Best of State Spanish Fork Junior & High School Orchestras

Submitted by lana.hiskey on

Angela Harman teaches orchestra at Spanish Fork Junior High (SFJHS) and Spanish  Fork High School (SFHS) in Spanish Fork, UT, where she has helped the orchestra program grow by over 440% since 2012. Under the direction of Angela, the Spanish Fork Junior High school orchestra has excelled at festivals.  Her advanced orchestra was been selected to perform at the State Orchestra Festival in 2016 and 2017. Each of her groups consistently receive Superior ratings.

Because the SFJHS program has grown so much, there is constantly a need for additional school instruments.  SFJHS has been fortunate to receive grants from the Nebo Education Association and the Classics For Kids Foundation to help purchase violas and cellos for students to rent from the school. 

Angela is passionate about music education and is the founder of www.orchestraclassroom.com, where she posts ideas and methods that she uses in her classroom. Her blog is well known in the string teacher world and many find inspiration in her articles. Through the website she runs a profitable online store where teachers can purchase downloads of Angela’s books, music, and logos. Her recent popular books, “Be An Amazing Note-Reader” and “The True Beginning: Before the Method Book” are just a few of her creations offered through her website to countless teachers and orchestra programs worldwide. 

Angela frequently seeks out special opportunities for her students. In 2015, her program was selected for ‘The World We All Deserve Through Music’ where renowned ‘Time for Three’ bassist, Ranaan Meyer composed a piece for the Spanish Fork Orchestra and visited in person to do a workshop with students. The Spanish Fork Junior High orchestra won the Give A Note Foundation/Radio Disney ‘ Music In Our Schools’ tour in 2016 which included an Ardy and a grant. Representatives from the Disney Channel visited Angela’s classroom and filmed a one minute commercial promoting music education which aired on the Disney channel in the Summer of 2016. 

Angela was recognized by the Utah Music Educators association in 2017 with the Superior Accomplishment Award. She is currently serving as the UMEA Junior High Orchestra Vice President elect.

Angela frequently shares her ideas with colleagues by presenting at professional development conferences.  She presented sessions at the NAfME National Conference in 2015, 2016, and 2017 and the Utah Music Educator’s convention in 2017.  She has been featured several times in NAfME's 'Music in a Minuet' blog and 'Teaching Music' magazine. She has had articles published in the UMEA Journal. SmartMusic blog, and GradeCam blog.

Attributions
By Lana Hiskey