Music

Chris Bruya has been involved in music education since 1983, teaching high school, community college and university, the last 20 years at Central Washington University, retiring in 2021 as Emeritus Professor of Music. While at CWU he pioneered an improvisation sequence, built a small-group program, and the jazz big band was recognized as one of the finest in the country, performing at the Montreux, North Sea and the Next Generation jazz festivals and three JEN conferences. In 2015 the band placed first at the Next Generation Festival, which included a performance at the Monterey Jazz Festival the following September. In 2015 the band was featured on Barney McClure’s CD Show Me!, and earlier on their Seabreeze Records 2008 release In A Mellow Tone. Most recently the jazz band won the undergraduate Asynchronous Recording category of the 2022 Downbeat Magazine Student Awards based upon work completed during Covid protocols, his final year at CWU. There are over 150 live-recorded YouTube videos of the band, recognized worldwide as some of the strongest examples of the big band literature. Bruya has served on WMEA, OMEA and IAJE boards in both Oregon and Washington, has presented at numerous regional conferences, directed honor bands in Tennessee, New York state, Nevada, and Texas, while in retirement remaining in demand as a clinician and adjudicator throughout the Northwest and beyond. In 2024 Bruya contributed a chapter to the GIA Publications Teaching Music Through Performance in Jazz, Volume 3. In 2016 the Washington Music Educators Association honored him with the Collegiate Educator of the Year award, and in 2022 inducted him into the WMEA Hall of Fame. In 2024 Bruya was inducted into the Bandmasters of the Northwest Association.

chrisbruya@gmail.com

Mark Lane, Emeritus Professor of Music at Central Washington University, retired from teaching in 2017 after a 39-year career as a music educator. Mark Lane served as the Associate Director of Bands and Professor of Music Education at Central Washington University from 2006-2017. Previously, Mark taught high school for 27 years in both Oregon and Washington. Mark currently works for Conn-Selmer Inc. Division of Education as the Educational Support Manager for the West Region.  Mark holds a BA from Eastern Washington University and a MA from the University of Oregon. He has served on both the Oregon Music Education Association and the Washington Music Educators Association Boards. In Washington, Mr. Lane served 14 years on the WMEA Board of Directors and was President from 2008-2010. Mark served as the Northwest Division President of the National Association for Music Education from 2013-2015 and was on the National Executive Board of NAfME for three years. He was liaison on the National Collegiate Advisory Board for National Association for Music Education from 2012-2017.

Mr. Lane has been awarded Educator of the Year five times and has received three Citations of Excellence from the National Band Directors Association. In 2001, Mark received the Sudler Order of Merit of the John Phillip Sousa Foundation and was inducted into the BANDWORLD Legion of honor.

Since his appointment at CWU in 2006, he received the 2012 Crystal Apple Award from the CWU Education Department. Mark was recently inducted into the Washington Music Educator Association’s Hallof Fame and was honored as the Washington Music Education Association/Washington Interscholastic Activities Association 2015 Music Educator of the Year, the 2016-2017 Outstanding Music Educator Award for the Northwest Region by the National Federation of High School Associations, and recently was awarded the 2017 National Association for Music Education’s Northwest Division Distinguished Leadership Award. In 2017, Mark also received the Distinguished Educator Awardwas inducted into the Northwest Bandmasters Association.
His bands have performed at conferences in both Oregon and Washington. In addition, his groups have performed twice in the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade and twice at the Bands of America (Music for All) National Concert Band Festival. Mark was the Music Director of the Washington Ambassadors of Music, leading biennial European tours with over 500 high school musicians from the State of Washington in 2010 and 2012. Mark is a frequent clinician and adjudicator and has conducted, presented clinics and adjudicated throughout the US and in Canada and Europe.

Larry Gookin is Distinguished Professor and Emeritus Professor of Music at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, WA.  He served for 34 years as Director of Bands before retiring from CWU in 2015. Prior to teaching at Central, Professor Gookin taught band for ten years in Montana and Oregon public schools.
During his tenure at Central, the CWU Wind Ensemble performed by invitation at major conferences and conventions, including the College Band Directors National Association Conferences in Boulder and Seattle, the Music Educators National Conference in Minneapolis, the Western International Band Clinics in Seattle, the Western/Northwestern CBDNA Division Conferences in Reno, the Northwest Division NAFME conferences, and numerous WMEA State Conferences.
Larry Gookin has received numerous honors and awards. He has served as president of the Northwestern Division of the CBDNA, as well as Divisional Chairman for the National Band Association, and Vice President of the Washington Music Educators Association. He is a member of the American Bandmasters Association and the WMEA Hall of Fame, and he is a past recipient of the NBA “Citation of Excellent Award,” the First Chair of America “Mac” Award, the ASBDA “Standbury Award,” the WIAA/WMEA teacher of the year award, and the University of Oregon’s School of Music Distinguished Alumnus Award. Gookin was also named CWU Distinguished Professor of Teaching, and while at Central, he served as Associate Chair and Coordinator of Graduate Studies. He is former principal trombone of the Eugene and Yakima Symphony Orchestras, and is Emeritus Artistic Director and Conductor of the Seattle Wind Symphony.   
Professor Gookin received the M.M. in Music Education from the University of Oregon School of Music in 1977 and the B.M in Music Education and Trombone Performance from the University of Montana in 1971.
Professor Gookin has appeared as clinician, adjudicator, and conductor in the United States, Canada, Japan, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. He is a Yamaha Performing Artist and remains active as a conductor and music educator. Gookin resides in Ellensburg, Washington with his wife Karen, who is Emeritus Professor of English at CWU and recently retired on piccolo and flute from the Yakima Symphony Orchestra.

Linda Marra, mezzo-soprano, Central Washington University Professor Emerita of Music, retired in December, 2010. She taught at Central since 1984 and was the Coordinator of the Voice Area for many years. In 2007 she received the Outstanding Teacher award from the College of Arts and Humanities for her excellence in applied voice and course teaching. Dr. Marra also served as vocal director and coordinator of many opera productions at CWU, including Mozart’s, The Magic Flute, Cosi fan tutte, Don Giovanni, The Impresario, and Puccini’s, Gianni Schicchi. She also produced a number of opera scenes programs. As an active performer of concert, recital and oratorio repertoire she is credited with a list of more than 150 performances.

Dr. Marra was District President of the Inland Empire Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, a position she held three times, and she also served as District Governor. She hosted several NATS Student Auditions and a NATS Summer Intern Program. Her students did consistently well at competitions and went on to performing and teaching careers and/or further graduate studies. She represented Central Washington at the International Congress of Teachers of Singing in Vancouver, British Columbia and attended numerous other national and international conferences over the years. In January 2009 she was a presenter at the 4th Annual Physiology and Acoustics of Singing Conference in San Antonio. Also in 2009, she presented a lecture/recital of suffragist songs in celebration of the Washington State Women's Suffrage Centennial, first at the opening of the celebration at the Sarah Spurgeon Gallery and then at a celebration of women in county government at the Hal Holmes Center in Ellensburg.

Dr. Marra received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Voice Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Colorado (1984) where she studied with celebrated teacher, Barbara Doscher. She also holds the Master of Music degree in Voice Performance from the University of Michigan (1972). There she studied voice with Eva Likova and sang opera roles under conductor, Josef Blatt and director, Ralph Herbert. Her BA in Music Education is from Queens College in New York City (Feb. 1966) Her early voice teachers were Cesare Longo and Maria Winkler. She also sang at Carnegie Hall in the All-City High School Chorus of New York City for two years under Peter J. Wilhousky. At the age of 15, she sang on a concert for Fordham University Radio. She held a coveted position as an usherette for the New York Philharmonic during her undergraduate student days. 

Linda Marra started her teaching career as a New York City public school vocal music teacher, and she also taught in the Willow Run school district in Michigan. She began her college teaching career at Western State College of Colorado. There she directed operas and musicals for nine years and taught voice and voice-related courses. While in Colorado she performed for four summers with the Colorado Opera Festival in Colorado Springs and appeared in nine different operas covering major roles under New York City and Metropolitan Opera lead singers. She has fond memories of Hanya Holm’s encouraging support of singers as a director of opera. Marra also performed at the Aspen Music Festival for three summers. She sang with the select Aspen Chamber choir under John Nelson and Fiora Contino. Her love for hiking and the outdoors came as a result of her experiences in Aspen. In Michigan she was President of the Ann Arbor Cantata Singers, and she was a professional choir singer for the Kirk in the Hills cathedral in Bloomfield Hills. She also performed as a soloist for the finale of Bernstein’s Candide featuring Barbara Cook at a University of Michigan Choral Union concert.

Linda Marra has sung for master classes of Elly Ameling, Max Von Egmont, Adele Addison, Thomas Paul and Paul Sperry, and she attended a summer workshop on vocal pedagogy with Richard Miller. She also studied in Aspen one summer with Leslie Guinn. That summer (1980) she performed a new work on the Aspen Composers concert.

She was a soloist at the Chelan Bach Feste and the University of Washington International Conference on Women in Music, and a guest recitalist at the University of Idaho, Whitman College, Yakima Valley Community College, Shoreline Community College, Walla Walla College and Western State College. She also performed as soloist with all the CWU Ensembles over the years, including a special performance with the Wind ensemble at the Capitol Theatre in Yakima, Washington. She was alto soloist for a Yakima Symphony Chorus and Orchestra performance of Handel’s, Messiah at the Seasons Performing Center in Yakima. She also performed recitals for the St. Michael’s Church concert series in Yakima and for the Yakima Ladies Musical Club.

Dr. Marra performed a solo faculty recital every year at CWU until the age of 60, often performing them off campus as well. She regularly performed on CWU Faculty concerts, and served as coordinator for a number of concerts. In 2006, she was alto soloist for the CWU Chorus and Orchestra performance of Szymanowski’s, Stabat Mater. In 2007, she was a soloist for the Beethoven Choral Fantasy with the CWU Orchestra and Chorus.

Dr. Marra was often in demand as a presenter, an adjudicator and a clinician. She was the vocal judge for the District Metropolitan Opera Auditions more than once, the Performing Arts Festival of the Eastside in Bellevue, WA, Artist Trust of Seattle, Washington State Solo Competition (numerous years) and the King County and the Wenatchee State Solo Qualifying Competitions. She was a presenter at a NATS Summer Intern Program and at a regional NATS Meeting. She also served as secretary for the Ellensburg Chapter of the National Federation of Music Clubs. Her music honorary society affiliations include, Pi Kappa Lambda and Delta Omicron. She also served as President of the CWU Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi, the academic honor society. Marra, being of Greek and Italian parentage, was also a member of Sigma Epsilon Phi, a sorority/fraternity of students of Greek parentage at Queens College in New York.

Dr. Marra has had notable experience in administration at CWU. From 1986-1988 she served as Director of the prestigious CWU William O. Douglas Honors College, and she served as Assistant Chair of the Department of Music from 1991-1994. In 1990 she was on the CWU Team for the Lilly Foundation Workshop on the Liberal Arts. Dr. Marra attended the Bryn Mawr Summer Institute for Women in Higher Education Administration in 1993 on a CWU institutional grant. She also served on a team of professors and administrators who participated in a two-week workshop on Cultural Pluralism at Evergreen State College. In 1994 she was one of the top three candidates for the position of Acting Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at CWU. She also served as the CWU Institutional Representative to the American Council on Education program to help further women in higher education administration. She served on the Faculty Senate, the Faculty Senate Code Committee, the General Education Committee and numerous other university and departmental committees. In the area of public service, she served as a member of the City of Ellensburg Arts Commission and the Northwest Public Radio Community Advisory Board. She chaired the University Art Selection and Permanent Collection Committee from 2005-2008. Under her leadership a complete inventory of all art on the CWU campus was finalized.

Her teaching assignments have included, Studio Voice, Opera Production, Opera Workshop, Pedagogy, Vocal Literature, Diction in Foreign Languages for Singers, Opera History, Seminar in American Musical Theatre, History of the Vocal Art, Class Voice, and a short course in Oratorio. She also taught Music Methods for Classroom Teachers at CWU and in Colorado and Introduction to Music and Fundamentals of Music in Colorado along with voice and opera courses.