MUSIC TOGETHER TEACHERS
Sarah Boyd; Center Director/Certified Music Together® Teacher
Sarah is a certified (Level 1) Music Together teacher, holds a current Michigan Music Education teaching certificate, and has completed certification in Early Childhood Music Development through the Gordon Institute of Music Learning. Growing up, Sarah loved playing piano and teaching piano, and toured nationally in high school with a choral group. She remembers her family making music with her at a very young age, her mom playing accordion while they all cleaned the kitchen together! After teaching music at Cornerstone Schools in Detroit for 4 years and upon the arrival of her first child, Julia, Sarah pursued a career as a Music Together teacher and director. Sarah is grateful for the opportunity to bring her love of music and young children to the community, and looks forward to sharing Music Together with more and more families each year!
Hazimah Sovoda, Registered Music Together Teacher
Hazimah Sovoda is a registered Music Together teacher. She graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Music Education. While enrolled in the Music Program there, she sang in the Women’s Choir and in the University Choir. She also plays clarinet and recorder. She taught K-6 music at Warrendale Charter Academy in Detroit, and realized that her real passion was working with the younger age groups. She then found her dream job at Grosse Pointe Music Academy, where she first taught the “First Steps in Music” method, and then “Music Play”. Now, she is a registered Music Together teacher at GPMA, and is actively teaching the Music Together curriculum to very young children along with their caregivers. She is also currently working on obtaining a ZA (Early Childhood) endorsement so that she can learn even more about children 0-8 years of age, and hopes to teach preschool some day. However, her main focus will always be the Music Together program, and she plans to always teach these classes at the Grosse Pointe Music Academy.
Emily Schienke, Registered Music Together Teacher
Emily Schienke was a music therapy major and has a BMT from Eastern Michigan University where her major instrument was voice. She performed with EMU’s university choir in Carnegie Hall in NY City. She also plays guitar and some percussion instruments and played flute in grade school and high school marching band. She has worked as a music therapist for the past 8 years working with children and young adults with varying disabilities including autism, Downs Syndrome, Williams Syndrome, and other types of cognitive, speech, and motor delays. She has also taught piano lessons to typically developing children as well as children with special needs. Emily is presently doing part time music therapy work, and is a mother to 3 wonderful little girls, and is looking forward to teaching Music Together classes. Emily is a registered Music Together teacher. As Emily says in her own words, “I have experienced the enjoyment and powerful bond that music can bring to a family in my own home and in the homes of many of the children I have worked with. These experiences led me to the Music Together curriculum as a way to teach and further be involved in family music making.”
D. Giles Simmer, Registered Music Together Teacher
D. Giles Simmer is a lyric soprano based in Detroit, Michigan. She began singing growing up in Atlanta, GA and during her teen years was privileged to sing under such conductors as Paul Salamunovich, Raymond Chenault, James Oliverio and Robert Spano at multiple venues in the metro-Atlanta area. It was as a result of these opportunities that she found her true love and joy in vocal performance. Simmer earned a B.A. in Music from Hillsdale College where she was a recipient of the Howard Music Scholarship and L.A. Weichselfelder Scholarship, in addition to maintaining an active membership in Sigma Alpha Iota. She currently studies with Dr. Karen Kness at Western Michigan University, where she recently completed her M.M. in Vocal Performance. Simmer has been recognized as a semi-finalist or winner in several national competitions including the William C. Byrd Competition, the Orpheus National Music Competitions, the Opera Maya Papaya Playa Competition and NATS competitions. She has performed with Opera Grand Rapids, Arbor Opera Theatre, Comic Opera Guild, and Michigan Opera Theatre and has been a staff singer at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Detroit since 2009.
Giles is very excited to begin teaching Music Together classes, in addition to teaching voice, at Grosse Pointe Music Academy.
Leah Fox, Registered Music Together Teacher
Leah has enjoyed music for her entire life, starting piano lessons when she was four and earning her B.A. in Music from Huntington College and her M.M. in Piano Performance from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Along the way, she has enjoyed singing in choirs, playing in bands, and performing in musicals. Music is such an important part of her life that when she had her son, Elias, in November 2012, she started looking for a music activity and found Music Together. Since they began classes, she loves how much music has become a part of their everyday routine. After attending the Music Together teacher training and seeing how carefully the music is chosen and the program is planned, she is even more excited to teach this fall!
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