CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – A Montgomery Central High School music teacher will be honored among 29 other nationwide educators at the Country Music Hall of Fame for the 2024 class of Music Teachers of Excellence.
On May 7, Vanessa Cobb, MCHS band director, awoke to the news that she would be recognized during the ceremony later this year at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville.
“It’s emotional,” Cobb told Clarksville Now. “I’m happy and it’s humbling, and I think it’s a direct reflection of the hard work my students have put in.”
Recommendation letter for McDonald’s
Cobb was born and raised in White House, Tennessee. From 6th grade to her freshman year of high school, she had a music teacher named Brad Kinney who changed it all for her.
It started with music test, and something happened in that moment that transformed her from a softball player to playing the French horn in the band. Mr. Kinney, she said, was like a second dad to her.
Between her freshman and sophomore year of high school, she went to a summer band camp and had been in the process of applying to a local McDonald’s so she could live the teenage life and have a car. Mr. Kinney, she said, was going to write her a letter of recommendation to help.
Suddenly, Mr. Kinney got really sick.
“He called me from the hospital that night and said he was sorry he didn’t get a chance to write it,” Cobb recalled. “I told him, ‘It’s really OK, I just want you to get better,’ and that I would come to see him the next day.”
The next day, when she was leaving the house to go visit Mr. Kinney, she found out he had passed away; he had died only an hour after getting off the phone with her.
Cobb said that was when she decided she wanted to be a teacher, more specifically, a band director, just like Mr. Kinney.
The road to CMCSS
After graduating from high school, Cobb moved to Clarksville to attend Austin Peay State University. She eventually graduated with two master’s degrees: one in Music Education and another in Conducting.
While at APSU, she met her now husband and started her “musical” family with him.
She’s been a teacher at CMCSS for seven years now as a band director. She spent two years at Northwest High, another two years at Rossview Middle, and now she is finishing her third year at MCHS.
Here are some of the accomplishments the MCHS band has achieved under Cobb’s leadership:
- Received superior ratings at the Middle TN Band and Orchestra Association’s Concert Performance Assessment.
- Had two students in the Middle TN Band and Orchestra Mid-state Clinic Band.
- Performed at the Music for All Affiliate Concert Festival at Belmont University on April 6.
- Received instruments from the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation.
- Earned the TN Bandmasters Association’s Sweepstakes Award.
- Received a Music for All Advocacy Award for Innovative Fundraising in 2022.
Cobb said that in the spring of 2025 they plan on going to Hawaii and performing at Pearl Harbor on the USS Missouri.
CMA 2024 Music Teachers of Excellence
Cobb says she’s been applying for the award for several years now and the process is far from easy. According to the Country Music Association Foundation, the application process includes teaching videos, professional references and community service work.
“Music Teachers of Excellence are selected based on their dedication to bringing a high-quality music education program to their students and the impact they’ve had on their school community through music,” the CMAF states.
The CMA Foundation will hold its Music Teachers of Excellence ceremony, presented by One Country, on Sept. 17 at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville.