Music Directors

Honor Guard Program Coordinator, United States Air Force and Space Force

Commander, 395th Army Band - The Army Band of the Southwest

Dr. Jordan E. Kinsey has taught instrumental and vocal music in six states, and at all levels from Kindergarten through higher education.  A native of Paducah, Kentucky, he holds the Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Murray State University, the Master of Music in Wind Conducting from Southern Illinois University, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Wind Conducting from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. At Rutgers, he taught private undergraduate advanced conducting, Instrumental Methods, and assisted with all aspects of a comprehensive Big Ten University band program, including frequent appearances with the Grammy-nominated Rutgers Wind Ensemble.

While serving as Director of Bands at Norton Community High School in Norton, Kansas, Dr. Kinsey was instrumental in that community’s recognition as a “Best Community for Music Education” in the United States: the first in Kansas. While serving on the faculty of Wesley College in Dover, Dr. Kinsey designed new programs in music education and pre-music therapy, founded The Delaware Brass (Delaware’s first professional brass quintet) and Delaware Winds (Delaware’s first semi-professional wind ensemble) in addition to serving on the college’s Scholar’s Day Committee and Core Curriculum Committee and providing oversight of the band program.

A Chief Warrant Officer Two in the United States Army Reserve, he has served with the 100th Army Band at Fort Knox, Kentucky, the 312th Army Band in Lawrence, Kansas, and the 380th Army Band in Richmond, Virginia. He is currently the commander of the 395th Army Band “The Army Band of the Southwest” in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and Casualty Affairs Coordinator at Fort Dix, New Jersey. 

Dr. Kinsey has served on the executive board of the Delaware Music Educators Association, is the Delaware state chair for the College Band Directors National Association, and is an active member of the National Association for Music Education, International Society for Music Education, and Kappa Delta Pi International Honor Society in Education. He is a life member of the International Percy Grainger Society.

Dr. Kinsey has published articles in Teaching Music, the Journal of Band Research, and the WASBE Journal; and is a book reviewer and on the Advisory Council for Music Educators Journal. He has been invited to present sessions at music educators’ conferences in New Jersey and Delaware; the 2014 International Society for Music Education conference in Curitiba, Brazil; the 2015 National Association for Music Education National In-Service Conference in Nashville; the 2016 International Society for the Promotion and Research of Wind Music Conference in Oberwölz, Austria, the 2018 CBDNA Eastern Division Conference at Yale University and the 2018 Music Education Music Research and Teacher Education National Conference. His book on the early history of the United States Marine Band “The President’s Own” was published by Lambert Press in 2017. In demand as a clinician and guest conductor, this fall he will conduct a series of concerts with the municipal bands of Costa Rica.

He shares a historic home in North Wilmington with his husband, clarinetist Dr. Christopher Nichols, and their two rescue dogs, Molly and Barkley.

Susan M. Peo is a native Delawarean and has been a freelance musician and professional music educator for well over 30 years. During her career as a fulltime teacher, Ms. Peo had the pleasure of working with young students in grades k-12 in both private and public school settings.  She also taught adult and college level trumpet students privately and at Immaculata University in Pennsylvania.

Ms. Peo began developing her love of music when she started playing the trumpet in her elementary school band program and she’s been playing every since. While attending the University of Delaware, her academic pursuits included both art and music. Ms. Peo studied trumpet privately with Alan Hamant, the UD trumpet professor at that time. After receiving her Associate of Art degree in Visual Communications Ms. Peo continued on to complete her Bachelor’s degree in Music Education and Performance.

Ms. Peo began her professional career as a middle school band director in Maryland. A few years later, she returned to the University of Delaware to work on her Master’s Degree in Trumpet Performance and study trumpet privately with Frank Kaderabek (formerly the principal trumpet with the Philadelphia Orchestra). At the same time, Ms. Peo began teaching in the Red Clay Consolidated school district as an elementary band director. Interestingly enough, one of the schools she taught at was the very same school where she, herself, first learned how to play the trumpet. Several years later, Ms. Peo moved into a middle school band and choral position within the same school district. She recently retired from Red Clay, but is still actively pursuing her love of the visual and performing arts.

Ms. Peo is a professional freelance musician and performs regularly throughout the Tri-state area. In addition to her solo trumpet work, she has played with the Delaware  Symphony, the Newark Symphony, the Delaware Repertory Symphony and numerous community bands throughout Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. She is currently a member of the Johannes Brass Quintet, the Atlantic Brass Band of New Jersey (a competitive brass band) and is the Principal Cornetist with the Chesapeake Silver Cornet Brass Band in Delaware.

Pamela Letts received her Bachelor of Music degree in Performance and Music Education from the University of Delaware and her Master of Music degree in Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music. She was a Band Director for 33 years in Delaware and Maryland.  Currently, she is a field instructor for the University of Delaware and is on the faculty for the Community Music School there and serves as the director of their Summer Band Camp. Additionally, she is an instructor for the Delaware Youth Symphony Orchestra at the Music School of Delaware.

Mrs. Letts serves as a coordinator for the Delaware All-State program as part of the Delaware Music Educators Association and has served as a guest conductor for the All-County Middle School Band in Kent County, Delaware and as an adjudicator for the Maryland State Band Festival -- a two day event held in Baltimore, Maryland.

Mrs. Letts is also an active performer in the area. She is a member of the Renaissance Brass and has performed with the Delaware Symphony, the Harrisburg Symphony, the Brandywiner’s Orchestra, the Superior Ragtime Orchestra and the Chesapeake Brass Band. She has performed at the Playhouse Theatre and has worked with such celebrities as: Rosie O'Donnell, Nathan Lane, Frankie Valli, Nell Carter, Stephanie Powers, and The Temptations.