Instructors
We have three categories of instructors, offering different levels of experience and expertise, in order to provide lessons at various price levels while still meeting the instructional needs of the student.
Level 1 Instructors
Level 1 Instructors are students, typically college music education majors, who teach under indirect supervision from a music faculty member. These instructors are carefully selected and approved based on our personal knowledge of their capability.
Level 2 Instructors
Level 2 Instructors are qualified adults with several years of teaching and/or performing experience.
Jamie Goslin has played violin since the age of eight. As a high school student, she traveled to Finland to perform with the All-Michigan Youth Symphony. She has performed with the Nashville Youth Symphony, the UCA Orchestra, and the Pine Bluff Symphony Orchestra. She has also been a member of the Searcy String Quartet for the last sixteen years.
Whitney Hammes began playing cello at the age of 10. She played with the Harding/Community Orchestra through junior high, high school, and college. She completed a degree in music education at Harding University, where she studied with Kristin Smith and Rafael Leon. She has been both a camper and a counselor at Credo, a chamber music camp at Oberlin College, and she has performed with the Pine Bluff Symphony Orchestra since 2008.
Colleen O'Connell has been teaching violin for over 20 years. She studied Developmental Violin pedagogy under Marie Griffiths and earned Suzuki Violin certification from the Suzuki Association of the Americas. She has a B.A. in Music and teaches private lessons, group lessons, and coaches small ensembles. Colleen has performed with the Rome Symphony Orchestra, Pine Bluff Symphony Orchestra, HU Community Orchestra, Searcy String Quartet, and local jam bands and various small ensembles.
Dr. David White, our bass guitar instructor, has been playing bass for over 30 years and has extensive experience in many different musical styles and genres including jazz, blues, Broadway, orchestral, rock, funk, and country. Some of his favorite musical experiences include studio musician work in Tennessee and Arkansas and playing for local productions of Broadway musicals such as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Big Fish, Annie, The Secret Garden, 1776, and The Addams Family. Dr. White is also a Harding faculty-member, having served in various capacities.
Level 3
Level 3 Instructors are university music faculty members who have advanced degrees in music, as well as many years of teaching experience.
Dr. Cynthia Thompson Carrell has been at Harding University since 1998, teaching trumpet, horn, music theory and other courses. She has also served as Principal Trumpet in the Pine Bluff Symphony since 1999. She earned a Bachelor of Music Education at the University of North Texas (1986), and the Masters in Music Education and Doctorate of Musical Arts in Trumpet Performance from the University of Illinois (1997).
Dr. Scott Carrell currently teaches piano, music theory and composition at Harding University and is in demand as a soloist, collaborative artist, teacher and adjudicator. He holds degrees from Southwestern University, the University of Illinois, and the D.M.A. from the University of North Texas. An active member of the Music Teachers National Association, he serves as the South Central Division coordinator for the student composition competition. Other professional affiliations include the honorary music fraternity Delta Omicron and Pi Kappa Lambda.
Dr. Tish Kennedy Davenport grew up studying piano with her mother, Linda Kennedy, who has a piano studio in Maumelle, AR. Tish holds a B.M. in Flute Performance from Loyola (New Orleans), and a M.M. and Ph.D. in Music Theory from the University of North Texas, with a specialization in Choral Conducting. Tish spent four years in the USMC as a musician (flute, piccolo, and jazz piano), sang in the Dallas Symphony Chorus for ten years, and has several publications. Tish currently serves as the Director of Music Ministries at Searcy First United Methodist Church.
Micah Donar received her BM and MM degrees in Cello Performance from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. Her teachers included Yehuda Hanani, Udi Bar-David, Diane Bucchianeri, and Stephen Feldman. In addition to teaching at SCSM, she also teaches cello at Harding University and UCA's Community Music Institute. She enjoys performing around the state with several ensembles and continuing her study of early music with the viola da gamba.
Jenny Henderson has been teaching piano, choir and children's music classes for over 25 years in Searcy. She has completed certification courses in Kindermusik, Musikgarten, Music Play, Kodaly, Music Learning Theory and the Pace Piano Method. She holds both Bachelors and Masters degrees in education. She teaches piano and music methods for Harding University.
Dr. Wesley Parker is an Associate Professor of Music and Chair of the Department of Music at Harding University in Searcy, AR, where he also serves as the Director of Athletic Bands and Percussion. He is also an adjunct percussion instructor at Arkansas State University- Beebe in Beebe, AR. Prior to this appointment Dr. Parker held the position of adjunct percussion instructor at Gulf Coast State College in Panama City, FL. Dr. Parker received his doctorate in percussion performance from Florida State University, and prior to FSU, he received a Master's Degree in percussion performance from the University of Kentucky and a Bachelor's Degree in percussion performance from the University of Memphis. He is a proud endorser of Innovative Percussion, Marimba One, and a member of the Black Swamp Percussion Educator Network.
Alicia Walls teaches Class Strings (violin, viola, cello, and bass) and directs the String Quartet at Harding University. Before coming to Searcy she taught public school orchestra for ten years in Texas, where her orchestras were regular sweepstakes winners. She completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Music with teacher certification with a double major in viola and flute at Abilene Christian University and her Master’s Degree in Music Education at the University of North Texas. She has Kodály certification, and has also taught public school elementary music and beginning woodwind classes.
