Biloxi native chosen as 2021 Grammy winner for Music Educator Award

BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) - It’s Grammy week for the 63rd annual Grammy awards. Each year, a music educator is chosen as the Music Educator Grammy Award winner, and now one Biloxi native become a winner of that prestigious award.

The winner is Dr. Jeffrey Murdock, now the Associate Director of Choral Studies and the Associate Professor of Music at the University of Arkansas.

When WLOX last spoke with Murdock, he was one of 25 semi-finalists for the coveted award. Just under 2,000 submissions were narrowed down to elementary, middle, and high school teaches as well college and university teachers across the country.

Murdock said he’s ecstatic about the honor and that the last 24 hours have been very surreal. He also said the award plays an important role in the industry.

“The award was created many years ago to honor music educators, because behind every Beyoncé, Chaka Kahn, Luther Vandross, there was a music teacher,” said Murdock. “There was someone who nurtured those gifts for those people. So the GRAMMY foundation, the recording academy, decided several years ago to make sure that they created an opportunity to honor those folks who are behind the scenes when it comes to music.”

Dr. Murdock said he hopes when he’s done teaching, he’s remembered as someone who leveled the field of music education for students from all walks of life.

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