Education profiles NY

Sherrie Maricle

Director of Education
The New York Pops
New York, New York
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Years in current position: 5
Years in the field: 18

Majors:
B.A. Music Performance
M.A. Jazz Performance
Ph.D. Composition

Additional Training:
Various seminars in education
Classroom management, being a “leader”

Career Path:
Leader and drummer, The DIVA Jazz Orchestra, Five Play
Drummer and Director of Education, The New York Pops
Director of Percussion Studies, New York University
Numerous masterclasses, conducting, and seminars

What are the most surprising, interesting or challenging aspects of your day-to-day work?
The creativity of children and the complex nature of our teaching artist faculty.

What inspired you to work for an orchestra?
I play with the orchestra and have always loved teaching.

What would you have done differently?
Practice and play more vs. administrating.

What advice would you offer to someone considering the orchestra field?
Know your subject matter well. Be creative and flexible. Let people be and do their best. Foster and expect greatness!

Any other advice?
Treat the musicians with respect.

Joanne Winograd

Education and Marketing Manager
New York Pops
New York, New York
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Time in current position: 3 months
Years in the field: 2 (plus 1 year as intern)

Majors:
Economics

Additional Training:
Life-long music instruction and enjoyment
Also, applying to the League’s Orchestra Management Fellowship Program (I was a finalist) helped me solidify my thoughts and goals about a career in Arts Administration. Just writing the essays was helpful, not to mention participating in the finalists’ weekend of interviews.

Career Path:
Marketing Intern, Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival
Public Relations Assistant, Oberlin Conservatory of Music
Education and Office Coordinator, New York Pops

What are the most surprising, interesting or challenging aspects of your day-to-day work?
Working at a smaller organization (five full-time staff) means that I get to have a hand in everything. The best part about my job is that I feel like my voice can be heard and my contributions mean something.

What inspired you to work for an orchestra?
My love for orchestral music coupled with my desire to hold a steady job and use my business-minded brain.

What advice would you offer to someone considering the orchestra field?
Get experience working in the field! Every volunteer opportunity in the arts will help you get to know it better. Talk to people who are starting out, find out what has worked for them. You can’t learn this stuff from a book.

Any other advice?
The pay is unbelievably low, so you really have to want to be there. You will get frustrated by your lack of resources, including time and money. You must be enthusiastic and driven to succeed. But it is the most exciting field there is! You’ll have a hand in real change and feel a part of something you believe in.

Theodore Wiprud

Director of Education
New York Philharmonic
New York, New York
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Years in current position: 4
Years in the field: 18

Majors:
Undergraduate: Biochemistry and Music, Harvard
Master’s in Composition, Boston University

Career Path:
Unexpected.
Chairman of Music, Walnut Hill School, Natick, Massachusetts (teaching and composing)
Visiting Scholar, Cambridge University, (one-year abroad, study and composing)
Director of Programs, Meet The Composer
Independent composer/consultant (a life built around composing, with consulting work mainly in education and including orchestras) 
Director of Education and Community Engagement, Brooklyn Philharmonic

What are the most surprising, interesting or challenging aspects of your day-to-day work?
The variety of audiences I address—from 2,500-plus kids, to the orchestra itself, to teachers, board members, funders, volunteers, colleagues on staff—each with different understandings (or mis-) of what education is and can be at an orchestra. But all really committed to the vital importance of what we do.

What inspired you to work for an orchestra?
Orchestras are still the largest-scale producers of the music I love, the best platforms for engaging youth and adults in this great tradition. I used to think they were fading in relevance, especially for new music, but now I believe their importance is growing again.

What were your first steps toward an orchestra career?
I began teaching at a performing arts high school partly because of the free afternoons and summers for composing—which turned out to be non-existant. However, I think it was a great place to start—actual teaching—for what I have found my way into.

What advice would you offer to someone considering the orchestra field?
It’s quite different now that there are advanced degrees in arts administration with any number of sub-specializations. And yet I think it’s much the same—you learn by doing, whether in a degree program or not. I benefited a lot at several points from talking with people who were doing what I might like to do. People in this field are amazingly generous with their time and experience. Take advantage of the advice that’s out there for free; volunteer or intern, or do whatever you can to get in the trenches as soon as possible. And make sure you love music enough to keep it as your inspiration throughout.

Any other advice?
We really need that new generation of imagination—younger people who will keep us all in touch with how people of all generations enjoy music and learn more about it.