Mastic Beach, NY - June 17, 2015 - Performance Arts Consultants, an organization dedicated to providing rewarding and positive experiences for junior high school, high school and college-level music students, recently invited Dr. Amy Mason Sckipp, a ninth- and tenth-grade concert orchestra teacher at William Floyd High School, to serve as a guest adjudicator and clinician to a high school orchestra program in Madison, New Jersey.

According to their mission statement, Performance Arts Consultants takes great pride in providing adjudicators of the highest caliber for each of their music festivals. Dr. Sckipp was selected among a group of renowned musicians and educators from top music schools, performing ensembles and the music industry, who provide performing groups with recorded and written comments, an on-stage workshop following each performance, scores, and ratings for each performing group.

Adjudicators and clinicians can have a tremendous effect on the direction, values and accomplishments of an ensemble,” said Dr. Sckipp. “I am honored and pleased to accept the responsibility and challenge of this recent opportunity. I hope that I will foster positive performance experiences for young musicians.”

Under Dr. Sckipp’s direction, William Floyd orchestras participate each year in the NYSSMA major organization festivals and have received numerous “Gold with Distinction” awards.  Additionally, Dr. Sckipp’s orchestras have received many “Superior” ratings including the “Best Overall Orchestra” award in a regional competition in May 2015.

A native of Pickens, South Carolina, she began her music studies with piano at age seven and entered her public school's orchestra program in the fifth grade. She studied Music Education at the University of South Carolina where she participated in the highly-acclaimed USC String Project. She worked closely with pedagogues, Ms. Pam Tellejohn-Hayes, Dr. Robert Jesselson and Dr. John Bauer and performed with the USC Symphony and Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Donald Portnoy. 

Dr. Sckipp graduated with honors from the University of South Carolina in 1997, and was awarded the prestigious Peabody Award for Education. She received her M.A. (Master of Arts) in Liberal Studies from Stony Brook University, and earned both an Ed.M. (Master of Education) and an Ed.D. (Doctorate of Education) in Music Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her doctoral research described the perceptions of string orchestra teachers who do not claim orchestral string instruments as their primary instruments of performance. She hopes her research will benefit the public school string orchestra programs in America. In addition to teaching, Dr. Sckipp is a freelance violinist and violist and has served as a guest conductor for festivals throughout the state of New York.