William Boardman is the Virginia Children’s Chorus Chambers Singers Director and Solfège Instructor.  He is currently entering his 24th year as a public school music educator and church musician/director. After earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education and Orff Shulwerk certification from Old Dominion University, he moved to South Florida where he taught private piano lessons. William earned graduate certification in choral conducting at Georgia State University and taught high school chorus in the Atlanta area.  After moving back home to Virginia Beach, William was a member of the Virginia Symphony Chorus and taught three years of chorus at Corporate Landing Middle School. He currently holds the positions of Fine Arts Department Chair, Choral Director, AP Music Theory teacher, and piano instructor at Ocean Lakes High School.  As a church musician, William served as piano accompanist for Leland United Methodist church (Mableton, GA), Ocean View Baptist Church (Norfolk, VA), and is currently the director of adult choirs at Virginia Beach United Methodist Church. 

Dr. Heather Howard-Hannock is the Virginia Children’s Chorus Training Choir Director. She earned a Doctor of Music Education degree with high distinction from Liberty University, a Master of Music Education from Old Dominion University and a Bachelor of Music with teacher licensure from Liberty University. She completed an additional 9 semester credit hours at James Madison University receiving a Kodaly Music certification (a singing-based approach to Music Education that combines best practices such as Curwen hand signs, body-solfa, solfege, singing, experiencing music through movement and play, music literacy, audiating, improvising, and composing).  She is a violist and a certified Suzuki violin instructor, volumes 1-7, who teaches private and group violin/viola lessons at the Academy of Music in Norfolk, VA. She serves as an adjunct remote faculty member for Liberty University School of Music, mentoring music education Master and Doctoral graduate students as thesis/dissertation Chair. Dr. Howard-Hannock holds a Postgraduate Professional License from the Commonwealth of Virginia in Instrumental, Vocal, and Choral Music PREK-12. She has taught middle and high school orchestra and general music in the Public Schools. She is a member of the Organization of American Kodaly Educators and the Suzuki Association of Americas. She is a military spouse and is passionate about teaching military children who face the unique challenges of parent deployment and multiple military relocations which she and her family have personally experienced. Her current research includes investigating the Suzuki Triangle as an intervention for at-risk military children and their service member parent. Follow the URL to read the results of her study: https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/5660/

Taylor Walkup-Amos is the Virginia Children’s Chorus Choristers Director. Taylor is the author of Creating Inclusive Music Classrooms Through Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (TEACHING Exceptional Children, 2020) and a contributing author for Aligning Music to STEM (GIA Publications, 2020), Winding it Back: Teaching to Individual Differences in Music Classroom and Ensemble Settings (Oxford University Press, 2016), and Teaching Music to Students with Special Needs: A Practical Resource (Oxford University Press, 2017). She is the Chair of the Council for Creativity and Innovation for the Virginia Music Educators Association, serves on the board of the Virginia Organization of Kodály Educators, and has served on the board of the Kodály Organization of New York. Taylor completed her Kodály certification at Midwestern State University in Texas and Early Childhood Level I Certification from the Gordon Institute for Music Learning at Temple University. She holds the degrees of Master of Arts in Teaching and Bachelor of Music from Christopher Newport University and an Advanced Graduate Certificate in Music Learning Theory from the University at Buffalo.  Taylor is the music teacher at Yorktown Elementary School in York County, where she was recently named Teacher of the Year. She was also honored in fall 2024 by the Country Music Association Foundation as a 2024 Music Teacher of Excellence. 

Jeanie L. Baird is the Accompanist for the Virginia Children’s Chorus Training Choir, Choristers and Concert Choir. She has been active as an elementary school music teacher and church pianist in Hampton Roads for over forty years. She is currently the keyboard player / pianist at Harvest Fellowship Baptist Church in Smithfield, VA and is a substitute teacher in Isle of Wight County.  Mrs. Baird holds a BS in Secondary Education with Music Concentration for grades K-12 from Old Dominion University.

Mrs. Baird has training in the Orff Schulwerk method of teaching and has been a member of the National Orff Schulwerk Association and the local Tidewater Chapter in Virginia Beach for over 25 years.  She is also a member of the Virginia Music Educators Association.  During her first year of retirement, Jeanie traveled to Niger and shared her love of music with the patients and families at Cure Children’s Hospital.