42. Building rapport and fostering positive relationships with students. Interviews with Lisa Loucks, Stephan Labelle, Katie VanDenBerghe, and Jami Kleinert.

The Orchestra Teacher Podcast

42. Building rapport and fostering positive relationships with students. Interviews with Lisa Loucks, Stephan Labelle, Katie VanDenBerghe, and Jami Kleinert. These teachers share their unique experiences and strategies for building rapport and positive relationships with students that allow for higher quality teaching, student engagement, and a stronger sense of community.

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Lisa (Hopko) Loucks is in her twenty-fifth year as Orchestra Director in Orange County Public Schools Her orchestras have consistently earned superior ratings in the Florida Orchestra Association Music Performance Assessments, and have performed in Atlanta, Chicago, and New York. Originally from Chicago, Lisa grew up on the west coast of the florida and is a graduate Manatee High School under the direction of Jim Palmer. She then earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from UCF, where her teachers included John Whitney, Lee Eubank, and Dr. Ayako Yonetani. She has served as FOA 7-8 All State Orchestra Chair, District Chair for Orange County, and is a certified adjudicator of Music Performance Assessments. She had the honor of conducting All-County Orchestras throughout the state, and has served on the Board of Directors for the Florida Symphony Youth Orchestra. She has been a summer faculty member for both the Florida West Coast Symphony and UCF String Workshop. She has also been an adjunct professor at Stetson University, as instructor of their Secondary String Methods course.

Stephan Labelle is the Orchestra and Guitar Director at Wekiva High School in the Orange County Public Schools in Central Florida. Stephan holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from the University of Delaware. He has directed orchestra, guitar, and keyboard programs in the Cranford Public Schools and Rahway Public Schools in NJ. He has performed as a soloist as well as with various ensembles such as the Blue Hen String Quartet and the Lieto String Quartet in Pennsylvania as well as many outside organizations. He also teaches privately throughout Orange County.

Katie VanDenBerghe is in her eleventh year as a music teacher. She is the Orchestra Director at Patriot High School in Prince William County, Virginia. Previously she taught middle and high school orchestra at Courtland High School and Thornburg Middle School in Spotsylvania County. Her orchestra ensembles have consistently earned Superior ratings at VBODA (Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors’ Association) District Orchestra Assessment. She also has six years of Elementary General Music experience. Ms. VanDenBerghe holds a graduate degree from Liberty University (Lynchburg, VA) and a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from the College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Music Education at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. Her major instrument is the flute, and she plays piccolo for the Fredericksburg Symphony Orchestra. She previously performed with the Rappahannock Pops Orchestra, the University of Mary Washington Philharmonic, and the Old Bridge Chamber Orchestra. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, kayaking, traveling, reading, cooking, and hanging out with her Siberian Husky, Arrow.

Jami Kleinert is in her 12th year of teaching orchestra and her third year teaching 4th-12th grade strings in Flushing, Michigan. She also coaches youth orchestra string sectionals in the Flint area. She has previously taught strings in both Kansas and Pennsylvania. Jami lives in metro Detroit where she also performs with several local groups on violin and viola.

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