Faculty - Music Education

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Lisa DeLorenzo
Professor of Music
Music Education
(Graduate Coordinator)
Secondary Piano
973-655-7220
delorenzol@mail.montclair.edu

Prof. DeLorenzo holds an EdD from Teachers College, Columbia University, an MME from Indiana University, and a BS from West Chester State University -- all degrees in music education. At MSU she is the Coordinator of Music Education where she teaches music education courses and supervises student teachers. Her interests in creative and critical thinking and movement/dance as well as teacher education have provided material for numerous articles in practitioners and research journals. In addition, Prof. DeLorenzo continually seeks teaching opportunities with young children. Her work as a public school music teacher, with the MSU Preparatory Division, and on a Hopi Indiana Reservation attest to that interest.  In 1993-1994, Prof. DeLorenzo was awarded a John A. Goodlad Fellowship for study at the Institute for Educational Inquiry in Seattle. Her fellowship was one of eighteen selected throughout the country to examine teacher education and school renewal. She served on a writing panel for the New Jersey Department of Education to draft the core proficiencies for music instruction in the State of New Jersey and has been a clinician on music teaching throughout the Eastern region of the USA. Her affiliations with teaching organizations include the Music Educators National Conference (MENC), New Jersey Music Educators Association (NJMEA), and other nationally recognized education organizations.


Jeffrey Kunkel
Associate Professor
Music Education
(Undergraduate Coordinator)
MSU Jazz Ensembles/Jazz Piano
973-655-7215
kunkelj@mail.montclair.edu

Jeffrey Kunkel (D.Ed., Music Education, Penn State University; M.M., Jazz Studies, New England Conservatory; B.S., Music Education, Penn State University) serves as Coordinator of Music Education and as director of the MSU Jazz Band, which performs at festivals throughout the area, including the Villanova Jazz Festival, University of the Arts Jazz Festival, and New York Vocal Jazz Festival. Prof. Kunkel is serving his third term as president of the New Jersey chapter of the International Association for Jazz Education, and is Jazz Procedures Chair for the New Jersey Music Educators Association. He is active as a jazz pianist, composer, adjudicator, and clinician, and was selected to direct the Pennsylvania District IV Jazz Band early in 2007. He also had the honor of conducting the 2006 and 2002 New Jersey Intercollegiate Jazz Ensemble, the 2003 New Jersey Region II Jazz Ensemble, and the 2000 New Jersey Region I Jazz Ensemble. He can be heard on a CD release by jazz trumpeter and composer Peter Sciaino. He was also featured prominently on piano, keyboards, and trumpet on a 2001 CD release by singer/songwriter Julie Aaron entitled Borrowed Time.


Mary Ann Craig
Professor of Music
Former Director of Bands
Euphonium
973-655-7779
craigm@mail.montclair.edu

Prof. Mary Ann Craig teaches conducting, brass classes, and applied euphonium. She is immediate Past President of the International Tuba-Euphonium Association, an organization of 2,000 members from over forty countries. As a conductor Prof. Craig conducted the leading professional, military, and conservatory concert bands in Russia, Ukraine, and Hungary, and the World Honors Ensemble in Finland. She was awarded the title of Honored Professor of Moscow State University of Culture and Arts in 2003 for the contributions she has made to the development of wind bands in Russia. Prof. Craig has been the New Jersey State Chair for the College Band Directors National Association and the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors. She served on the Board of Directors of the International Women's Brass Conference and as Chair for the Society for Music Teacher Education-Eastern Division. Prof. Craig was the first woman to be invited to be guest conductor of the Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Band Festival since its founding. As a euphonium soloist and low brass clinician, Prof. Craig has appeared throughout the United States, Japan, Europe, Australia, and Canada. She is the founder of the Colonial Euphonium and Tuba Institute and a member of the Colonial Tuba Quartet (CTQ). Prof. Craig has released two solo euphonium recordings as well as a CD with the CTQ. She is featured in Anne Gray's Women in Classical Music.


Heather Buchanan
Assistant Professor of Music
Director of Choral Activities

Music Education
973-655-7913
buchananh@mail.montclair.edu

Heather Buchanan directs the Montclair State University Chorale and Chamber Singers. She specializes in the teaching of Body Mapping for choral musicians. Born in Brisbane, Australia, she earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music (Australia) and a Master of Music degree from Westminster. Her publications include a video Evoking Sound: Body Mapping & Gesture Fundamentals (GIA Publications: 2002) in collaboration with James Jordan, and a CD of Westminster’s 2002 performance of A Festival of Readings & Carols. She is also co-editor and compiler of the GIA choral series Teaching Music through Performance in Choir. She frequently works in the wider community as a guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator with school, church, and community choirs in both the United States and Australia. Prof. Buchanan is also an experienced singer and has performed and recorded with the 16-voice ensemble The Quodlibet Singers (Australia), in addition to singing major repertoire with the Westminster Symphonic Choir and New York Choral Artists. She has performed also in the opera chorus for Spoleto Festival USA productions of Wozzeck (1997) and Jenufa (1998).


Thomas McCauley
Assistant Professor of Music
Director of Orchestral Studies
973-655-7036
mccauleyt@mail.montclair.edu

Thomas McCauley conducts the Montclair State University Wind Symphony and Symphonic Band. He earned a Doctor of Music degree in conducting from Northwestern University where his primary teacher was Mallory Thompson, and holds a Master and Bachelor's degree in Music Education from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Prof. McCauley has appeared as a guest conductor, clinician, or adjudicator throughout the United States and groups under his direction have appeared at national and regional conventions and conferences. In 1998, he appeared as guest conductor with the renowned Northshore Concert Band on their summer concert series. He appeared as Associate Conductor of the Indianapolis Brass Choir at the 15th International Congress of the International Society for the Investigation and Promotion of Band Music in Lana, Italy in the summer of 2002. In May of 2005, he led the University of Indianapolis Symphonic Wind Ensemble and Chamber Orchestra on a tour of Austria that included concerts in Vienna, Salzburg, and Innsbruck. From August 2002 - December 2003, Prof. McCauley was also the creator and host of Music Education Matters, a 30-minute radio talk show heard weekly on WICR in Indianapolis. In 1995, the Nevada Music Educator's Association named him Music Educator of the Year and in 2006, the Indiana Music Educators Association honored him with an Outstanding University Music Educator Award.


Shelley Axelson
Adjunct Professor
Music Education
973-655-7212
axelsons@mail.montclair.edu

Before coming to the Cali School, Shelley Axelson held a similar position at the University of Indianapolis in Indianapolis, Indiana, where her responsibilities included teaching conducting, clarinet, and a variety of instrumental music education classes. Prior to her appointment at Indianapolis, Prof. Axelson was the Director of Bands at Central College in Pella, Iowa, Pasco Middle School in Dade City, Florida (co-author of Secondary Music Curriculum), and Richardson Junior High School in Richardson, Texas. Prof. Axelson received an undergraduate degree in Music Education from the University of South Florida, a Master's Degree in Conducting from the University of Michigan, and the Doctor of Music degree in Conducting from Northwestern University. Her principal conducting teachers were Mallory Thompson and H. Robert Reynolds.


Fred Ford
Choral Methods
973-655-7212


Kimberly Syvertsen
Visiting Specialist
String Techniques
Preparatory Center: Violin/Viola
(973) 655-7212 (Cali School); (973) 655-4443 (Prep)
syvertsenk@mail.montclair.edu

Violinist Kimberly Syvertsen holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory, where she studied with Shirley Givens. She has also studied with Matthew Pierce, Tao Chang Yu, Pamela Frank, and Joseph Lin. She is an Artist Diploma candidate at the Cali School. She has studied music pedagogy with Suzuki specialist Martha Thomas and Rebecca Henry. She serves as a conductor and chamber music coach in Youth Orchestras of Essex County and is a counselor/chamber coach at the ASTA-NJ Chamber Insitute. She is active as a chamber musician, has participated in the Heifetz International Music Festival, and was an Artist Fellow at Hampden-Sydney Music Festival. She performs with the Cali School's graduate string ensemble, The Verismo Quartet, which was founded in 2005 and made its debut on the Colonial Symphony's chamber music series opposite Met Opera tenor Bruce Rameker. She is entering her second year as Director of Youth Symphonies at the MSU's Music Preparatory Center, where she conducts the University Youth Orchestra and Chamber Sinfonia.

 

 
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