About ACME
Arkansas Center for Music Education is a 501(c)3 tax deductible, non-profit organization whose
goal is to provide affordable music education opportunities to the
community. We do this by offering elementary and general music
classes to home school students, performing ensembles - band, orchestra -
to home school students, private school students, public school students,
and even adults who missed that chance earlier in life. We also
contract with private schools without a regular music program and have
even contracted with public schools to provide music classes for special
needs students.
We require our
instructors to have at least a bachelor of music or music education degree
from an accredited university
or by persons with no
less than five years experience working or teaching, privately or
publicly, in the field of music, whether degreed or life experience.
We do this to provide the highest quality education for our students and
our community.
Our vision is to
continually expand into the many facets of music, reaching those that may
be left behind in a traditional classroom setting. We desire to take
our students out of the classroom and into the community to share what
they have learned. While we need our communities to support us, we
feel it only fair to give back to those communities by providing
performance groups for community events or other community organizations.
About the Board of Directors
Founder/Director
Shirley
Faulkner graduated in 2003 from Arkansas Tech University with a bachelor
of music education degree. While at Tech, she studied voice under Maestro
Louis Welcher and choral conducting under Gary Morris. She assumed the
position of director of The Community Festival Chorale, the official
community choir of the River Valley, from Maestro Welcher in the fall of
2005.
Shirley and her husband,
Brian, own and operate Makin’ Music, Inc., a for-profit music education
and service company providing music classes to preschool children in child
care facilities. She and Brian also co-direct Common Ground, a group of
musicians and singers from around the River Valley performing for
community events.
Shirley belongs to these
music and arts organizations: MENC (now known as National Associate of
Music Educators); Technology Institute for Music Educators (TI:ME);
American Choral Director’s Association; and Chorus America.
Shirley and Brian are
parents to three adult children - Brandon, Haley, & Whitney - and have one
gorgeous granddaughter, Morgan, and a handsome grandson, Peyton. They
also are parents to Carmen, the Old English Sheepdog, and Frankie, the
unknown.
Shirley currently teaches
all classes for ACME except the Pre-K music and intermediate orchestra.
President
Cynthia Henderson is the mother of four. She home
schooled for 12 years, but now her youngest two, Jason and Alina, attend
private school. She teaches Physics at Russellville High School and
especially enjoys teaching the physics of sound and music. She plays the
piano, penny whistle and guitar.
4-H has been a big part
of her life for the past 8 years. She is currently assistant leader for
the Atkins 4-H Club, Wildlife Investigators Club and an Adult Volunteer
for the State Technology Team and Pope County Stream Team. Her favorite
hobby is Contra Dancing - dancing, calling and teaching dance.
Vice President
Carol Grimmer is very
happy to be on the ACME Board. She graduated from Northern Illinois
University with a Bachelor of Science in Music Education and taught K-12
music for 35 years before retiring a couple of years ago. Music has
been a part of life for as far as she can remember. Playing
flute/piccolo in Illinois, Iowa, and Arkansas bands and orchestras has
been a great way to see the USA and Europe.
Carol taught band 35
years, orchestra 2 years, K-8 elementary and general music 20 years, and
7-12 choir 4 years. Now retired, she enjoys sewing, baking,
gardening, and volunteering for various church and community
organizations.
Secretary
Casey
Buck, cellist, is both an avid performer and music educator. He studied
cello with Allen Nisbet at Loyola University New Orleans, earning both his
Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music Performance degrees.
Mr. Buck performs
primarily with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra in Little Rock, where he is
entering his third season as a section cellist. He has also had the
opportunity to play in masterclasses for world-renowned cellists Lynn
Harrell and Maria Kliegel, and has given solo and chamber music recitals
both in Louisiana and in Arkansas.
As a music educator, he
teaches orchestra with Conway Public Schools, with string students in
grades six through twelve, and maintains a private cello studio both in
Conway and Russellville. He also serves on the faculty of Arkansas Tech
University, where he is the instructor of the string methods class and
applied string lessons. Additionally, the 2008-2009 season was his first
year as the director of the Preparatory Orchestra, an educational outreach
of the Arkansas Symphony serving first- and second-year string players
from all over central Arkansas.
Mr. Buck resides in
Conway with his wife, Kristina Rose Buck (a classically-trained
mezzo-soprano) and their dog, a West Highland White Terrier named Brady.
Ashlea Spencer
and her husband Al have 2 children Jennah 8, and Jadon 6. She has been
home schooling them for 2 years now. She joined the ACME orchestra last
year and is enjoying learning to play the violin with her daughter. Their
family enjoys outings like biking, boating, fishing and camping.
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