2021-2022 TODA MAL Candidates

Electronic voting open through Friday, July 23, 2021 at 12:00 pm.  A link will be sent out to all Active, Retired, and Student Members once voting opens.  If you are a current member, you do not have to attend Convention to vote.

Click on the Vote button below to be directed to the ballot.  You will need to log into your TODA account to vote.

Brigido "Beau" Garza

Brigido S. Garza-  Mr. Garza graduated with honors from Permian High School in 2001.  While at Permian, he was under the direction of Kathy Fishburn and David Golden.  He was a member of the “Satin Strings” strolling strings group and the Symphony Orchestra.  He attended Odessa College for a year, and  transferred to Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, where he studied viola under Ralph Fielding and Renee Moore-Skerik.  While at Tech, Mr. Garza was a member of the University Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Gary Lewis.  Additionally, he was part of the first Texas Tech String Project under Dr. Bruce Wood, Director of String Music Education.  Graduating from Texas Tech in spring 2006, Mr. Garza started his first year teaching at Alamo Junior High School in Midland, Texas.  The following year, he took a teaching job in Odessa,Tx at Nimitz Junior High School.  Mr. Garza came back to Midland as the assistant orchestra director at Midland Lee High School and the head director at Lee Freshman High School, where he was honored to work with Karen McAfee for three years.  Upon Mrs. McAfee’s retirement in 2010, Mr. Garza accepted the position as Director of Orchestras at Midland Lee High School, now newly named Legacy High School.  Mr. Garza has continued the tradition of excellence with the orchestras’ 51st year of sweepstakes at UIL contest.  Recently, Mr. Garza became an adjunct professor of music education at the University of Texas at the Permian Basin.  In addition, Mr. Garza accepted an Interim position with the Youth Orchestra of Lubbock for the spring of 2019 conducting the philharmonic orchestra. He is a member of Texas Orchestra Directors Association, Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Music Adjudicators Association, American String Teachers Association and plays viola with the Midland Odessa Symphony.  He is married to Beth Garza, FUMC Midland director of music activities and general music teacher at Hillander elementary school.  They live in Midland with their 3 children, Tomas, Andrew and Aubrey & their 3 dogs, Sebastian, Tonks & Daisy.    

Candidate Statement:

As a music educator, I am always looking for opportunities for personal growth. I have tried to instill this concept of future learning through my teaching. My passion is music education. The joy of hearing a classroom of promising string students creates an environment of high expectations. The objective of orchestra is to provide students with the opportunity to become acquainted with the orchestral literature and to nurture a love and understanding of music. Orchestra places emphasis on the refinement of the basic fundamentals of performance, both individually and as a group. This has bled over into my duties as an educator. Although most students will not become professional musicians, we must strive to develop discriminative listening with an appreciation of the arts as a form of communication and self-expression.  There are endless possibilities when it comes to music education. In our hall, we strive for honor and respect when we celebrate a loss or a win. A great leader leads their troops to a place when he or she is no longer needed. This is the quality we all must have as an educator as well as a human. TODA has played a huge role in music education with great leadership from the TODA board. What the organization has done cannot be matched. In order for this to maintain, action is required from string educators.  Becoming a voice of advocacy for string education goes had and hand with this organization. 

I have served as Region 6 orchestra division chair for four years and served on several committees district wide as well as in our community. I have served as a UIL PML ensemble choice committee person and I am currently the department chair for fine arts at Legacy high school in Midland,TX. I have presented sessions for our district convention “ELEVATE MISD” for fine arts/general professional development and I serve on faculty of summer orchestra camps from Lubbock, Tx to Midland/Odessa. I strive to be effective in my responsibilities as a leader in our field. If given the opportunity, I would continue the tradition of excellence and hard work for the office of MAL of the Texas Orchestra Directors Association.

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Sundas Mohi-Truong

Sundas Mohi-Truong is the Director of Orchestras at Klein Cain High School. She began playing the viola at the age of 10, and is a proud product of Texas music education programs. She received her bachelor's degree in Music Education from the University of Texas at San Antonio. She graduated summa cum laude with Highest Honors, and received the performer's certificate on viola. During her time at UTSA, Mrs. Mohi-Truong became deeply involved in the UTSA String Project, a program that allows the opportunity for music education students to teach string instruments to San Antonio area children. In 2013, she was asked to lead the downtown campus String Project under the guidance of Dr. Eugene Dowdy and Dr. Kristen Pellegrino. Prior to her current appointment at Klein Cain, Mrs. Mohi-Truong was head orchestra director at Paetow High School, and also served as Assistant Director of Orchestras at Tompkins High School-both in Katy ISD.


As a second-generation immigrant, Mrs. Mohi-Truong is passionate about helping students find the right path for themselves in high school and beyond. She has presented research on this topic in a presentation titled “The GPA Game: Advocacy for Academically Consumed Students” at the 2020 ASTA National Conference, as well as TMEA convention and the TODA conference.

Outside of her work as orchestra director, Mrs. Mohi-Truong has served as a director for Katy Youth Symphony, is an active freelance violist, and has served as an officer for the TMEA Region 23 Orchestra Division for three years.

Candidate Statement:

As a teacher still in the younger years of her career, I have benefited greatly from the wealth of knowledge available through more experienced directors in the TODA membership, and as a seven-time attendee and (in July) three-time clinician, I believe wholeheartedly in the mission of TODA to provide opportunities for professional growth and connection between orchestra directors. However, I feel that there is a disconnect between the TODA board/membership and younger directors, and I would like to work to begin to bridge that gap as a board member. We all know that it is difficult to admit that one needs help, and even more difficult to ask for it- as a potential board member, I would work to incorporate ideas that appeal to our entire membership, especially for our younger directors. More savvy social media advertising and events designed specifically for directors with less experience could help to make the organization more approachable, and while I do not think I can tackle all of these issues singlehandedly, I do believe that we can work to adapt our organization to meet the needs of a new generation of teachers while also keeping the things that make it an organization people want to be part of for their entire teaching career and beyond.

I have several qualifications that I believe make me a good fit for the position of TODA Member-At-Large. Each year that I have attended a TODA conference, I have given my time- volunteering as either a hospitality committee member, presider at sessions, or a clinician. I have also presented sessions at the American String Teachers Association National Conference as well as the Texas Music Educators Association state conference. I have also served as an officer for TMEA Region 23, and have been a committee member for various ASTA project committees. I have the wherewithal and knowledge to develop an online presence, as I have done this at three different schools in my career. I do my best to maintain a good network of communication with colleagues by being active on online forums and attending local and national conferences regularly. I have experience as an assistant director at an elite level and highly affluent program, as well as a head director at two vastly different programs- one with more economically disadvantaged students and the other with a wide range of socioeconomic status amongst its clientele. I believe my unique combination of experiences gives me a better understanding of the different types of situations an orchestra director could be in at any given point in their career, and it is my intent to be available to help any director that may need guidance should they ask for it. I believe that my professional qualifications and passion for expanding our organization to be more inclusive of younger directors makes me a great fit to be considered for TODA Member at Large.

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