Meeting Special Needs with Alice Hammel

Alice Hammel, Virginia (USA) Outstanding Music Educator of the Year (2018) and current President Elect of the Virginia Music Educators Association (USA), is a widely known music educator, author, and clinician whose experience in music is extraordinarily diverse. She a member of the faculty of James Madison University, and has many years of experience teaching instrumental and choral music in public and private schools. She also teaches online courses through many institutions throughout the United States. She has maintained a large, independent flute studio for over 25 years.

Dr. Hammel travels widely to universities during the school year to serve as in-residence scholar in the area of students with special needs. This travel, combined with state, national, and international conference headline and keynote presentations keeps Dr. Hammel well informed of the needs of both pre-service and in-service music educators. During summer months, Dr. Hammel teaches in graduate programs for music educators around the United States. Her expertise in those teaching situations ranges from musicianship, pedagogy, and teaching students who learn differently. This wide demand places her in close collaboration with PK-12 music educators who are seeking to become better teachers and musicians.

Dr. Hammel has put these varied experiences to great use while compiling a large body of scholarly work. She is a co-author for four texts: Teaching Music to Students with Special Needs: A Label-free Approach (second edition published in 2017), Teaching Music to Students with Autism (second edition published in fall 2020), Winding It Back: Teaching to Individual Differences in Music Classroom and Ensemble Settings, and Teaching Music to Students with Special Needs: A Practical Resource (published in 2017) available through Oxford University Press. Dr. Hammel has contributed chapters to several other Oxford University Press publications. She has also written chapters for GIA and Routlege Publication resources. Dr. Hammel is a contributing author to a variety of resources available through the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) and has published widely in music, arts, special, and general education journals.

Dr. Hammel has been affiliated with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for several years and has presented multiple workshops for arts educators and arts administrators through this association. She serves on the committee for the Kennedy Center National Forum: Examining the Intersection of Arts Education and Special Education, and serves on the planning committee for their annual national conference. Dr. Hammel is a member of the Equity Committee for the National Association for Music Education.  She was on the Editorial Board of the Council for Exceptional Children – Division for the Arts, was a member of the Teacher Education and Editorial Board Committees, and is a former Member at Large for the Organization of American Kodály Educators. In addition, she serves as an expert with the National Association for Music Education’s Solutions Music Group and is a Conn-Selmer Clinician. Dr. Hammel is currently President of the Council for Exceptional Children – Division for the Arts.

Dr. Hammel is a proud alumna of Shenandoah Conservatory (BME – magna cum laude and DMA) and Florida State University (MME). She holds post-doctoral certifications from the Organization of American Kodály Educators and the Gordon Institute for Music Learning. Dr. Hammel is a multiple award recipient honoring her commitment to music education and music teacher education. In 2016, Shenandoah University honored her with their Alumnae of Excellence Award. In 2017, James Madison University created a named award in her honor celebrating her years of scholarship and service dedicated to the inclusion of all students in music education.