A nationally and internationally known music conference is coming to Memphis for the first time June 4–7, 2025.
Cohosted by the University of Memphis Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music and the Association for Popular Music Education (APME), the conference will bring together education, industry, popular music clinicians and professional musicians, with performances and presentations from over 120 presenters for a four-day event at the University of Memphis Central Campus and throughout the City of Memphis.
“I am beyond excited to have the 2025 Association for Popular Music Education conference in Memphis and on our campus,” Albert Nguyen, DMA, interim director of the Scheidt School of Music, said.
“This will be a tremendous opportunity for our students and community to share ideas, collaborate with others and draw inspiration from some of the music industry’s greatest minds. This conference will give us a platform to showcase the talent and artistry that has been consistently developed and nurtured at the University of Memphis. I can’t wait to see the wonderful performances and workshops presented by specialists from all over the world.”
Known as the birthplace of rock ‘n’ roll and home of the blues, Memphis is a great fit to bring the 2025 conference to the Mid-South. Past conferences have been held in Los Angeles, New Orleans and Edinburgh, Scotland.
The theme for the conference is “Bring it on Home: History, Culture, and Society in Popular Music” and is close to the heart of APME President Dr. Steve Holley who is a two-time alumnus of the UofM Scheidt School of Music.
“It was well known that when I was elected president, that OK, now I’m in the seat, we’re going home,” Holley said. The APME Board of Directors supported him.
“Memphis has this rich history in so many different areas in music, food, culture, society and civil rights.”
Fields trips are being integrated into the conference going to historic sites including Sun Studio and Stax. A trip to the National Civil Rights Museum is also on the agenda. The conference culminates with the APME Student Festival with live musical performances on Friday evening featuring high school and college bands in a showcase at a local venue.
“This conference will give us a platform to showcase the talent and artistry that has been consistently developed and nurtured at the UofM.”
The mission of the APME is to promote and advance popular music at all levels of education both in the classroom and beyond.
“In music education, being culturally responsive and relevant often means going beyond simply teaching the notes on the page and including the background and context of the music as well,” he said. “The idea is really coming in and digging into the culture, the history of the society of the music.”
Holley (’96, ’99) earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in jazz and classical bass performance from the UofM.
His interest in music started from a young age.
His mom was his band director where Holley played trumpet throughout high school. He learned the idea of being a portfolio musician from his mom, who was a quad major during her schooling, and he remembers having a jazz quintet, a huge Fender Rhodes Suitcase keyboard and bass set up in the living room growing up.
After transferring to the University of Memphis, Holley visited different bands and clubs in town where he noticed the same musicians playing the same instruments within all of them. But he noticed the bassists were different musicians.
“I was like OK, if I want to make a living in this town, I need to put the trumpet down and pick up the bass full time.”
Professor Emeritus Tim Goodwin (1955-2021), at the time introduced Holley to taking upright bass lessons. Holley then went to double major in classical bass and jazz, studying both with Goodwin and Professor John Chiego.
“My mom kind of imprinted on to me that you do it all, it helps you be successful.” His dad, who worked as a sociology professor, showed him the education side.
Today, Holley lives in Denver, CO, where he works as a music educator, bassist and arranger.
He has recorded more than 100 studio projects and performed more than 10,000 times around the globe. He coauthored, “Coaching a Popular Music Ensemble: Blending Formal, Non-formal, and Informal Approaches in the Rehearsal” and co-edited “Action-based Approaches in Popular Music Education.”
Holley credits his time at the Scheidt School of Music and his time in the City of Memphis for laying the foundation for who he is as a musician, as a teacher and as a person.
“The faculty here at the University have given me various opportunities, given me gigs and asked me to sub for them here and there, also being able to sit in with people who were signed to Stax and going to play a gig with Al Green’s horn section just because,” he said. “Those opportunities were for me second to none, and really again, laid that foundation and path for who I wanted to be as a teacher and also what I wanted to do in music education.”
Registration for the 2025 conference opens Feb. 1 and is accessible through the Sched conference app. Registration is free for Scheidt School of Music faculty and students. For more formation, visit: popularmusiceducation.org/conferences/apme-music-conference-memphis/
