Cindy’s history with Choice Music Tours begins as a student on one of the company’s first student performance trips. Later, while an active member of the high school’s Band and Choir Parents Association, she served as the Trip Chairperson for seven music department trips, working closely with the Choice Music Tours Travel Advisor to coordinate travel to destinations that included Orlando, Norfolk, Toronto, Chicago and Myrtle Beach. These experiences cemented her belief in the benefits and the importance of student travel.

Cindy joined Choice Music Tours as a Travel Advisor to continue working with student groups to provide the best fun, educational travel experiences for students, while planning and facilitating the travel details to enable teachers to focus on student performances and other educational opportunities. In addition to groups traveling within the United States, Cindy has coordinated international group travel for the WFNBTA USA Twirling Team to the Baton Twirling World Championships in Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Norway and Holland.

As General Manager of Choice Music Tours, Cindy supports and coordinates the excellent work of the Choice Music Tours Travel Advisors.

A Music for All Hall of Fame member, PMEA Citation of Excellence winner and a National Band Association Citation of Excellence recipient, Bill Galvin brings 50+ years of education and travel experience to Choice Music Tours.

Bill is skilled at planning, budgeting, teacher-training and student and parent relations. His Trinity High School groups performed at the MENC Eastern Conference, three Music for All National Music Festivals, and four PMEA In-Service Conferences. The Trinity High School Band placed first for eight consecutive years in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Marching Band Association Championships and his concert groups earned twenty-six PMEA “Superior” ratings. During his teaching tenure, his groups traveled to Orlando, Atlanta, Louisville, Toronto, Virginia Beach, Washington, DC, Detroit, and Philadelphia.

Bill is a Past President of PMEA District 5, former Chair of the PMEA Music Booster Affiliate, and Past President of the Washington County Music Educator Association. He has hosted numerous PMEA Region and District Festivals and currently coordinates the Sandy Feldstein National Percussion Festival for Music for All. Bill also is a member of the Music for All Educational Advisory team. Bill holds degrees from Morehead State University and Duquesne University. Bill formerly performed with the Washington Symphony Orchestra and served as conductor of the annual WSO Chamber Concert.

Nevin brings 40+ years of music pedagogy and student travel experience to Choice Music Tours. Nevin has been an active participant in both PMEA and IAJE for many years, and is a former president of PMEA District 3 and Region II. He holds both undergraduate and graduate degrees from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and also has done graduate work in jazz pedagogy at the Vandercook College of Music in Chicago. As a performer, Nevin has played in the Tommy Phillips Orchestra, Pittsburgh Jazz Society Big Band, Bill Carmichael Big Band, the jazz orchestra for the tour of Chita Rivera, and Standard Time Jazz Quintet.

He began his teaching career in 1981 in Pittsburgh where he directed the Churchill High School Jazz Ensemble. His next position was the graduate assistantship for the IUP Marching Band under the direction of Dr. Charles Casavant. Following that, he was director of bands at Bedford High School. He has taught for 30 years in the Indiana (PA) Area School District, where he has instructed Junior High band, chorus, orchestra and jazz band as well as Senior High marching band, wind ensemble, symphonic band and jazz ensemble. In 1996, he initiated the Indiana Area School District jazz artist-in-residence program. In the 2021-22 school year, he returned to teaching. In the fall, he was the IUP Marching Band director, and in the spring he taught high school music in the River Valley School District.

Nevin’s trip planning logistics have taken his groups to yearly destinations. His marching bands have made multiple appearances at the Hollywood Christmas Parade, the Fiesta Bowl Parade, and several Disney World Parades. The Indiana Band also marched in the Citrus and Orange Bowl Parades in Florida as well as the Azalea and Cherry Blossom Parades in the DC area. His jazz ensembles have performed in two PMEA State Conventions in Philadelphia and Hershey, and the North Sea Jazz Festival in Den Haag, Netherlands. Nevin has taken other student groups to Toronto, Cleveland, Chicago, Manhattan and New Orleans.

Francis Nesta brings a 42-year career in music education to the CMT team. As an educator in the Keystone School District, he served his students at elementary, junior high, and senior high levels in both instrumental and choral settings. He also was the advisor to the senior class and National Honor Society, where his organizational skills were put to good use planning fund raising, conducting service projects, and managing graduation exercises. During the 33 years spent in the secondary school, he planned trips to NYC, Washington D.C., Boston, Chicago, Toronto, and Cleveland. In addition to arranging transportation, lodging and meals, these trips usually combined performance opportunities, tours of art and science museums and other attractions, Broadway-caliber shows, recreational activities, historical sites, college campus tours, and a lot of walking. Students and parents benefitted from time spent on the streets of these cities, getting a feel for different neighborhoods and for the immensity of these prominent metropolitan environments.

Francis was professionally involved outside of school as a member of the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association and the American Choral Directors Association. He served as President of PMEA District 3 twice and was elected as PMEA State President, serving from 2009-10. He received the PMEA Citation of Excellence Award for District 3 and recently was inducted into the PMEA Hall of Fame. He also is a charter member of the National State Teachers of the Year – PA Chapter, being named a finalist for Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year in 1996. He currently holds the position of Executive Director in that organization.

Shawn Harris is currently marching band director at Southmoreland High School.  After graduating from Connellsville High School in 1988, Shawn attended West Virginia University where he received his Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education and then Middle Tennessee State University where he received his Master of Arts Degree.

While in Nashville, Shawn was percussion instructor at John Overton High School from 1993 to 2004.  While at Overton, the percussion ensemble was a 7-time WGI World Championship finalists and the drumline was a 5-time finalists and the 1996 Class AA World Champions.

Shawn also performed in the Nashville and mid-south area with The Island Wave Steel Drum Band.