2021 Music Educator Award

Grammy Week

The Music Educator Award presented by Recording Academy and Grammy Museum have announced their quarterfinalists for 2021. Great news – three Maine music educators have been named to the list. How wonderful that three of our won Maine teachers rose to the top out of nearly 2,000 nominees!

CONGRATULATIONS Maine Music Educators:

• CAROL CLARK – Gray-New Gloucester High School
• PATRICK VOLKER – Scarborough High School
• TRACY WILLIAMSON – Gorham Middle School

“I’m honored to have received the nomination for this award, but this is really for my students, and I’m happy for all of us!  This is for my current students and new graduates, for every one who has come through my music program, their parents, my administrators and the caring, supportive communities of Gray and New Gloucester. Wonderful things happen when you teach in small towns!”  ~Carol Clark

Carol Clark with her life long buddies, Loren Fields (band director Lawrence HS) and Lonnie Wescott (band & choir director Traip Academy)!

“It is such an honor to be nominated by my students and recognized on a national level. All I have ever sought to do as a music educator is bring people together, build communities through a love of music, and make the world a better place.”        ~Patrick Volker www.patrickvolker.com and we’re @redstorm_chorus on Instagram and Twitter.

Patrick Volker

“I am beyond thrilled to be nominated as a quarterfinalist for this amazing award along with so many talented music educators from all around the country!  I’m excited for my students to share in this experience with me!”  ~Tracy Williamson

Tracy Williamson

A total of 216 music teachers from 199 cities have been announced as quarterfinalists for the Music Educator Award™ presented by the Recording Academy^® and GRAMMY Museum^®. In total, nearly 2,000 initial nominations were submitted. In addition to our quarterfinalists, 91 legacy applicants from 2020 will also be eligible to win the award this year. Read the entire list of nominees.

The Music Educator Award was established to recognize current educators (kindergarten through college, public and private schools) who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the field of music education and who demonstrate a commitment to the broader cause of maintaining music education in the schools. A joint partnership and presentation of the Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum, the recipient will be recognized during GRAMMY^® Week 2021.

The award is open to current U.S. music teachers, and anyone can nominate a teacher — students, parents, friends, colleagues, community members, school deans, and administrators. Teachers are also able to nominate themselves, and nominated teachers are notified and invited to fill out an application.

Each year, one recipient is selected from 10 finalists and recognized for their remarkable impact on students’ lives. The eighth annual honoree will be flown to Los Angeles to attend the 63rd Annual GRAMMY Awards^® and a range of GRAMMY Week events. The nine additional finalists will receive a $1,000 honorarium, and the schools of all 10 finalists will receive matching grants.

Fifteen semifinalists will receive a $500 honorarium with matching school grants. The matching grants provided to the schools are made possible by the generosity and support of the GRAMMY Museum’s Education Champion Ford Motor Company Fund. In addition, the American Choral Directors Association, National Association for Music Education, NAMM Foundation, and National Education Association support this program through outreach to their constituencies.

Gray-New Gloucester High School

Zoom connection

Carol Clark, Instrumental Music Director at Gray-New Gloucester High School, recently shared a wonderful story about a zoom meeting that she arranged with someone many of you music educators may know. Below is the exciting story in Carol’s own words. Thank you Carol for sharing!

World renown composer, conductor and lecturer, Dr. Bruce Pearson, joined the Gray-New Gloucester High School Concert Band via Zoom. Although he lives in Minnesota, Dr. Pearson has had considerable impact on our students’ musical development, as many learned from his instrumental music methods. In our high school band, we typically began our class sessions with his Technique & Musicianship exercises and chorales. Now, during remote learning, they continue to work with this method at home. Dr. Pearson spent an hour talking to our students, answering questions about his life, music and the creative processes of composing and arranging. We all had a great time learning from such a kind, knowledgeable and creative teacher!

Here is a link to his website:  http://brucepearsonmusic.com/about-bruce/

From our students:

*  It was good to be able to hear Dr. Pearson’s answers to our questions. I think hearing his story and a bit of his composing process was helpful. It was also just really cool to be able to hear what he had to say, since he wrote the books that we’ve been using in band since 5th grade. Thank you.

*  I found this class interesting and informative, and I’m so glad we could do it! It was fun to hear from someone on the other side of the music we play in band, and to have some ideas and direction for approaching composing, which is something I have been interested in recently. Thank you for the opportunity!

All New England Band Festival

Gray-New Gloucester High School

Russell McCutcheon, Kelcie Brown, Morgan Brann, Dr. Mark Stickney

On November 22nd, Gray-New Gloucester High School students Morgan Brann and Kelcie Brown represented SAD15 at the All New England Band Festival, held at Plymouth State University, in Plymouth, NH.  Their band director, Carol Clark, is very proud to work with students so dedicated to their art. And being selected as among the best in New England is proof of their commitment.

Concert Band

Morgan, who plays french horn, performed in the ANEBF Symphonic Band, directed by Dr. Mark Stickney, Director of Bands at Plymouth State.  Kelcie, a bassoonist, played in the ANEBF Concert Band, under the direction of Dr. Russell McCutcheon, Director of Bands at the Sunderman Conservatory of Music at Gettysburg College, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  Congratulations to Kelcie and Morgan, who inspire the school district’s musicians to reach for the stars!

Symphonic Band

 

Conrad Hutchings

Such pride!

Carol Clark is a music teacher at Gray-New Gloucester High School. Every so often we have those moments in our careers that we are reminded of why we do what we do. Carol had one of those moments last week when a former student sent her a YouTube video. Carol’s student Conrad Hutchings played the trombone in the concert band and he sang in the chamber choir. He graduated from high school and went to USM and studied music. Conrad is presently the Music Director at the Daegu International School in South Korea. In the video below he is directing the SKAC All Conference Orchestra. In Rightfully so, Carol is very proud. And in Carol’s words: “My heart’s bursting!” A great big Congratulations Carol!