Board Members
Acting President - Debbie Zehler (dimiolo@sweethomeschools.org)
Debbie teaches professional development levels for AOSA, is an active clinician, and also she teaches at Heritage Heights Elementary School in the Sweet Home Central School District. Debbie has completed three levels of Orff training at Hamline University, Kodaly Level I and Dalcroze Eurhythmics at the University of St. Thomas, and attended the University of Nevada in Las Vegas for another Orff level III. Awards include Classroom Music Teacher of the Year Award by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Erie County Council for Music Educators and Teacher of the Year by the New York State English Council for combining children’s literature with music. She is currently a contributing author author for the Lorenz corporation and contributing composer for “Activate Magazine,” and other publications by Heritage Music Press. Debbie has taught Orff Level I, III, Movement Level I and Recorder Level I and II.
Treasurer - Audrey Maguda (amaguda@clvschools.org )
Audrey teaches General Music to grades Pre-K through Fourth, helps out with instrumental lessons in the Middle School, and accompanies the High School Chorus at Cattaraugus-Little Valley Central. Her district is located an hour south of Buffalo. She has two daughters who attend CLV, and her husband, Chris, is the High School Band director at the same school. She was introduced to Orff by a good friend and retired Music Teacher, Becky King. Becky invited her to her first WNYOSA workshop around 2007 and she hasn’t looked back. She took Level I at Eastman in the Summer of 2010 and spent the entire month of August revamping her entire curriculum as a result! She took Level II at Eastman the Summer of 2017 and is still processing all that she's learned and how to incorporate it into her teaching.
Membership Chair- Patricia Hills (hillspatterson@mac.com)
Patricia Hills teaches PK–5 vocal music at Windermere Boulevard School in the Amherst Central School District. She earned Orff Level I with Debbie Imiolo and Orff levels II and III from the Eastman School of Music. Imaginative play is the foundation for her lesson planning and she feels very fortunate to work in a district that values this approach to music education. Patricia presented for the 2008 ECMEA Classroom Music Festival and enjoys sharing her original material with the WNYOSA Chapter. Patricia has a Bachelor of Music Ed. (Voice) from Houghton College and a Master of Music Ed. from SUNY Fredonia. She enjoys singing with the Vocalis Chamber Choir and with the St. Joseph’s Cathedral Choir, Buffalo. She teaches Music Theory to the Boy and Girl Choristers of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Buffalo, and continues to study voice with Dr. Margaret Kuhl. She and her husband, Robert Patterson, enjoy residence in the Allentown area of Buffalo.
Liaison to SUNY Fredonia - Jill Reese (reese@fredonia.edu)
Dr. Jill Reese is assistant professor of music education at The State University of New York at Fredonia. Undergraduate and graduate courses she teaches include general music methods, early childhood music, history and philosophy of music education, and research methods. She has completed Orff Level I and GIML levels I and II. She earned a doctoral degree from Temple University, master's from the University of Michigan, and undergraduate from Michigan State University. She taught vocal/general music in the public schools of Michigan, and early childhood music in Michigan and Pennsylvania. Website: http://home.fredonia.edu/music/faculty-bio-reese
Board Member - Jessica Wheaton
Jessica teaches at Sycamore Trails and Timber Trails Elementary Schools! Jessica went to North Central College in Naperville, IL where she studied Music Education and graduated in 2014.
