Who
We Are
Steve Fidyk
President
Creative Director
Steve Fidyk is an acclaimed drummer, composer, bandleader, and educator whose career spans more than three decades of performance, recording, and jazz education.
For 21 years, Fidyk served as drummer and featured soloist with the U.S. Army Blues Big Band, performing for seven U.S. Presidents and international dignitaries, and alongside jazz luminaries including Clark Terry, Slide Hampton, Doc Severinsen, and Benny Golson. His service also took him around the world, from performing for U.S. troops throughout the Middle East to supporting Habitat for Humanity’s rebuilding efforts in post-Katrina New Orleans.
Fidyk currently performs with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra and tours nationally with The Equinox Big Band and vocalists Sergio Vellatti and Hailey Brinnel. As a bandleader, he leads ensembles featuring his original compositions and arrangements, bringing together the tradition of big band jazz with a distinctly contemporary voice.
A passionate educator and mentor, Fidyk serves on the jazz studies faculty at the University of Maryland and works with Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington program as a clinician, adjudicator, and educator.
Throughout his career, Fidyk has remained committed to the values at the heart of jazz—excellence, mentorship, collaboration, and passing the music forward to the next generation.
Tamela Fidyk
Founding Member
Teaching Specialist
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ~ Maya Angelou
My teaching philosophy is that making personal connections and fostering meaningful relationships are the keys to student success. It’s also how I choose to live my best life. It’s my belief the band room is more than a place where students learn music. Life lessons emerge in a positive learning environment where students thrive because they are loved, supported, and valued. Through music, my students learn to communicate, show positivity, have fun, laugh, problem solve, trust, motivate, persevere, unify, take risks, show grit, learn resiliency, model respect, and inspire. When everything blends together like a beautiful piece of music, what emerges are not only talented musicians, but great people with character who will make a difference in our world someday.
I hope the students I’ve taught for over thirty years in Anne Arundel County look back fondly on the time they spent in my band room. They might forget what I said about playing with good posture, they might forget the trumpet fingerings in a C major scale, but I hope they remember those connections we made and that special feeling when they spent time in my band room, their very own “happy place”.
Tamela Fidyk has over 30 years experience as an elementary instrumental teaching specialist for Anne Arundel County Public Schools. In 2020, Tamela was recognized for her excellence as an educator with a nomination for Teacher of The Year, representing instrumental music education throughout Anne Arundel County and the State of Maryland.
Emily Tevault
Founding Member
Treasurer/Secretary
Emily Tevault, MBA, CPC is Vice President, Programs & Producktivity® with BSCorbett Consulting, LLC. She is a coach, trainer, and consultant in time management, intentional growth, and project management. Emily uses her 18 years of nonprofit accounting, finance, and management experience with educational organizations and associations to establish trust, build relationships, and connect the pieces of the puzzle. She believes that being productive requires a commitment to intentional personal and professional growth.
Emily sees life as a sequence of processes to be identified, created, and made more effective and applies the Producktivity® Principles: Identify. Connect. Organize. in her own life and with her clients to move ideas to action.
She received a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in finance from The Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s degree in Viola Performance from The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University. Emily is an International Coach Academy Certified Professional Coach, John Maxwell Team Certified Coach, Speaker, and Teacher, and a Maxwell Certified DISC® Trainer.