Eastland High School band director wins 2022 Grammy award for music educators
EASTLAND — The Grammy Awards will be taking note of Eastland High School during the Sunday broadcast, when band director Stephen Cox is recognized as the 2022 Music Educator Award recipient.
"I want to go to work with joy every day," Cox said during an interview with "CBS This Morning," which Thursday aired a five-minute segment on the teacher.
"I liked the idea that whenever you sit down and you work with someone and they leave and they're better, it's beautiful. Teaching is beautiful," Cox said in the interview.
A handful of current and former students explained how Cox, who has been at Eastland 10 years, inspires them to master life skills that transcend making music.
"He gives us this inspiration that, like, we know we can do it," student Mikey Seabourn.
Cox also is credited with starting the Eastland Jazz Festival for junior high, high school and college jazz bands performing on the Eastland downtown square. This year's festival, scheduled in conjunction with the Rip's Ribs Cook Off, is April 9.
During the 64th Annual Grammy Awards broadcast that starts at 7 p.m. Sunday, show host Trevor Noah will acknowledge Cox and "he will be seen briefly on camera as well," according to a Eastland Chamber of Commerce Facebook post.
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More than 1,100 nominations from 49 states were submitted for the 2022 award. The nominees included public and private school educators, general music teachers, band directors, choral conductors, string teachers and college professors, according to the National Association for Music Education.
The award includes a $10,000 honorarium and matching grant for the recipient's school’s music program.
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Laura Gutschke is a general assignment reporter and food columnist and manages online content for the Reporter-News. If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to ReporterNews.com.
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Eastland band director wins Grammy award for music educators
