Do you want to help your students play in tune? We will explore innovative ways to incorporate daily ear training and singing into the orchestra tuning sequence and warm-up. A productive warm-up equals a successful rehearsal.
Christopher Mustell
- Biographical Information
A native of Saint Joseph, Michigan, Christopher R. Mustell
is in his thirteenth year as a public school orchestra teacher. Currently, he is a member of the fine arts
faculty, serving as the Head Orchestra Director and Chair of the Fine Arts
Department at Cypress Ridge High School. Cypress Ridge is located in northwest Houston, Texas and is a part of
the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District. In this position, he directs and oversees all
aspects of the orchestra program. The
2019-2020 school year marks his eleventh year building the program from
approximately 50 students in one orchestra in 2009 to its current membership of
195 students in five performing ensembles. During Mr. Mustell's tenure, his orchestras have consistently earned
superior ratings (sweepstakes awards) at Texas' University Interscholastic
League (UIL) Concert and Sight-reading Contests. During the 2015-2016 school year, the Cypress
Ridge High School Symphony Orchestra was invited and performed at the 69th
Annual Midwest Clinic, in Chicago, Illinois.
Before his Texas appointment, Mr. Mustell held a
similar position in Naples, Florida. In
the United States he has had the privilege to conduct in Carnegie Hall in New
York, New York, and at the Moores Opera House in Houston, Texas. While he was a sophomore at St. Joseph High
School, he was asked to student conduct the Saint Joseph Orchestra on their 1994
tour of Europe.
Mr. Mustell earned both his Bachelor of Music Education
and Master of Music Education in Instrumental Conducting and String Pedagogy
degrees from the Florida State University College of Music. Mr. Mustell is a freelance percussionist and
is a section member of the Cypress Philharmonic. He also performs regularly with the Southwest
Michigan Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Civic Symphony, the Brazosport
Symphony Orchestra, and the Energy Corridor Orchestra of Houston, Texas.
Christopher Mustell is
in demand as a conductor, clinician, and adjudicator in music programs
throughout the United States.