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Copyright © 2008

Arkansas Center for Music Education

All rights reserved.

Revised: November 13, 2011

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.

 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.

Our Instructors

Shirley Faulkner (see bio under "About the Board of Directors" below) - teaches the home school elementary and general music classes, beginning and concert bands, beginning orchestra, the contract schools.

Dr. Brian K. Faulkner 

Dr. Faulkner teaches the Pre-K music class and assists with concert orchestra.

Sarah Nelson

Ms. Sarah teaches the intermediate band and assists with other bands as needed.

Scott Arnold

Mr. Scott teaches and conducts the community children's choir.

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 perform with and lead 5thHouseOnTheLeft (formerly 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 have another grandson, Jaxx, who resides with them..  
          Shirley currently teaches all classes for ACME except the Pre-K music and intermediate orchestra.

President

Cynthia Callahan 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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