Playing an instrument accelerates the brain development of young children in the areas responsible for language development, sound, reading skills and speech perception. Many children enter kindergarten lacking basic skills for school success. Through the pre-k literacy/violin program 90% of the children enter school prepared for kindergarten and school success
Judy Evans
- Biographical Information
Judy Evans is the Founder and Program Director of the MusicScores! Pre-K Literacy/Violin Program. She designed and oversees the pre-k program currently at thirteen Head Start sites in Collier County. Twenty four classes of four year olds participate in the small group violin lessons. MusicScores! cost-effectively enhances learning, by providing violin instruction that introduces literacy, focus and listening skills, as well as social and motor skills. The pre-k violin literacy program has received state and national attention.
As the Music Foundation of Greater Naples Outreach Chair, Mrs. Evans coordinates the Master Classes for Middle School Band and Orchestra at risk students and Teacher In-Service Workshops.
Mrs. Evans retired after thirty-eight years of teaching public school orchestras in Ohio and Florida. Orchestras under her direction performed in Australia, New Zealand, Washington, D.C. and three times in Carnegie Hall. Her orchestras have performed for state, national and international music education conferences. She reinstated the Collier County Public School Orchestra program in 1979. Naples currently has over 1100 string students in their secondary schools.
Judy Evans has held officer positions in many local, state and national music education associations. Honors include being named FMEA’s State Music Educator of the Year in 1995, Collier County Public Schools Golden Apple in 1996, Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory’s Alumni Achievement Award in 1997 and Florida American String Teachers Lifetime Achievement in 2011. She received the Collier United Arts Council’s Star in the Arts in 2016 and the Collier County Diamond Volunteer Award in 2017.
Judy is a co-author of the national American String Teachers Orchestra Curriculum Guide. Mrs. Evans is currently adjunct professor, string education at Florida Gulf Coast University’s Bower School of Music.