The Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame (LIMEOHF) recently announced Rocky Point Elementary Music Teacher and Department Chairperson Craig Knapp as its 2024 ‘Educator of Note’ winner. Knapp will accept the award at a special presentation ceremony on February 1st at LIMEHOF in Stony Brook (97 Main Street Stony Brook, NY) at 2 p.m. The event will feature a performance and visual presentation. The public is invited to attend. For ticket details, please visit https://www.limusichalloffame.org/tickets-and-gift-cards/
“The Long Island Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame is thrilled to honor Craig Knapp with the ‘Educator of Note’ Award and to recognize his extraordinary dedication, innovation, and profound impact on countless students and on music education in our community,” said LIMEHOF Vice Chairman Tom Needham, who manages LIMEHOF’s education programs.
With an impressive career that spans 27 years on Long Island, Craig Knapp is the 18th music teacher to be recognized by LIMEHOF since the ‘Educator of Note’ Award was established in 2007. This award recognizes exceptional teachers who demonstrate a commitment to music education, play an active role in the community, and have a significant influence on the lives of music students of all backgrounds and abilities.
“I am absolutely honored to be inducted into the Long Island Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame as the 2024 recipient of their ‘Educator of Note,’ said Knapp. “To be included on the list of past honorees—many of whom I have worked with collaboratively in a variety of music education organizations, committees, conferences, and initiatives—is both gratifying and humbling. I am very proud that I carved out a successful career in a rather unconventional and unique way.”
Craig Knapp is the director of the Nassau and Suffolk Treble Choirs of the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York, Elementary Classroom Music Specialist and Choral Director in the Rocky Point Public School District, former Adjunct Assistant Professor at Hofstra University, former Director of the Early Childhood Community Music Program at Stony Brook University, music educator, guest conductor, clinician, folk dance leader and author. He says of all his accomplishments, the most significant honor to him is the lasting influence he has had on his students.
“I have the luckiest job in the world as I get to wake up every Monday morning and make music with incredible children,” Knapp said. “Of all that I have achieved—more important than any accolades I could receive, books I could publish, guest conducting opportunities I could receive, invitations to present at professional development conferences, or performances I direct—my greatest accomplishment, and what I’m most proud of, is that students still come to visit me decades later to tell me that I was their favorite teacher and to thank me for the positive impact I had on their life. What could be better than that?”
For more information about the LIMEHOF ‘Educator of Note’ Award, visit https://www.limusichalloffame.org/educator-of-note/
About LIMEHOF
Founded in 2004, the Long Island Music Hall of Fame is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the idea that Long Island’s musical and entertainment heritage is an important resource to be celebrated and preserved for future generations. The organization, which encompasses New York State’s Nassau, Suffolk, Queens, and Kings (Brooklyn) Counties, was created as a place of community that inspires and explores Long Island music and entertainment in all its forms. In 2022, LIMEHOF opened its first Hall of Fame building location in Stony Brook Village. To date, the organization has inducted more than 130 musicians and music industry executives, and offers education programs, scholarships, and awards to Long Island students and educators.
Craig Knapp Biography:
Craig B. Knapp is an elementary choral and classroom music specialist. He has been teaching Classroom Music and Chorus, grades 3 through 5, at the Joseph A. Edgar Intermediate School in the Rocky Point School District since 1998. He is the current Rocky Point Elementary Music Department Chairperson.
A graduate of the Crane School of Music, Mr. Knapp has also studied with distinguished educators and musicians including John Feierabend, Jos Wuytack, Henry Leck, Francisco Núñez, Janet Galván, Will Schmid and Bobby McFerrin. Craig was an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Hofstra University from 2015-2021, where he taught “Conversational Solfege,” and "First Steps in Music with Orff Schulwerk.” He is the co-author of the book, “First Steps in Music with Orff Schulwerk: Sing, Say, Dance, Play" and a contributing author for the book "Feierabend Fundamentals." Craig is currently working on his third book project with GIA Publications, “Conversational Solfege with Orff Schulwerk,” due out at some point in 2025. Mr. Knapp was a member of the General Music Writing Team for the Curriculum Project of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) and the Library of Congress of the United States (LOC), "Teaching with Primary Sources," published 2016-2017. Craig is also the former director of the Early Childhood Community Music Program at Stony Brook University, where he instructed children in Pre-K through 2nd grade from 2017-2022.
With his innovative and energetic approach to music education, Craig Knapp also directs the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York’s Children’s Treble Choirs (www.myo.org), where he has conducted at many reputable music venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Radio City Music Hall. Mr. Knapp has also directed The Star-Spangled Banner several times with his MYO choirs at Citi Field prior to New York Mets baseball games and at the Nassau Coliseum prior to New York Islanders hockey games. He has conducted several commissioned pieces by renowned composers including Nick Page, Jim Papoulis and Melissa Keylock/Jill Friedersdorf. Mr. Knapp has held Master Classes with his MYO students with guest conductors/clinicians including Francisco J. Núñez and Jim Papoulis.
Craig believes in fostering a tuneful, beatful, artful learning community based on the music education curriculum of Dr. John Feierabend. Through Dr. Feierabend’s approach, Craig passionately teaches his children through research-based and developmentally appropriate pedagogies that use quality literature, while strategically infusing elements of the Orff-Schulwerk approach and Kodály concept into his music teaching.
Mr. Knapp's school choral ensembles have performed annually at New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) Major Organization Evaluation Festivals since 2003, where they have received consistent "Gold" and "Gold with Distinction" ratings. Mr. Knapp has sponsored many students' participation in various American Choral Directors Association’s Children's Honor Choirs, and Organization of American Kodály Educators’ National Children’s Choirs in various cities including Chicago, IL, Washington D.C., Denver, CO, Philadelphia, PA, Providence, RI, Baltimore, MD, Buffalo, NY and Albany, NY.
Craig Knapp is a respected clinician, and has presented workshops at national conferences for the National Association for Music Education National In-Service Conferences, Feierabend Association for Music Education (FAME) Biennial Conferences, American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) National Conference and Biennial Children's Choir Retreat, American Orff-Schulwerk Association (AOSA) National Professional Development Conference and Organization of American Kodály Educators (OAKE) National Conference. Craig has also presented workshops at regional conferences for the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) Eastern Division and Organization of American Kodály Educators (OAKE) Eastern Division Tune-Up. He has also presented for state and local organizations including the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) New York Chapter's Fall Conferences, New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) Summer and Winter Conferences, New Jersey School Music Association (NJMEA) Summer and Winter Conferences, Connecticut Music Educators Association (CMEA) In-Service Conference, American Orff-Schulwerk Association's Long Island Chapter (LIAOSA), Kodály Organization of New York (KONY), Balanced Mind Curriculum Conferences, Suffolk County Music Educators Association (SCMEA) Classroom Music workshops, Suffolk County Chapter of NYSCAME (New York State Council of Administrators of Music Education) Professional Development Music Education Symposium, Nassau and Suffolk County Chapters of NYSCAME (New York State Council of Administrators of Music Education) Professional Development Series and various public school districts on topics including children’s choirs, elementary classroom music, curriculum, and implementing music technology.
Craig has been the guest conductor for the Connecticut Music Educators Association's Elementary Honors Choir, the New Hampshire Music Educators Association Elementary Honors Choir, the Ohio Music Education Association Children's All-State Choir and the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association Elementary ChorusFest. He has also been the guest conductor/clinician for the Kodály Organization of New York's "Voices United!" Festival in New York City. Craig has also been a guest choral conductor for Dutchess, Monroe, Nassau, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Schoharie, Suffolk, Ulster and Westchester County Music Educators’ Associations in New York. Mr. Knapp has also been a clinician for the NMEA and SCMEA PEAK (Parents Educators And Kids) Festival, with lessons on Orff-Schulwerk, Kodály, Choral and World Music Drumming, and has also been a guest conductor for the SCMEA Eugene Reichenthal Day of Recorder.
Mr. Knapp completed Orff-Schulwerk Level I, II and III at Hofstra University and Orff-Schulwerk Master Class at the University of Memphis' Rudi E. Scheidt School. He completed Kodály Level I, II and III, and FAME First Steps in Music, Conversational Solfege Beginning/Advanced Music Literacy, at the University of Hartford's Hartt School of Music. Craig completed Level I & II of the Doreen Rao Choral Music Experience Institute at Ithaca College. He completed Level I, II and III in World Music Drumming and Level I in Technology Institute for Music Educators (TI:ME).
Mr. Knapp is a Past-President of SCMEA (Suffolk County Music Educators’ Association). Craig is an active member of NYSSMA (New York State School Music Association), and served on their Curriculum Committee from 2012-2022. Mr. Knapp also served on the NYSSMA Manual Selection Committee for Treble Chorus, Levels 1-3, from 2015-2022. He served as the Administrative Program Coordinator for the Orff-Schulwerk Summer Studies Program at Hofstra University from 2005-2019 and served two terms as the Membership Chairperson for LIAOSA (Long Island Chapter of the American Orff-Schulwerk Association). Craig is a Lifetime Member of OAKE and served on the OAKE National Conference Choir Committee from 2019-2021. He is also a Lifetime Member of ACDA and has served three terms as chairperson for the ACDA Eastern Division Elementary Honor Choir, three terms as chairperson for the NY-ACDA Elementary Honor Choir, two terms as NY-ACDA Repertoire and Standards Chairperson for Children's Choirs, and two terms as Long Island Regional Representative for the New York Chapter. Mr. Knapp is also a founding member of FAME where he is a Lifetime Member and has served on their Board of Directors as President-Elect and Member at Large. He also served as a FAME Choral Committee Chairperson from 2019-2022 and was a member of the FAME Endorsed Teacher Trainer Committee from 2014-2016 and from 2020-2022. Craig is the only music educator to simultaneously hold Lifetime Memberships in ACDA, FAME and OAKE.
Mr. Knapp is currently a member of the following professional music education organizations: ACDA, AES, Americans for the Arts, AMTA, AOSA (LIAOSA), ARS, ATMI, Chorus America, DSA, ECMMA, FAME, GIML, IFCM, ISME, MTNA, NAfME, NATS, NMEA, NYSCAME (Suffolk), NYSSMA, OAKE (KONY), SCMEA, and TI:ME.
Craig Knapp was the first music educator to have the distinction of being the recipient of the Dowling College/News 12 Long Island Educator of the Month during the 2005-2006 Academic Year. Mr. Knapp and his 5th Grade Select Chorus "High Notes" students were also featured on the New York State School Music Association's "Music Views - Standards-Based Teaching & Learning Across the State" DVD Project. Craig received the Rocky Point Parent Teacher Association's Jenkin’s Award in 2007.