Bowling Green schools welcome new director of bands

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Bowling Green High School and Bowling Green Junior High welcomed Anjali Sivaainkaran as the next director of bands for Bowling Green City Schools.

Sivaainkaran is currently serving as assistant band director for Antioch High School in the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools.

She is replacing Kevin Briley, who is retiring this summer after 29 years.

In her role at Antioch High School, Sivaainkaran has been the primary teacher for symphonic band, co-director of the marching band and has assisted with the wind ensemble. She has taught general music and worked at middle school feeder schools each week, and supported various recruitment events throughout the year. She also started the school’s basketball pep band, woodwind and brass chamber music programs.

In her letter of application she wrote, “Music education is a vital part in our cultural landscape of society. For many, the music classroom is the place where lives are changed forever through the friendships and wide array of experiences. My ultimate goal as an educator is to prepare my students to be thoughtful and responsible members of society. I am a firm believer that music education can teach students how to be better equipped to face challenges that will be present in whatever field he or she chooses upon graduation.”

Sivaainkaran is a graduate of Tennessee Technological University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in music and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she earned a master’s degree in music. While at the University of Illinois, she also worked as a teaching assistant for the Marching Illini.

While teaching and directing, Sivaainkaran also currently serves as assistant conductor for the Nashville Youth Wind Ensemble at Belmont University. She performs year-round in the Nashville Symphony Chorus, and is a private clarinet instructor.