Wvmea clinicians 2016 Brian Baldauff

Mike Christiansen is Professor Emeritus in the Music Department at Utah State University. Mike founded the guitar program at USU, and was Director of Guitar Studies at USU for 39 years. Mike received the ASTA (American String Teachers Association) Utah Chapter Outstanding Collegiate Educator of the Year Award in 2006. In December of 2012, Mike was selected as one of the U.S. Carnegie Professors of the Year, and was also selected as the USU Caine College of the Arts Professor of the Year. Mike is a renowned guitar educator and has taught workshops at many schools, and is a frequent clinician for guitarists and educators at across the globe.

Shelby Clark is currently in her fourth year teaching strings at the elementary, middle, and high school level in Marshall County, WV. She holds a B.M. in Music Education from Grove City College and is working to complete the Master of Music in Music Education degree from Anderson University. She also has earned a Level I Certificate in World Music Drumming. Ms. Clark is serving her first term as the WVMEA Orchestra President and also chairs the WVMEA Middle School Orchestra which made its debut at the West Virginia Music Educators Conference 2015.

Giovanna Cruz, MakeMusic Education Services Specialist is a cellist and educator with extensive experience as an orchestral and chamber musician, college and private studio teacher, and public school teacher. Giovanna was the Orchestra Director at James Bowie High School in the Austin Independent School District from 2007 to 2014, where she taught more than 120 students annually in four orchestras. Her varsity group earned sweepstakes at UIL Concert and Sight-Reading contest in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014 and performed in festivals across the country, namely in Corpus Christi and Richmond, VA. Her other groups earned excellent ratings at the same competitions. She was and continues to be a champion of SmartMusic and fully implemented the use of the software with all of her students. Giovanna holds the degrees of Bachelor of Education from the Universidad Metropolitana in Caracas, Venezuela, and Master and Doctor of Musical Arts in cello performance from the University of Iowa. Since joining MakeMusic in July of 2014, Giovanna has presented SmartMusic clinics and training workshops in Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin. She also had an article published in the 2015 January issue of the SBO magazine titled “Technology Tools to Help Orchestra Students Develop Critical Thinking Skills.”