Brayer Teague
Brayer Teague served as the Fine Arts Department Chairperson at Downers Grove North High School from 1996-2023. A Top-10 Finalist for the National GRAMMY Music Educator Award (2016), he was recognized five times by the Marquis “Who’s Who in American Teaching” and named a Golden Apple Scholar finalist. Mr. Teague received the Chicagoland Outstanding Music Educator Award (2008), is a National Board Certified Teacher, and was honored by the Illinois Music Education Association with the Distinguished Service Award (2022). Teague was most recently the recipient of a John P. Paynter Lifetime Achievement Award for excellence in Music Education (2023).
A graduate of Northwestern University in Evanston, IL (Bachelor of Music) and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI (Master in Music Education), Mr. Teague taught for three years in Highland Park, Illinois before serving the music faculty of Downers Grove North High School for thirty years (1993-2023). He completed additional graduate work in Educational Leadership at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois, and continued his exploration of the arts through coursework at various colleges in photography, jewelry/metalwork, and ceramics.
Mr. Teague has published educational materials for Microsoft Inc., co-authored a curriculum guide for the Illinois State Board of Education, and presented at national and international conferences. He is an advocate for expanding the walls of the traditional arts classroom through music performance tours. In addition to a bi-annual music and cultural exchange program he coordinated with a musikschule in Bietigheim-Bissingen, Germany, Mr. Teague has led twenty-five student music tours to England, Ireland, Italy, France, Austria, the Czech Republic, Canada, and a host of cities in the United States.
Mr. Teague is a member of the National Education Association and the Illinois Music Education Association, serving as President from 2017-2019. During his twelve-year tenure on the ILMEA Board of Directors he coordinated the Illinois All-State Music Composition Contest for seven years, a nationally admired program that aims to foster and recognize outstanding student music composition.