Music Education Alum Reflects on Recent Grammy Win

February 23, 2025 - It’s been three weeks of “hooray” for Adrian Maclin, as he says. The hoorays are congratulations coming at all hours of the day after he received a Grammy for the 2025 Music Educator Award earlier this month. Maclin was selected out of 2,400 music teachers across the country.

“I was immediately shocked and asking God if this is real,” Maclin said. “I cried for a moment, honored and humbled that I am representing the best of the best and I must do my part to showcase this.”

A music education major from the University of Memphis, Maclin has now taught music at the K-12 level for 18 years, 12 of those at Cordova High School, where he currently is. Though he is grateful for the award and what it represents, Maclin said it’s not a true validation of the work he does in the classroom.

“The success of each individual student I teach truly represents that work that happens,” he said. “I tell (students) all the time; I get nothing, if they are successful, but the inner joy of knowing that I played a part in their development. Their success is my success.”

Maclin went a step further by making his award more about the collective of choir directors across Memphis Shelby County Schools (MSCS) and the country. He’ll tell you that the best choirs in Memphis and West TN come out of Cordova, but that doesn’t take away from the impact music brings in every classroom.

“The award is more of a recognition of the great teaching that happens in not just my classroom but music classrooms from around the country. I am just the currently face to represent that work,” said Maclin. “I am lucky that teaching music is my platform that I can use to inspire the thinking of the next generation.”

The music education program is a collaboration between the College of Education and the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music at the University of Memphis. The music educator award was established to recognize music educators who make lasting impacts on students’ lives both inside and outside of the classroom. Winners receive a $10,000 cash prize, plus a matching grant that will go to the winner’s school.

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