WILL HOUCHIN is a dynamic musician, educator, and consultant specializing in elementary music education and working with students with disabilities. He currently resides in Massachusetts where he teaches in the Boston Public Schools. Additionally he is an instructor for Cambridge Common Voices, a neurodiverse chorus founded in partnership between Harvard University and Lesley University. Will is in demand as a clinician and speaker on his work with students with disabilities in music and has been a regularly invited presenter by the Kennedy Center, state arts education organizations, and area school districts.
Previously Will has served as an instructor in the Berklee Institute for Arts Education and Special Needs programs and has taught in public schools in Massachusetts and Arizona. Will holds a Masters in Music Education with a Concentration in Autism from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee and undergraduate degrees in music education and tuba performance from the University of Arizona.
On the performance side of things, Will is an accomplished tubist and has performed and recorded with artists and groups such as KT Tunstall, Calexico, Orkesta Mendoza, The Rezonators Brass Band, The Original Wildcat Jass Band, Las Tubas de Tucson, and many more. Additionally created the Friday Songs YouTube Channel which has over 70 video song parodies celebrating the greatest day of the week!
When not teaching, presenting, or playing the tuba, Will is a partner and producer for Pedal Note Media, a podcast network and online education platform dedicated to creating content and courses for musicians. Additionally, he dabbles in graphic design, creating posters, book covers and album art for musicians and publishing companies alike. In his scant free time, Will can be found on the saddle of his bike, riding all over the streets and trails of New England.
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Sometimes creating a musical culture at a school where there is none can seem like a daunting task. Ideally we all want to work in a place where the students, teachers, administrators, and families view the music program as an important and vital part of the school. How we get to that point, is less clear. When I started at my first job teaching elementary school music in Tucson, Arizona, the blankness of the slate for music at my school was matched only by the blankness of the stares from my students when I tried to get them to engage in some music making. It was clear we had a lot of work to do. In addition, the expectations on what the music program should be and what it could be were extremely low. However, by the time I gave my tearful goodbye at that same school 5 years later, the culture of music had transformed completely. The musical culture at my school had grown to reach an ideal standard of what a music program should be. With this article, I try to highlight some of the things (above and beyond good instruction and consistency in teaching) that I did that helped turn our school into a great place for music.