Be Not Afraid! Double Reeds Made Accessible: A Quick Start Session for Music Educators

This session will expose music educators to the secrets of successfully starting a student on a double reed instrument. After an informative presentation that covers teaching strategies and tips for double reeds, several volunteers from the audience will participate in a “hands on” teaching demonstration with oboes and bassoons provided by Fox Products. Handmade reeds will also be provided to volunteers by the presenters.

Dr. Shannon Lowe 

Valdosta State University
Associate Professor of Bassoon

Dr. Shannon Lowe serves as the Associate Professor of Bassoon at Valdosta State University. She has also served as adjunct Assistant Professor of Bassoon at the University of Florida. She received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Bassoon Performance at SUNY Stony Brook, where she studied with the renowned performer and pedagogue Dr. Frank Morelli. She received her Bachelor of Music Education degree with a Performance Certificate as well as her Master of Music in Bassoon Performance degree from the University of Florida, under both Dr. Arnold Irchai and Dr. Kim Woolly.

Dr. Susan Eischeid 

Valdosta State University
Professor of Oboe

Susan Eischeid currently holds the position of Principal Oboe with the Valdosta Symphony and serves as Professor of Music at Valdosta State University where she teaches oboe, chamber music, and music history. She received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in oboe from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and her Master of Music degree from the Philadelphia University of the Arts. Dr.Eischeid played for several years with the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra. She is an active solo recitalist and clinician, both nationally and internationally, and has performed with the Richmond Symphony, the West Virginia Symphony, the Jacksonville Symphony and the Cincinnati Ballet Orchestra. Dr. Eischeid is a long-time member of the Eastern Festival Orchestra and serves on the oboe faculty of the summer Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, NC. Her major teachers include Robert Bloom, James Gorton, and Sara Lambert Bloom. In 2004 she was awarded the Excellence in Professional Activity Award from the College of the Arts at VSU. Dr. Eischeid appeared as soloist in the world premiere of the second oboe concerto by noted Hungarian composer Frigyes Hidas and has commercially released her first compact disc on the ACA Digital label. She has appeared as soloist with the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra, most recently in a performance of the Bellini Concerto. Dr. Eischeid is also an author, publishing her most recent book titled “The Truth about Fania Fenelon and the Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz-Birkenau” in July of 2016. As an outgrowth of this research, she has presented lectures and recitals in over twenty cities in the United States and in Europe and has received multiple grants. Most recently (2005-2014), she was featured in multiple performances in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland. In March of 2010, as part of the Old First Concerts Artist’s Series in San Francisco, CA, she premiered a new work for oboe, piano and men’s voices by noted German composer Stefan Heucke under the aegis of The Pink Triangle Project.

The FMEA Professional Development Conference and All-State Ensembles receive support in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture, and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.