Following Her Heart: Mrs. Christina Reisdorf’s Journey to Music Education
by Benjamin Lliguicota and Shumi Liu (Interviewer)
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Mrs. Christina Reisdorf
At Heim Elementary, music teacher Mrs. Christina Reisdorf brings warmth, talent, and almost twenty years of experience to her students every day. She joined the district in 2007 and has been part of Williamsville for over eighteen years. However, her journey to becoming a teacher was not straightforward. At first, she studied engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. But while working a campus job with music therapists, something changed for her. “My heart kept saying, Why are you not working with kids? Why are you not doing music?” she recalls. When she told her parents she wanted to switch her major, they supported her decision.
Her high school chorus teacher, Mr. Norman Zogaib, also played a big role in her path. He even predicted that she would end up choosing music. “He said, ‘You’re going to change your major. This is where your heart is,’” she remembers. “And really, I do sort of owe my start to him.” His influence reached many students, not just her. A surprising number of his former students became music teachers. Even within the Williamsville schools, several of them include teachers like Mrs. Marnie Salvatore at North High and Mrs. Ellen Raimondo at East High. “There’s a whole bunch of us who are ‘Norm’s kids,’” she says proudly.
Growing up, Mrs. Reisdorf was surrounded by music. She started piano lessons at three years old with her father, who was a Suzuki instructor. Over time, she picked up violin, French horn, trumpet, mellophone, and even joined jazz band. Later on, she studied voice and music education at SUNY Fredonia. She student taught at Country Parkway with Mrs. Jennifer Kopp and later became a long-term substitute.
After student teaching, she joined Transit Middle School, where she taught choir for grades 4 through 8. One of her favorite memories was staying with the same group of students as they moved up each year. “I had them in fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade … It was really neat,” she says. But as her own children got older and closer to middle school, she felt pulled back toward elementary. “They love with their whole heart,” she says of her elementary students. So when a position opened at Heim and a colleague asked if she “knew anybody” interested, she simply answered, “Me.”
Mrs. Christina Reisdorf conducting the Chautauqua All-County Festival at Chautauqua, NY
The Reisdorf family in La Boheme with Buffalo Opera Unlimited
Outside of school, music is still a big part of her life. Her husband is also a music teacher, and their three children take part in lessons, performances, and theater. One special family experience was performing together in Buffalo Opera Unlimited’s production of La Bohème. “It was really kind of fun,” she says, especially since she hadn’t been in a staged show since college.
Another highlight of her career has been serving as a guest conductor and clinician for ECMEA All-County choirs. This year will be extra meaningful because her daughter will be in the festival. “Between the two of us, one of us will have her,” she says, since both she and her husband are conducting different groups.
Most of all, Mrs. Reisdorf loves watching her students grow. She explains that they are “so smart, and yet they can still be so excited. You can have these amazing, deep discussions about life and everything.” Heim Elementary is lucky to have a teacher with such dedication and passion for music. As she puts it simply, “This is the life I want. I want to work with kids.” And our Williamsville community is better because she followed that calling.
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