About the Director

Constance J. Price

Constance J. Price is a gifted teacher, musician and Kodály training exemplar who has dedicated her life to music education at the highest level for children. She is the founding director of the Essex Children’s Choir and the tireless spirit of its program. Based on an evolving passion for American musical heritage and its multicultural foundations, Price has exercised the voice of human experience through its its most precious disciples: our children. By instilling in young people the fundamental ability to hear and see music, and to make it speak through song; she has brought national acclaim to the state of Vermont.

Price is a graduate of the School of Music at Howard University, and the Kodály Musical Institute at New England Conservatory. She pursued extended studies at the Kodály Pedagogical Institute (KMTI) in Kesckemèt, Hungary; the Hartt School of Music; and Project Zero at Harvard University. She has taught music at every grade level, and in 2005, completed 27 years of teaching in the Essex Town School District. Recognized by students, she was nominated and selected for Who’s Who Among American Teachers in 2000 and 2005. She has been a guest teacher at the Kodály Music Training Institute at the Kodály Center of America, and coordinated Kodály summer courses at the University of Vermont and Saint Michael’s College. Having received recognition for her outstanding contributions to music education, Mrs. Price has lectured at numerous conferences in the United States and Canada. She is a member of AOSA, MENC, OAKE and ACDA.

Other distinctions include the Susan B. Anthony Award for Leadership in the Arts from the YWCA, Award of Merit for Distinguished Service from the Vermont Council on the Arts, Vermont Music Teacher of the Year from Vermont Music Educators Association, and a Fellowship in the Vermont Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Karen Reed

Karen Reed is a teacher, accompanist and church musician.  She has been with the Essex Children's Choir since the first concert.  She is a graduate of the Crane School of Music in Potsdam, New York, with concentrations in education and oboe.  Mrs. Reed has studied at the Kodály Summer Institute at the University of Vermont, and has completed Levels I and II of graduate work in the Kodály Philosophy of Music Education at the  Kodály Institute, Hartt School of Music.  She has also completed Level I of the Orff-Schulwek Teacher Training  at George Mason University.  Mrs. Reed is currently teaching music in the Essex Junction schools, grades K-3.  She is a life-long Vermonter and lives in Williston with her husband Rick, and children Ben, Luke and Sarah.

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