Biographies
Tom Palmer
Jazz Camp Director
Tom Palmer graduated from the University of Delaware in 1981 with a B.M.E. in percussion. Tom teaches in the University of Delaware's Jazz Minor Program as director of Jazz Ensemble I and II and drumset instructor. He also teaches drumset and piano for the Community Music School and maintains a private teaching studio. He is a member of the UD Faculty Jazz Ensemble. Mr. Palmer stays busy performing with various groups including small combos, big bands, theater and symphony orchestras, as well as the popular dance band, "Lavender." Tom has performed with many jazz artists including saxophonist, Ernie Watts; trombonist, Robin Eubanks; guitarist, Herb Ellis and local pianist and composer, Don Glanden. He has appeared in various jazz festivals including Wilmington's Jazz in the Village, The Clifford Brown Jazz Festival and The Rehoboth Jazz Festival. He has also performed on many occasions with the Baltimore Symphony. Mr. Palmer's recording credits include The Baltimore Symphony, Royal Palm Steel Band, Paul Scherer, Don Glanden's CD featuring Ernie Watts, and most recently, Ellen Lebowitz's CD, "Invitation to Yesterdays."
Robert J. Streckfuss
Wind Ensemble Camp Director
Dr. Streckfuss is a Professor of Music at the University of Delaware, where he teaches courses in conducting and music education and conducts the University of Delaware Wind Ensemble. Under his direction, the University Wind Ensemble has performed for the Music Educators National Conference, the College Band Directors National Association and toured Luxembourg, Germany and France. Since 1977, Dr. Streckfuss has been the Conductor of the Wind Symphony of Southern New Jersey, an adult wind ensemble that draws its members from a three-state area and presents an annual eight-concert season. The Wind Symphony toured England during the summer of 1993.
Pamela Letts
Middle School Camp Director
Ms. Letts is a graduate of the University of Delaware and the Eastman School of Music. Active as a free-lance performer, she has played with the Delaware Symphony, the Kennett Square and Harrisburg Symphonies, and is a founding member of the Renaissance Brass. Currently a music educator with the Red Clay Consolidated School district, she has studied conducting with Donald Hunsberger and David Effron. Ms. Letts was fundamental in establishing the UDCMS Middle School Band Camp in 1996.
Paul Head
High School Choral Camp Director / Workshop Leader
In addition to directing the University Chorale and Schola Cantorum, Paul D. Head teaches choral methods, literature and conducting, and supervises high school vocal/general student teachers.
Prior to coming to Delaware, Dr. Head taught in the public schools in his native California and served on the faculty at Westminster Choir College. While a member of the Westminster Choir, he did extensive travel and numerous performance including appearances with the New York Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestras. Dr. Head's choirs have toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe. A sought-after clinician and adjudicator, he holds a master's degree from Westminster Choir College and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from University of Oklahoma.
Krystal Rickard
High School Choral Camp Director
A professor of choral music education, Krystal Rickard holds a Bachelor's Degree from Bucknell University in Music Education with a minor in dance. She continued her study at Westminster Choir College where she graduated with a Master's Degree in Choral Conducting. She has studied conducting with William Payn, Andrew Megill, Heather Buchanan and Joseph Flummerfelt. While in graduate study, she was a member of the Westminster Choir. Her vocal performance experience includes soprano roles in major choral works such as Mozart's Requiem, Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass, Monteverdi's Gloria and Faure's Requiem. At the University, Professor Rickard teaches choral methods and conducting and supervises vocal student teachers at the secondary level. She also conducts University Singers and co-directs Schola Cantorum. Before arriving at Delaware, Professor Rickard taught choral music in the New Jersey Public School System for five years. Under her direction her choirs won superior awards at competitions, performed in Carnegie Hall and even traveled to Sydney, Australia to perform in the Sydney Opera House.
Mike Semancik
High School Choral Camp Director
Michael Semancik is a graduate assistant at the University of Delaware working on a master's degree in choral conducting. He graduated from Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania with a music education degree with a piano and choral emphasis. He taught choir, piano and guitar in Baltimore, Maryland for three years before coming to the University of Delaware. He is an active member of ACDA, MENC, MMEA and PMEA. Michael plans to continue teaching high school when he completes his master's degree at Delaware.
Linda Wardell
Children's Choir Camp Director
Linda Wardell is a graduate of West Chester University and the University of Delaware and holds B. S. and M. M. degrees in Music Education with a Master Certificate in Orff Schulwerk. Linda is a music specialist in the Pennsville School District in Pennsville, New Jersey where she teaches K-5 general music and has taught 6th grade general music, 5th grade chorus, and 7th & 8th grade chorus. In 2001 she was awarded Teacher of the Year within the district. Linda has served as a cooperating teacher for Rowan University, University of Delaware and West Chester University. For 14 years Linda enjoyed directing the Joyful Noise Singers children's choir that she founded at Limestone Presbyterian Church in Wilmington. Presently, she is busy starting a new children’s choir at the University of Delaware.
Rebekka Cleland
Early Childhood Music
Rebekka Cleland of Leesville, South Carolina, is a graduate of Columbia College, South Carolina, where she received a Bachelor of Music in Music Education and a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance. She has studied piano since the second grade and has studied under the supervision of Mrs. Nancy Buzhardt, Dr. Alan Weinberg, and Mrs. Robyn Gibson. Rebekka was an active pianist around the City of Columbia and surrounding areas and was the pianist for St. James Lutheran Church in Red Bank, South Carolina. Rebekka was the 2003-2004 winner of the Concerto/Aria Competition held annually at Columbia College and performed the first movement of Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor with the Columbia College Wind Ensemble the following year. In 2007, Rebekka was listed in Who's Who Among American Colleges and Universities for her academic achievement and performance at Columbia College. This Fall, Rebekka attended the University of Delaware where she is pursuing a Master's in Music Education as Dr. Suzanne Burton's graduate assistant. Rebekka has been teaching and coordinating the Early Childhood Music Program at the Community Music School this year.
Bob Becker
Ragtime Institute Director
Bob Becker is generally considered to be one of the world's premier virtuoso performers on the xylophone and marimba. He is also a founding member of the percussion ensemble Nexus. Becker's performing experience spans nearly all of the musical disciplines where percussion is found. He has been percussionist for the Marlboro Music Festival and timpanist with the Marlboro Festival Orchestra. For several years he was percussionist with the Paul Winter Consort. He has also performed and recorded with such diverse groups as the Ensemble Intercontemporaine, the Ensemble Modern of Germany, the Schoenberg Ensemble of Amsterdam and the Boston Chamber Players. He has appeared as tabla soloist in India and has accompanied many of the major artists of Hindustani music. He is also a founding member of the Flaming Dono West African Dance and Drum Ensemble in Toronto. As a member of Nexus he has appeared as soloist with the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Chicago Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra among many others. Becker's compositions and arrangements are performed regularly by percussion groups worldwide. His solo CD album, There is a Time, was released in 1995 on the Nexus Records label, and features many of his recent compositions. In the spring of 1997 he was selected to be composer-in-residence for the Virginia Waterfront International Festival of the Arts which featured the United States premier of Music On The Moon by the Virginia Symphony and a concert of his chamber works by his own group, the Bob Becker Ensemble.