Handbook
Dear Students and Families,
Welcome to the Wydown Middle School Orchestra program! I am so excited to start my sixth year here at Wydown!
If you don’t already know me, let me tell you a little about myself! I recently moved to Webster Groves with my husband, Colin, our 7 ½ year-old son, Ryan, and 3 ½ year old daughter, Leyna. I grew up mostly in the Chicago suburbs (Naperville to be exact!), but moved around a lot. My family has lived in Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, and England. I earned a Bachelor of Music Education from The Ohio State University. While I was there I had the honor of working often with Dr. Robert Gillespie, the author of the Essential Elements books we’ll use this year. After I graduated, I taught Middle School Orchestra for a year in Perrysburg, Ohio. I then moved to St. Louis and taught at Rockwood Summit High School for three years, and then Rockwood South Middle School for three years. I received my Master of Arts in Conducting at Webster University in 2015. I play with a quartet for fun and the occasional wedding gig.
The purpose of this handbook is to give you the expectations and procedures of the Wydown Middle School program. Since orchestra is a performing art, playing concerts to demonstrate skills on our instruments is a large part of this class. There are several performance opportunities for students throughout the year. These are required events so be sure to mark your calendars early!
All students need to rent an instrument for the school year. Violinists and violists must bring their instruments each day to class. Students may store these instruments in orchestra room lockers provided. Cellists and bassists will play a school owned instrument during class and must have an instrument at home to practice. Let me know if you have any questions or special instrument needs. I will do everything I can to ensure that you have an instrument at home! There is more information on where to rent instruments under "instruments & supplies".
Practicing is a very important element to the success of our class. Teaching students how to practice is something that I am very passionate about, and you'll hear a lot about as we start the school year. I strongly recommend that all students have a music stand and metronome/tuner to practice with at home. These supplies can be purchased at your local music store or online. There are also many helpful apps for smartphones and tablets for tuners and metronomes. Links to these will be provided on the orchestra website and google classroom.
Private lessons can help all students progress more quickly on their instruments. I would be more than happy to provide assistance finding the perfect teacher for you. This can be extremely beneficial to students’ development and will be necessary should they decide to audition for more challenging ensembles both in middle school and high school.
Please feel free to contact me at any time if you have questions. I’m looking forward to another great year at Wydown!
