About Us

Beginner Band

All students between 4th and 8th grade are welcome to start a new instrument and join the Saint Cecilia Beginner Band, where we focus on fundamentals of music, ensemble skills, and finding our creative voices!

Advanced Band

Any student with previous instrumental experience will be placed in the Advanced Band, where we focus on learning more challenging music, composing our own songs, and further developing facility on our instruments.

Chamber Ensemble

The audition-only Chamber Ensemble is for students who have worked hard to master basic techniques on their instrument and are now looking for a new challenge! Auditions for this group are held in September and January.

Student-Run Small Groups

All students are welcome to put together small groups that are able to perform on concert programs. These ensembles rehearse outside of school and are entirely student-led. Any student interested in starting a small ensemble please let Ms. Brinnel know. Performance readiness checks for small ensembles will be held two weeks prior to concerts.

Saint Cecilia Parish School is a Christ-centered community committed to academic excellence. We empower our students to explore and develop their individual God-given talents. Our emphasis nurtures the development of the whole child preparing each student to be a productive and contributing member of our global society. Inspired by the spirit of the Sisters, Servants the Immaculate Heart of Mary, we dedicate ourselves to preserving the Catholic identity of our school. Our administrators, faculty, staff, parents and students collaborate in an environment of shared values.

Hailey Brinnel is an educator and musician based in Philadelphia currently working at The Saint Cecilia School through Northeastern Music Programs. She has worked in a variety of settings spanning early childhood, elementary general, secondary instrumental and vocal, private lessons, master classes, as well as collegiate-level education courses. In addition, Brinnel is a sought-after guest clinician working to bring jazz education to classrooms in the greater Philadelphia area. In her tenure at Temple University, she co-taught classes through the university programs “Early Childhood Music Foundations”, “The Community Music Scholars Program”, and “Diamond Peer Teaching”. In all educational settings, Ms. Brinnel aims to create an environment that promotes student-centered learning, higher-order thinking, and a greater connection to the school and community through the arts.

A rising talent in the Philadelphia music scene, she has performed at venues around the world including The Kennedy Center, The North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands, and Lincoln Center. She frequently performs with the world-renowned all-female big band, The DIVA Jazz Orchestra, and was featured in the 2018 Washington Women in Jazz Festival “All-Stars” Quintet.

Northeastern Music Programs provides a turnkey instrumental and general music education programs to Catholic and parochial, private, and charter schools grades K-8. Founded in 1983, Northeastern Music has provided these services to several hundred schools in the Philadelphia / Allentown / Central PA regions, Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland. The Northeastern Advantage gives these schools the ability to offer students high quality music education without the high startup costs and overhead of music teaching staff.

For more information visit https://nemusicprograms.com/