Band - Daniel Kopcha
Retired music teacher from New Jersey
Private studio musician
Drill writer and clinician
Teaching Experience – 43 years
Taught grades 3-8 for 10 years
Taught grades 9-12 for 37 years
Taught concert, jazz, and marching band
Taught general music and music appreciation
Worked on academic and curriculum development
Judging Experience – 30 years
Served as an adjudicator and clinician throught the United States
Currently a music judge for the National Judges Association
Military Experience
Musician in the 5th Division Band, Fort Carson, Colorado
Musican in the 199th Army Band
Primary Instrument – Clarinet
Secondary Instruments – All woodwinds
Degrees: B.A. Music Education, M.A. Music Performance
Music Supervision Certification
General Music – Eileen Benedict
Eileen Benedict is currently the classroom music specialist and choral director at the Edith L. Slocum elementary school in the Connetquot district. In her 31 years in the district, she has taught not only elementary music, but also junior high chorus, high school women’s choir, vocal lessons and music theory. In addition, Mrs. Benedict was vocal director for four junior high musicals and five high school musical theater productions. She was a frequent conductor for district-wide chorus and recorder ensembles.
Mrs. Benedict received her Bachelors degree in Music Education from Dowling College and her M.S. from L.I.U. C.W. Post campus. She has presented “Music is Fun” singing and movement workshops for pre-school through age 10 in many public libraries and has conducted “American Folk Songs” and “ Broadway” for intermediate age students. Mr. and Mrs. Benedict also directed the Longwood Library summer family chorus for several years. They were musical directors for the spring productions at McGann-Mercy High School in Riverhead for 10 years. Mrs. Benedict conducted SCMEA Division I in 2000 and in 2006. She has also been honored to have conducted the North Fork festival in 2001 and the Hamptons MEA middle school festival in 2007. Summer, 2006 and 2007 found Mrs. Benedict conducting the Discovery Chorus and the Junior Chorus at USDAN Center for the Performing Arts, including a presentation of the concert version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, and Bye, Bye Birdie as the finales for the summer seasons.
Eileen Benedict has been a vocal director and performer for many Creative Ministries’ productions, most notably, the Lenten prayer, “Journey, Cross and Crucifixion. She and her husband are soloists, leaders of song, accompanists, and children’s choir directors at Infant Jesus Church in Port Jefferson.
Mrs. Benedict is a member of SCMEA, NYSSMA, ACDA and MENC and is a certified NYSSMA judge.
Chorus – Susan Young
Specialist in elementary and middle school choral and general music. Conducting studies with John Paynter, William Ballard, David B. Larsen, Fred Waring, Tom Hilbish, and Jack Boyd, among others. Piano studies with Wanda Paul, Bruno Glade, and William Browning. Currently Choirmaster of the Evanston Symphony Festival Chorus, Founder and Director "Y'All Come Choir" Northbrook, IL. Recipient of the Mary E. Hoffman Award for Excellence in music teaching from IMEA. Former member of ISBE Fine Arts Advisory Panel and Advisory Committee on Professional Standards. Guest lecturer in Middle School Choral Methods at Roosevelt University and North Park University. Member of MENC, IMEA, and ACDA; many "Who's Who" inclusions. NCESC Award for Innovative use of Technology in the classroom. Over 30 years exemplary teaching experience in Middle School Music Education (Choral/Vocal).
Orchestra – Joyce Prichard
Mrs. Prichard has been a member of the music faculty at Villa Maria Academy High School in Malvern, Pennsylvania since 1989, and was named their Director of Music and Fine Arts Chair in 1995. She conducts the String Ensemble and Orchestra, and teaches Violin and Viola in addition to her administrative duties overseeing 11 music teachers, 2 art teachers, and scheduling private music instruction for over a quarter of the school. Mrs. Prichard previously held the position of Orchestra Director and String Coordinator in the Haverford Township School District, Havertown, Pennsylvania where she served as Conductor of their District-wide Elementary Orchestra, Junior High Orchestra, and High School Orchestra. She is currently a member of the Fine Arts Curriculum Committee for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and has served as clinician for string workshops held by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for the past two years at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.
An honorary life member of the Tri-M Music Honor Society since 1990, Mrs. Prichard now sponsors a Tri-M Chapter which has won numerous state and national awards presented by MENC. She has served as a guest conductor for the Berks County Pennsylvania Honors Orchestra, the Music Coterie of Wayne, and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s All-Catholic Orchestra performing as part of the National Catholic Educators Association Conference. She has been invited to guest conduct the East Stroudsburg University/Community Orchestra in 2008. While teaching in the Haverford School District, her high school orchestra consistently had the most student representatives at the District, Region and State level. Her high school orchestra at Villa Maria Academy consistently has the most representatives in the Philadelphia All-Catholic Orchestra. Mrs. Prichard believes that musical experiences for her students outside of their school setting are extremely beneficial – particularly those requiring auditions for membership.
Mrs. Prichard holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Ithaca College and a Master of Music degree from West Chester University with continuing education in both music education and conducting from Villanova University, University of the Arts (Philadelphia), and Bucknell University. She is co-principal of the second violin section in the Main Line Symphony Orchestra, where she also serves as Vice President of their Board of Directors, a member of the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, the National Catholic Educators Association, the National Catholic Band Directors Association, and the American String Teachers Association. Her biography has been published numerous times in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, Who’s Who in American Education, Who’s Who Among American Women, and Who’s Who in America.
Mariachi - Katherine "Kitty" Lopez
Kitty Lopez, musical director of Mariachi Corazón de Phoenix and faculty associate in the Mariachi Program at Arizona State University, has performed mariachi music for over 20 years. Ms. Lopez teaches mariachi at ASU, works with students as an artist-in-residence through the Arizona Commission on the Arts with MCdP and at mariachi conferences in San Jose, California and LCIMC as a flute and violin instructor. In May 2008 Kitty and Dr Richard Haefer of ASU taught a course at the Escuela Nacional de Música (UNAM) in Mexico City on the formal integration of mariachi music in the school curriculum of the US which culminated in the premier performance by Mariachi Pumas. She currently is engaged in research on the Garibaldi Plaza mariachis and flutists who performed in historical mariachi recordings. For Kitty, mariachi is her passion!
Jazz - Dean Sorenson
Dean Sorenson (b. 1963) is the Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Minnesota as well as a prolific and highly sought-after composer, arranger, trombonist, educator, and clinician. He received his bachelor’s degree in trombone performance from the University of Minnesota and his master’s degree in jazz arranging and composition from the Eastman School of Music.
Mr. Sorenson is the co-author of the highly successful STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE JAZZ ENSEMBLE METHOD, an innovative and comprehensive method book for young jazz ensembles. The highly anticipated follow-up book, THE STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE ADVANCED JAZZ ENSEMBLE METHOD, was released to rave reviews and continues the solid, practical techniques introduced in the first book. He is also the author of STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE JAZZ COMBO SESSION, and composer of numerous pieces for concert band and jazz ensemble published by the Neil A. Kjos Music Company. As an advocate of jazz education and the expansion of the repertoire, he continues to develop creative materials and methods to help students and teachers better understand the art form. An outstanding clinician, conductor, and soloist, he is frequently featured at festivals and conventions around the country and abroad. He also maintains a full schedule of concert and recording dates as a Yamaha performing artist.
Mr. Sorenson has composed and arranged for numerous ensembles including the Glenn Miller Orchestra, the Airmen of Note, the United States Air Force Band, and for brass ensembles Proteus 7 and the Chestnut Brass Company. He is active as a commissioned composer and arranger for jazz ensemble, concert band, and chamber ensembles, and has also written several sacred choral pieces. For more information please visit www.deansorensonmusic.com.
Guitar – Shelley Brobst