Session Proposals

A creative and dedicated educator, Penelope is most excited when her students are excited! She believes that middle and high school students are willing to work hard and give their best effort when they know someone truly cares about them. Students frequently say her class is the best part of their day! She combines the right combination of compassion and expectation through high standards and culture building. Her classroom is a beautiful example of enjoyable structure and commitment.

As a percussionist, Penelope holds a bachelors in music education from Central Michigan University and a masters of arts degree in counseling from Cornerstone University. Penelope currently teaches middle school band at Kirkwood Middle School in Clarksville TN. Throughout seventeen years of teaching, her bands regularly receive Superior ratings at Concert Performance Festivals and her marching percussion sections consistently place in the top three at regional competitions.

Penelope is an active clinician throughout the Midwest. She has presented on topics such as classroom management, program preparation, and percussion involvement at the state music education conferences in Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, and Kentucky as well as smaller regional professional development conferences across Kentucky and Tennessee. She has been published in the Iowa Journal for Music Education and is twice listed in Who’s Who among American Teachers.

This interactive session is designed for non-percussionist band directors. We get it, we’re the percussion section and we’re weird. And you don’t always know what to do with us! That’s ok, we are pretty good at entertaining ourselves!!!

In this session, we’ll look at the notation and practice of different types of rolls and rudiments common to grade 1-4 music. Bring your drumsticks and a practice pad if you have one. I’ll bring a few. We’ll analyze the notation, figure out what each symbol is called and practice performing them. Specifically looking at rolls, flams, drags, and ruffs. We’ll branch out as able based on the participants.

• Band - Middle School
• Band - Secondary
• Mentorship/Beginning Teachers