acclaimed performer, Derek has appeared as a soloist with the Vienna and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestras, and he has performed at such venues as the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and the Musikverein in Vienna. He has received numerous awards and honors, including the First Prize in the Seventeenth International Beethoven Piano Competition in Vienna in 2025.

Derek holds degrees from the Yale School of Music and Northwestern University, where he studied with Boris Slutsky and James Giles, respectively. He is currently a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate at Yale. A Minnesota native, Derek’s eclectic musical background includes training and experiences in jazz, popular music, improvisation, composition, music theory, and harpsichord continuo performance. More information about Derek can be found at derekhartmanpiano.com.