MMED Faculty

Sandra Doneski, Graduate Music Program Director has had the pleasure of teaching music to students in Kindergarten through graduate school and conducting choral ensembles of varying ages and voicings. She is currently Associate Professor of Music at Gordon College and Director of Graduate and Undergraduate Music Education. She teaches courses in music education methods, learning theory, assessment, curriculum development, supervises student teachers and conducts the Gordon College Children’s Choir. She founded the Children’s Choir in 2000 to give children in the community an opportunity to grow as musicians and music education majors an opportunity to develop as teachers and conductors. Sandra has also served on the faculty of the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, where she was Associate Conductor of the Children’s Choir Program. Under her guidance, NEC implemented choral programs for early elementary and middle school students that focused on vocal pedagogy and building musicianship. Dr. Doneski is a recipient of the 2009 Massachusetts Music Educators Association Lowell Mason Award and the 2009 Society for General Music in Massachusetts Excellence in General Music Award.  Most recently in March 2012, she was chosen as the recipient of the Massachusetts Music Educators Association's highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award.

She is a graduate of Gordon College and received her Master’s and Ph.D. in Music Education from The Hartt School, University of Hartford. Dr. Doneski’s research interests include the development of children’s and adolescents’ singing skills, music classroom pedagogy, the acquisition of aural understanding and its relationship to music literacy, and curriculum development and assessment in music education.

Dr. Michele Holt, Executive Director for the Massachusetts Educators Association and Director of the Concert Choir and Chamber Singers at the University of Connecticut, is a graduate of the Hartt School of Music where she received a Doctor of Musical Arts. Michele has studied conducting with James Jordan, Rodney Eichenberger, Gerald Mack, Peter Bagley, and Allen Lannom.

Michele has conducted All State and Regional Festivals throughout New England and the East coast and has been clinician to numerous choral adjudication festivals. Michele is an active presenter at state and regional conferences, including MENC National Convention held in Minneapolis, MN, the Massachusetts Music Educators State Conference, the New Hampshire Music Educators Association, and the MENC Eastern Division Bi-Annual Conference held in Providence, Rhode Island.

Michele is a very active member of the American Choral Directors Association. She is currently the Chair of the National Past President's Council for the American Choral Directors Association having served as a national president from 2003–2005.

Dr. Holt's recent publication, The School Choral Program published by GIA has been a successful contribution to the field of secondary music education. Dr. Holt has also been a contributing author to the third edition of Teaching Music Though Performance Choir which was published by GIA in the springof 2011.

Todd Young is the current Chair of the Fine and Performing Arts Department at Newton North High School, Newton, MA, where he also teaches Chorus, Music Technology, Film Scoring, and Music History.  In addition to his new role as a graduate faculty member, Mr. Young serves as a part time instructor in undergraduate music education at Gordon College.

Previously, Young taught middle school music in the Needham, MA, public schools, and his supervision and administration education and experience led to a position as the K–12 Coordinator of Performing Arts for the Canton, MA, public shools. He is an active member of MMEA, serving as the K–12 Administrative Representative on the Executive Board, and the Audio Visual Chair for the annual MMEA All-State Conference.

Mr. Young has studied conducting with Dr. Ann Howard Jones, saxophone with William Pierce and Fred Lipsius, and clarinet with Gary Gorczyca and Dr. Peter Cokkinias. He holds a Bachelor of Music from Berklee College of Music, a Master of Sacred Music from Boston Univeristy, and a Fine Arts Director Certificate from Fitchburg State University.

Michael Monroe, an Assistant Professor of Music at Gordon, oversees the annual opera scenes programs and has conducted performances of The Pirates of Penzance and Gounod’s The Doctor in Spite of Himself. His performing edition and new English translation of Gounod’s operetta was completed as part of his doctoral studies at the New England Conservatory. He has also served as music director for many Theatre Department productions, including The Secret Garden and Into the Woods. Dr. Monroe teaches piano and music history as well, and he coaches singers and instrumentalists, having collaborated on more than 100 student degree recitals at Gordon.

As a pianist, he has performed throughout the Boston area at such venues as Jordan Hall, the Gardner Museum, and the French Library, collaborating in recital with acclaimed violinists Stefan Jackiw and Arturo Delmoni and countless students at the New England Conservatory and other area schools. Dr. Monroe blogs regularly about music at MMmusing.blogspot.com, and his YouTube page features a wide variety of pedagogically oriented multimedia creations. Dr. Monroe holds a B.M. from the University of Arkansas, M.M. from the University of Maryland, and a D.M.A from New England Conservatory.

Gerald J. Dolan, Jr. is the Director of Fine Arts for the Ipswich Public Schools. He is also Director of Bands conducting the high school Concert Band, Pep Band, and Jazz Ensemble. He teaches high school courses in Jazz Improvisation, Computer Music Composition, and Music Theory. Mr. Dolan also conducts the Sixth Grade Band.

Mr. Dolan has studied conducting with Malcolm Rowell and Frank Battisti. He holds degrees from St. Michael’s College and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Currently the Music Director of the Northeast Massachusetts Youth Orchestras (NMYO), Gerry is Conductor of the NMYO Intermezzo Orchestra. He teaches Instrumental Conducting at Gordon College in the Graduate Summer Degree Program. Mr. Dolan served as a conductor of the United States Youth Wind Ensemble during its 2001 summer tour. He has also served as Assistant Conductor of the Metropolitan Wind Symphony, the University of Massachusetts at Lowell Youth Wind Ensemble, and Music Director of the Ipswich Community Band and Jazz Ensemble.

Mr. Dolan received the 2003 Olmstead Award for excellence in secondary school teaching from Williams College and was honored by the Massachusetts Music Educators' Association (MMEA) with the 2002 Lowell Mason Award.

As a 1993 Fulbright Scholarship recipient, he served as Head of Music at the Speedwell School, in Bristol, England.

A member of the American Symphony Orchestra League, Fulbright Association, International Association of Jazz Educators, and Massachusetts Music Educators’ Association, he is active as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator throughout New England and the United Kingdom. Mr. Dolan lives in Ipswich with his wife, Susan, and their two children.

Simon Hutchinson is a Ph.D. Candidate in Composition at the University of Oregon, where he is a Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (SYLFF) fellow, and teaches courses in Intermedia Music Technology. Simon’s work as a composer, performer, and teacher is inspired by his extended studies of various world music traditions, especially his work in Japan with shamisen virtuoso Sato Choei. Additionally, Simon has studied performance and theory of Japanese shakuhachi, Korean gayageum, South Indian Carnatic music, West Javanese Gamelan, and Balinese Gamelan, and he uses his experiences in these diverse musical traditions to advocate cross-cultural understanding of music, both through composition and directorship of the TaiHei Ensemble, a new music group formed with the goal of exploring and enacting international dialogs across the Pacific Rim.

Hutchinson’s compositions have been performed across the US, Japan, and Korea, including at various music festivals and conferences, including SEAMUS (2011, 2012), Miso Music Portugal (2010, 2011), the Music Today Festival (2011), April in Santa Cruz (2006, 2007), and the Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium (2009), and the 1st Young Composers’ Competition of CMEK (Contemporary Music Ensemble Korea, 2008) in Seoul.