An active member of MTNA since the 1970s, Holder served MTNA as national vice president, member of the MTNA Board of Directors, and chair of the national award committee.  She also served as president, vice president, secretary and collegiate artist national competition chair for the MTNA South Central Division.  She served Louisiana Music Teachers Association as piano area chair and vice president and founded the Ruston chapter of LMTA.  

Sue Holder was named Teacher of the Year by the Louisiana Music Teachers Association (1994) and received the University Senate Chair and Quest for Quality Fellow Award from Louisiana Tech University.  She also is a member of the gold-medal Sweet Adelines International Chorus.

Sue Steck-Turner was named an MTNA Foundation Fellow in 2008.  She is an independent teacher in Lafayette, Louisiana, maintaining a studio of approximately sixty students and specializing in very young children and learning disorders.  She holds a B.M.E. degree from Bowling Green State University and an M.M. in Piano from the University of Maryland, with additional study with Frank Glazer at the Eastman School of Music and Albert Hirsh at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria.

Prior to moving to Lafayette, Sue was an associate professor of piano at the State University of New York at Oswego, where in 1982 she was awarded the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, one of fifty to be so honored in the state of New York.  She has also taught as an adjunct professor of piano at the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette and continues to perform as a collaborative pianist and clinician throughout Louisiana and surrounding states. 

The Immediate Past President of the Louisiana Music Teachers Association, she has begun her nineteenth year as an officer, having served as VP/Certification for eleven years, and as President-elect and President.  She was the 1999 recipient of LMTA’s Outstanding Teacher Award and now serves as chairman for that award, as well as chairing their new Students Helping Students Fund.  Also active at the national level, Sue has presented sessions at many MTNA conferences, has served on various MTNA committees, and was Chair of Music Learning and Research on the National Convention Program Committee for 1997-1999.  She is certified by both LMTA and MTNA as a Master Teacher.

As an active member of her local association, Sue has served as Vice-President and President of the Lafayette Piano Teachers Association, as well as currently serving as chair for many of their events.  Extending her musical activities beyond the piano studio, Sue is an active choir member and soloist at the First Presbyterian Church-Lafayette and a member of the Lafayette SAI Alumni Chapter. 

Fred Sahlmann, of Lake Charles, was named an MTNA Foundation Fellow at the 2009 MTNA Conference in Atlanta.  An NCTM Master Teacher, he is Professor Emeritus at McNeese State University where he taught piano, theory, organ and harpsichord and served an eight year term as music department chair.  His degrees are from Elon University, Teachers College of Columbia University and Eastman School of Music, where he earned his DMA.

Dr. Sahlmann is a Past President of Louisiana Music Teachers Association and has also served LMTA as Piano Chair.  He has served as President and Treasurer of Lake Charles Piano Teachers Association.  Dr. Sahlmann has appeared widely in solo, chamber and orchestral performances and has adjudicated competitions throughout the mid-South.  He continues to perform as pianist with McNeese’s chamber ensemble Pastiche and as organist/choir master at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church.

Fred Sahlmann is highly respected by his colleagues for his musical accomplishments and his continuing involvement in music as a performer, mentor and exceptional role-model.  

Ernestine Durrett was named an MTNA Foundation Fellow in 2010 at the MTNA Conference in Albuquerque.  Steve and Johnny Durrett accepted the award for their mother, who passed away in 2009.  An independent music teacher in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, she served as president of BRMTA, LMTA and the MTNA South Central Division.  In 2003, she was recipient of the LMTA Outstanding Teacher Award. 

Ernestine was instrumental in establishing many LMTA programs and policies and helped to establish guidelines for receiving credit for independent study through the Louisiana State Department of Education.  Ernestine was also Philharmonic Music Club president, a member of the Music Club Piano Quartet and a member of the First Methodist Church Choir for more than 50 years.

Charles Jones was named an MTNA Foundation Fellow in 2010 at the MTNA Conference in Albuquerque. He has taught piano at the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts since 1993.  A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he also holds master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. 

Dr. Jones won the UNC Concerto Competition and was alternate winner of the MTNA/NCMTA Collegiate Artist Competition, also earning second prize at the Bartok-Kabalevsky International Piano Competition.  Jones received the Fullerton Merit Award for excellence in teaching while at Limeston College in South Carolina.  He has served LMTA as president and treasurer and is MTNA South Central Division director.