Dr. Beatriz Aguilar is an associate professor at Edgewood College, where she teaches courses related to general music education. She is also in charge of an Early Childhood Music Program in Janesville, WI., where she teaches babies and toddlers from 0 to 48 months of age. Dr. Aguilar has a bachelor’s degree in piano performance from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. She received a MME and a PhD in music education from the University of North Texas, where she also specialized in early childhood music education and was a certified Kodály music educator.  

Dr. Alena Holmes is an assistant professor and coordinator of music education at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater where she teaches Early Childhood, Elementary and Middle School Music Methods, Pedagogy and Practice for Teaching General Music K-12 and World Music courses. Originally from Belarus, Alena Holmes started her career in her native country where she taught elementary classroom music, solfege and piano skills, worked as a musician and singer with popular bands and concert organizations and had numerous appearances on popular Belarusian TV and radio shows. She then worked as a singer, musician and teacher in China, Bahrain and Italy. Dr. Holmes is increasingly active in presenting research papers and conducting workshops at music education conferences. She has presented at the International Society for Music Education Conference in Malaysia and Italy, Hawaii International conference on Arts and Humanities, Regional and National conferences of College Music Society, National OAKE and AOSA conferences, 18th International Kodály Symposium and a Symposium on Assessment in Music Education.