Where am I?
The Directors
Patrick Jackson
Director
314-213-6100 ext. 7256
patrick.jackson@kirkwoodschools.org
Jackson’s instructional leadership and commitment to music education is legendary in the Kirkwood district. This past fall, Jackson, now 51, was the recipient of the Missouri American String Teachers Association's “Secondary String Educator of the Year” award. He’s been honored in Who’s Who Among America’s High School Teachers -- not once, but 17 times by former students. The Kirkwood School District honored him as the 2003-04 Teacher of the Year. Jackson was also the 2003 Emerson “Excellence in Teaching” award winner and was recognized the following year by The St. Louis American as one of its “Excellence in Education” honorees. His orchestra has won local and national acclaim for the past 19 years. Prior to his joining the Kirkwood School District, Jackson taught in the Normandy School District and in St. Louis Public Schools.
Jackson’s former students have won first prize in prestigious string competitions including the Avery Fisher Prize, the Sphinx Competition, Banff International Chamber Music Competition, and the Young Concert Artist Guild. Jackson’s students have also attended top music schools nationwide, including The Julliard School, Eastman School of Music, Yale School of Music, New England Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and the Shepard School of Music at Rice University.
A native of McComb, Mississippi, Jackson received his B.M.E. from Jackson State University and his M.M. in Double Bass performance from the St. Louis Conservatory of Music.
He continues a steadfast family tradition of stringed instrument performance that spans more than five generations. Introduced to music as a toddler by his grandfather, Willie Jackson, Jackson toured the back roads of Mississippi in his three-member blues band from age 11 to 16. He switched to classical music during college. Jackson's daughter, Patrice, is a graduate of Yale School of Music and Julliard School and has performed around the world.
Currently, Jackson serves on the MSHSAA advisory committee for music. He is a member of the American String Teachers Association, M.M.E.A., M.E.N.C. and he is a past Vice-President of High School Orchestra for the St. Louis All-Suburban Music Educators Association.
Kelly Judge
Director
314-213-6100 ext.8220
kelly.judge@kirkwoodschools.org
Kelly Judge is a product of the Kirkwood School District's instrumental music program. She began playing the violin in fourth grade and continued her studies with Patrick Jackson at Kirkwood High School. Judge received her Bachelor's Degree in Music Education from Butler University where she studied with Dr. Lisa Brooks. She is currently studying for her Master's Degree in Music Education at Webster University.
Upon graduation from Butler University, Judge returned to Kirkwood to teach in the Kirkwood School District. She directs the fifth grade orchestra in the elementary music program, the Nipher Middle School orchestras, and the Concert Orchestra at Kirkwood High School.
Judge is a member of the National Association for Music Education (MENC) and the Missouri American String Teachers Association (MOASTA).
Joseph Kaminsky
Assistant - Beginning Strings (4th grade)
Joseph Kaminsky has been teaching violin for 30 years. He is a frequent clinician and has taught at over 175 Suzuki workshops and institutes in 29 states. He received his training studying with John Kendall, Roland Amita Vamos, and Shinichi Suzuki. A registered Suzuki teacher trainer since 1984, Kaminsky taught at the 2004 Suzuki National Conference, the 1999 Suzuki World Conference in Japan, and the 2006 International String Conference in Singapore. Currently he is on the music faculty of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Webster University, the Kirkwood School District, and he is founder/director of the Kirkwood Academy of Music. His studio produces some of the more accomplished high school violinists in Missouri and include the 2004 and 2005 concertmasters of the Missouri All-State High School Orchestra. Kaminsky was named MoASTA “Private Teacher of the Year” in 2000. He also is a frequent contributor to the American Suzuki Journal and has also developed a series of pedagogical items sold by the SAA on their website.
JoEllen Lyons
Assistant - 5th Grade Orchestra
Originally from the Kansas City area, JoEllen Lyons received a degree in Music Performance and continued her studies at the California School of Music. After moving to St. Louis, she performed with groups such as the Laclede Quartet, Bach Society, Masterworks Chorale, the St. Louis String Trio and Quartet, and in venues like the Fox and Muny. Lyons has served as an adjunct faculty member at UMSL, Lindenwood College, and the St. Louis Conservatory. She currently teaches privately in South County and assists with the before school string program at the Kirkwood School District. The rest of her time is devoted to her husband and two sons.
Ann Hirschl
Assistant – Beginning Strings (4th Grade)
Ann Hirschl grew up in a musical family
in Washington, Missouri and began violin lessons at the age of ten.
Her first teachers were the late John and Gladys Lang of St. Louis.
She continued lessons with Silvian Iticoveci, Associate Concertmaster
of the St. Louis Symphony.
Ann then went to New York to study with famed violin pedagogue, Dorothy Delay at the Pre-college division of the Juilliard School during her last two years of high school. She completed her final two years of high school at the Masters School in Dobbis Ferry, New York during this time. Ann earned her Bachelor’s degree from Juilliard in 1989, followed by a Master’s degree in Violin Performance from Southern Methodist University in 1991.
While living in Dallas, Ann played often with the Dallas Symphony and the Fort Worth Symphony, and was Associate Concertmaster of the Dallas Opera Orchestra. In 1995, Ann returned to St. Louis to play with the St. Louis Symphony, where she now plays primarily as a substitute. She is also a frequent performer at the Fox Theater and plays for the Bach Society of St. Louis.
She is a member of the St. Louis Chamber Orchestra, the Rosewood Quartet, and plays in a piano trio with her brother, Richard (a cellist with the Chicago Symphony) and pianist, Jennifer Judd. They recently played the Beethoven Triple Concerto with the University City Orchestra and also performed at “A Taste for the Arts” in Hermann, Missouri.
Ann teaches privately in her home in Kirkwood, Missouri and also in the Kirkwood elementary schools.