In this rehearsal lab, Mr. Tompkins will demonstrate rehearsal strategies and concepts with an emphasis on practical pedagogy that you can implement in your ensemble rehearsals as early as tomorrow. The shared strategies are as equally applicable to a group “firing on all pistons” as they are to an ensemble in a rebuilding situation, and while some ideas are “tried and true,” others may open new avenues on ways to help your students better understand their role in music making. The rehearsal lab will feature the wonderful musicians of Matthew White at Scullen Middle School (Naperville, IL).
Michael Tompkins
- Biographical Information
Michael Tompkins is the Director of Orchestras at Hightower Trail Middle School in Marietta, Ga. (2014-Present). Under his leadership, notable performances include the 2018 ASTA National Orchestra Festival, the 2019 GMEA In-Service Conference in Athens Georgia, and performances at the Georgia State Capitol and Governor’s Mansion. The orchestra also received the GMEA Exemplary Performance Award in 2015 and 2022. Prior to teaching at Hightower Trail, Mr. Tompkins taught for 11 years at Campbell Middle School in Smyrna, Ga. While at Campbell, the orchestra program more than doubled in size and continues to be a thriving program in a Title I school. Mr. Tompkins received his Bachelor of Science in Music degree from Southern Adventist University (2000), and his Master of Music Education degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (2002). He has worked with numerous string camps including the Shiloh String workshop, which he founded and directed in 2007. Mr. Tompkins is currently on staff as director and cello clinician at the East Cobb Upbeat Strings! Camp and At First Sight (A chamber music sight-reading workshop) in Collegedale, TN.
Mr. Matthew White, a native of Bourbonnais, IL, is currently in
his eighth year teaching at Scullen Middle School in Naperville, Illinois. Mr.
White graduated with his Bachelor’s of Music Education from Illinois State
University where he studied viola with Dr. Kate Lewis and conducting with Dr.
Glenn Block. Mr. White had the honor of serving as principal violist in the ISU
Symphony and Chamber Orchestras and served as the violist for the ISU Graduate
String Quartet. Mr. White also has his Master’s Degree in Educational
Technology.
In 2018, Mr. White was awarded the inaugural
Outstanding Emerging Educator Award from the Illinois String Teachers
Association. Mr. White has served as a presenter at three National ASTA
Conferences and his Chamber Strings performed at the 2020 Illinois Music
Educators Conference in Peoria, IL. Though he
has attended many Midwest Conferences and also performed with the Chicagoland
Educators Orchestra in 2017, this is the first time Mr. White has brought
students to Midwest. He is excited to give his students the chance to
share their talents and the product of their hard work over the past few months
of preparations.
Mr. White is an active violinist, violist, guest clinician and
judge in the Chicago area and across the state of Illinois. In his free time,
Mr. White enjoys spending time with his wife and son, cheering on Chicago
sports teams and traveling whenever he can!