THE PIKES PEAK HOME SCHOOL BAND - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Founder of the Pikes Peak Home School Band Program ( 2001 - 2020 )
On November 1, 2021 Bill Callen was Posthumously Awarded the Roy Ernst Award for showing perseverance, passion and commitment to outstanding musical achievement in the spirit of the New Horizons International Music Association philosophy of lifelong musical learning.
Cecilia Martin was born in Hawaii to a military family. She came to live in Colorado in 2005. Not long afterward, Cecilia began her formal music education with the Pikes Peak Home School Band, under the direction of Bill Callen. During her time with the Pikes Peak Home School Band, Cecilia participated in Solo and Ensemble contests, as well as multiple collaborative ensembles.
From a very early age, Cecilia knew that she wanted to pursue a career teaching music. With this in mind, Cecilia would go on to receive an Associate Degree from Nazarene Bible College. Still wanting to pursue a degree in music education, but wanting to confirm if this was truly the field for her, she worked as a volunteer band director's assistant to Dan Parmentier at Freedom Elementary School. Cecilia's experience at Freedom Elementary further solidified her goal of becoming a music educator and prompted her to take the next step and pursue a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education.
Cecilia went on to pursue this degree at Colorado State University-Pueblo (CSU-Pueblo). During her time at CSU-Pueblo, Cecilia's emphasis instrument was French Horn which she studied under the instruction of Gary Stephens and Sarah Ford. During her time at CSU-Pueblo, Cecilia played with many of the university ensembles, including the university wind ensemble, orchestra, brass ensemble, and horn choir. In addition to participating in ensembles, Cecilia entered into private lessons on multiple different instruments, including clarinet, guitar, cello, and voice. Throughout her time at CSU-Pueblo, Cecilia was a music theory tutor and beginning piano tutor. Cecilia graduated from CSU-Pueblo with a Bachelor's of Music with an Education Emphasis K-12.
Currently, Cecilia teaches private lessons on beginning piano and French horn. She also is a member of the Rocky Mountain Wind Symphony and Colorado College University Band.
Job Titles:
- Member of Pikes Peak Philharmonic
- Strings Director
Rebekah has lived in Colorado since 1994. She started playing violin in 1998.Throughout her childhood she studied violin privately with talented musicians such as Nancy Grey, Alana Pritchard Carithers, and Kay Wehofer. Rebekah was a member of Peakharmonic Youth Orchestra (formally known as Young Concert Artists). While playing in Peakharmonic, she had the opportunity to work with Michael Hanson, the concertmaster of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic. She also served as concertmaster for Peakharmonic for two years.
Throughout the years, Rebekah has been a member of Pikes Peak Philharmonic, a counselor for the Lamont Summer Academy, an assistant teacher in the Colorado Springs Youth Symphony's Little Mozart program, and has taught private violin, viola and cello lessons.