Meet the Mile 4 Music Education Team!

Music Education has been an important component of Mile of Music since the festival’s inception. Thanks to Lawrence University and The Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region, the Music Education Team (MET) will host more than 55 interactive and educational events at Mile 4 with everything from songwriting workshops to Brazilian Samba.

Meet the folks behind this year’s Music Education Team! Full bios available here.

Leila Ramagopal Pertl- Music Education Team Curator
Leila Ramagopal Pertl is the Music Education Curator of the Mile of Music Festival. She created the innovative Music curriculum at Next Generation School in Champaign, IL and Appleton Public Montessori, where music is treated as a core subject. Leila holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Appleton, Wisconsin, a Master of Science degree in Music Education from the University of Illinois.

Brian Pertl
Brian Pertl is the Dean of the Lawrence Conservatory, ethnomusicologist, didjeridu player, and member of the Mile of Music Education Team. Before stepping into the deanship of the Lawrence Conservatory, Brian led the Media Acquisitions team at Microsoft in Seattle. At Lawrence he has launched the 21st Century Musicianship Initiative which gives aspiring musicians classical music training integrated with creative, collaborative, and entrepreneurial skills needed to create fulfilling musical lives.

Eli Grover
Eli Grover teaches band and general music in the Appleton Area School District at Einstein Middle School and Classical Charter School.  He graduated from Lawrence University in 2012 with a Bachelor of Music degree in Instrumental and General Music Education. He recently received the Wisconsin Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (WACTE) Early Career Educator Award from the Lawrence University Teacher Education Program.

Jaclyn Kottman
Jaclyn originally hails from Atlanta, GA but is now proud to be part of the Appleton community as a teacher with the Appleton Area School District and the Lawrence Academy of Music’s Girl Choir program. She is a graduate of Lawrence University and has also taught in Costa Rica and New Zealand.

Becca Shumann
Becca Shuman graduated from Lawrence University in 2015 with degrees in music education and trumpet performance. Becca performs with groups such as the Oshkosh Symphony, the Lawrence University bands, and various chamber groups in the Fox Valley. Last summer, she interned with Carnegie Hall’s community and education programs. She starts as the director of bands for the Coleman School District in northern Wisconsin this fall.

Marshall Yoes
Marshall Yoes is a trumpet player and composer originally from Gilbert, AZ who has been performing in some capacity for the past eight years. He is currently focusing on his composing and preparing to apply for graduate school, while still playing with the locally infamous nerd- funk band Porky’s Groove Machine!

Mile of Music 3 in Appleton, Wis. August of 2015. Photo by Graham Washatka – www.grahamimages.net

Adam Korber
Adam Korber from Arlington Heights, IL is a senior at Lawrence University majoring in music education and cello performance. This summer, he will have the privilege to work with Yo-Yo Ma and the musicians of The Silk Road Ensemble at the Global Musician Workshop.  He will also attend InterHarmony Music Festival in Arcidosso, Italy.  Adam teaches cello at the Lawrence University Academy of Music and in the Chicago area.

Nestor Dominguez
Nestor Dominguez, Jr is an energetic, young-hearted music educator born in Guerrero, Mexico. He is an alumnus of Chicago Public Schools, Merit School of Music and Lawrence University. While at Lawrence, he studied instrumental and general music education and trumpet performance. In 2013, Mr. Dominguez traveled to Sierra Leone, West Africa to volunteer as a music teacher. Upon graduation, he returned to Chicago to teach music at Northwest Middle School where all students are enrolled in general music courses.

Melissa Fields
Melissa Fields is an elementary general music teacher at Hoover, Taft and Clayton elementary schools in Neenah, WI. She received her bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the University of Iowa and her master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from National Louis University. Melissa is also a member of newVoices vocal ensemble.

Sarah Phelps
Sarah Phelps was inspired to be a music therapist in 8th grade when Phelps, along with her choir teacher, started a program pairing regular education students with special education students in a hands-on music class. Phelps now teaches K-6th grade music in the Appleton Area School District. She serves as the alto section leader for newVoices choir.

Kennison Ther
Kennison Ther is from Lake Zurich, IL. He is a graduate from Lawrence University and studied Music Education. His primary instrument is percussion and was a part of LUPE (Lawrence University Percussion Ensemble) and was one of the student directors that created and lead LUPE’s 2014 PASIC (Percussive Arts Society International Conference) performance. He is student teaching in the Appleton area this fall.

Joseph Connor
Joe Connor is a 2016 graduate of Lawrence University in instrumental music education and saxophone performance. Joe has performed with the Lawrence, Fox Valley, Oshkosh, and La Crosse symphony orchestras, as well as many more! In 2014, Joe founded Slipstream, a new music ensemble which collaborates with young composers. Joe has privately taught students of all ages in the Appleton and Madison areas and been a part of Lawrence’s Music for All program.

Mile of Music 3 in Appleton, Wis. August of 2015. Photo by Graham Washatka – www.grahamimages.net

Chris Misch
Currently residing in both the Midwest and New York music scenes, Chris is a young and aspiring trombonist, composer and educator. He recently graduated with a Masters in Music from NYU where he worked closely with prominent artists and educators. Misch attended Lawrence University for his undergraduate degree in Trombone Performance.

Sean Goldman
Sean Goldman is an upcoming junior at Lawrence University from Milwaukee, WI.  While pursuing his Bachelor of Music degree in Percussion performance, Sean enjoys performing with the various world music and classical music ensembles Lawrence has to offer.

Dan Reifsteck
After graduating from Lawrence University with a Bachelor’s degree in Percussion Performance in 2015, Dan started the Lawrence Academy Drumming Ensemble for middle and high school percussionists. He also gives private percussion lessons through the Academy of Music. Dan stays busy as a soloist and chamber musician. He was featured as a soloist with the Lawrence University Percussion Ensemble (LUPE) in March.  He is a co-founder of the new music ensemble, Slipstream.

Dr. Matthew Ramón Arau
Dr. Matthew Ramón Arau is an Assistant Professor of Music and the Chair of Music of Education and Associate Director of Bands at Lawrence University. Previously, Arau taught middle school and high school band in Loveland, Colorado where his concert bands, jazz bands, and marching bands received national critical acclaim. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Performance, Music Performance with an emphasis in jazz studies, and Music Education and a Bachelor of Arts in Government from Lawrence University, a Master of Science degree in Music Education from Southern Oregon University (American Band College), and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Instrumental Conducting and Literature from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Ella Heiks
Ella Heiks recently graduated from Appleton Public Montessori, and she will be a 7th grader at Einstein Middle School in Appleton, WI.  She plays cello, ukulele, the spoons, and participates in the Lawrence Academy Girl Choir.  She loves jammin’ with her friends and family, and teaching campfire songs.

Phynix Beringer
Phynix Beringer recently graduated from Appleton Public Montessori, and will be a 7th grader at Valley New School in Appleton, WI. He plays the violin, ukulele, various percussion instruments and sings in a youth choir. He loves all things music and finds and can frequently be found jamming out a rhythm on anything he can find. He has been so inspired by Mile of Music for the past three years and is thrilled to join the education team for Mile 4.