Ms. White has started over 1000 children in their musical beginnings.
Ms. White has enjoyed presenting preschool music workshops and other programs
in the community including "Father Bach Meets Kids" pipe organ
program, Week of the Young Child Festival, and Rockingham
Memorial Hospital's Child Care Connection Classes. She is a frequent
preschool teacher trainer for the development of preschool music curriculum.
Ms. White is a regular guest lecturer at James Madison University music
education classes and mentors college students as they participate,
student teach, and learn about young children's music and pedagogy.
Ms. White began the Young Artists Music Studio (formerly Shenandoah
Kindermusik) in 1989 and has taught infants through age seven for 23 years.
She is the originator of the young children's music program at Eastern
Mennonite University (1991-1996).
Ms. White holds a Bachelor of Music (DePauw Univ, Greencastle, IN) and
Master of Music degree (Westminster Choir College, Princeton, NJ), is
certified and licensed in Kindermusik and Musikgarten, and holds Level I
certification in Kodaly. She is a member of the American Choral
Directors Association. In addition to her active teaching load, Ms. White
has been a frequent guest director and lecturer at festivals and universities
in Virginia, Connecticut, Washington, DC, Oklahoma, Alabama, Mississippi, and
Texas and has directed All-State Choirs in West Virginia
('02), Mississippi ('03), Florida ('04) and Wisconsin ('06).
In 2008 Ms. White directed the Children's Honor Choir for the American
Choral Directors Association Western Division in Anaheim, CA and the
National Children's Choir for the Organization of Kodaly Educators in
Denver, Colorado. She received Governor's School awards
in Richmond in 1998 and 2000, and received the Distinguished
Artist-in-Residence title at Eastern Mennonite University in 2003.
Shenandoah Valley Children's Choir, Harrisonburg, Virginia
Ms. White just celebrated her twentieth year as founder and
Artistic Director of the Shenandoah Valley Children's Choir (SVCC) of
Harrisonburg, Virginia, a position that she recently resigned. Under her
direction, the SVCC included nearly one hundred,
fifty children ages 6-17
in two classes and three auditioned choirs. Under her direction, the choir
performed at Invitational
performances include the American Choral Directors Association
Southern Division conferences ('00, '02, '06, '12), the Virginia Music
Educators Association conferences ('96, '98, '04, '08), and at the
Organization of American Kodaly Educators National
Conference ('01 as headline choir, '09). Collaborations included six
performances with the American Boychoir, four with The Washington Symphonic
Brass Quintet ('03, '06, '09, '11),
and with the James Madison University Percussion Ensemble ('11).
The SVCC has sung at the White House ('99 and '11), and was the invited choir
for the Pageant of Peace National Tree Lighting Ceremony in Washington D.C.
with Placido Domingo and the National Coast Guard Band ('97).
The SVCC has sung at the Carnegie Hall Children's Choir Festival
('98, '07, '12), the Tuscany International Children's Choir Festival ('01)
in Italy, and the Pacific Rim Children's Chorus Festival ('05, '09) in
Hawaii. They performed for the Mahatma Gandhi Center for Global
Nonviolence Awards Ceremony at James Madison University for Archbishop
Desmond Tutu ('07) and former President Jimmy Carter ('09).
