Music, Strings, Orchestra & Band

Meaningful Study & Joyful Music-Making

We consider music the art of thinking with sound and as vital a subject as mathematics.

Music faculty at Black Pine Circle are all conservatory-level musicians dedicated to their own music making in folk, jazz/funk, baroque, classical, and musical theater. Our repertoire is culturally diverse and is often linked to subjects that the students are studying in their classrooms.

We offer a music education that employs a range of teaching methods including those drawn from Kodály and Orff pedagogies.

Kindergarten - Grade 3 Find the joy in making music together
Grades 4 & 5 Build a strong foundation in musical concepts
Grade 6 - 8 Bring forth the music that lives in every student
Lower School Music Performance

Singing

All students develop rhythm and coordination through singing games, chants, body movement, and percussion. All classes (K-8) perform choral repertoire for school music events including Generations Day, the Winter Concerts, and the Spring Concert.

Lower School Orff Class

Musical Instruments

Over the course of a K-8 education at Black Pine Circle, every child experiences many instruments in a thoughtful progression: voice, Orff percussion instruments, violin or cello, xylophone and recorder, piano, ukulele, and guitar.

Music Ensembles

Many students join one of the extra-curricular musical ensembles, which meet before or after the school day.

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Music Faculty

Cheryl Sumsion

Fourth-Sixth Grade Music Teacher

Tamed a mechanical bull in Nashville, Tennessee.

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Dina Weinshelbaum

Dina Weinshelbaum

First-Third Grade Cello Teacher

Toured with the Western Opera Theater for eight years

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Jerry Kennedy

Jerry Kennedy

Seventh and Eighth Grade Music Teacher, Band Director

Performed music in South Africa during the end of legal apartheid.

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Owen Roberts

Kindergarten-Third Grade Music Teacher

Was a college volleyball coach

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Rachel Durling

Rachel Durling

First-Third Grade Violin Teacher

Played at the Grammys

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Rem Djemilev

BPC String Orchestra Leader

Creates musical arrangements for fun

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