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Clinics, exhibits, and performances at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center run this week through Saturday as part of the Texas Music Educators Association’s annual gathering of music students and educators.
Trombonist Altin Sencalar is one of the performers and educators chosen to present a clinic at the TMEA convention. He focused on transcriptions and listening as part of his workshop.
Sencalar grew up in Texas and is now professor of jazz studies at University of Colorado Boulder.
“Something that Texas does extremely well — there’s a lot of funding for our band programs,” he said. However, Sencalar noted the how unlikely this investment is: “Sometimes jazz is not a part of the normal curriculum. As an educator I get it. If you want to play the game, you have to be in the game in order to change it.”
Texas trumpeter and educator Tito Carrillo speaks on improvisation at TMEA
For the conference this year TMEA welcomed more software developers to the lineup of clinicians and presenters to discuss the impact of AI in music studies. Matt Woodward with New York-based Merlyn Mind spoke to a packed house of early arrivals. “That’s where we are now in 2026. AI can execute tasks. I think it’s really important that we get a grasp of what it can do now and what we want it to do in the future,” Woodward said.
Sencalar prefers a more human approach to the curriculum.
“There’s not a way to replicate humans. And that’s the beauty about being a human. You can’t replicate somebody else. And same thing with music. You can’t replicate someone else’s music. You can try. But it’s always gonna be that person’s music,” said Sencalar.
Pedro Lopez is one of Sencalar’s students. “I went my first time about two or three years ago and got sucked in so I’m glad to be back in Texas so I can enjoy TMEA again,” Lopez said.
Classical ensembles, all-state jazz bands — and even conjunto as an authentic Texas welcome — are all part of the live performance scheduled at this year’s convention that runs through Saturday. The gathering remains one of the largest of its kind in the country.
Founded in 1920, the TMEA continues its tradition of promoting academic and professional growth for the next generation of musicians.