Cecilia Martin
(2019-present)
Cecilia Martin was born in Hawaii to a military family. She came to live in Colorado in 2005. Not long afterward, Cecilia began her formal music education with the Pikes Peak Home School Band, under the direction of Bill Callen. During her time with the Pikes Peak Home School Band, Cecilia participated in Solo and Ensemble contests, as well as multiple collaborative ensembles.
From a very early age, Cecilia knew that she wanted to pursue a career teaching music. With this in mind, Cecilia would go on to receive an Associate Degree from Nazarene Bible College. Still wanting to pursue a degree in music education, but wanting to confirm if this was truly the field for her, she worked as a volunteer band director’s assistant to Dan Parmentier at Freedom Elementary School. Cecilia’s experience at Freedom Elementary further solidified her goal of becoming a music educator and prompted her to take the next step and pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education.
Cecilia went on to pursue this degree at Colorado State University-Pueblo (CSU-Pueblo). During her time at CSU-Pueblo, Cecilia’s emphasis instrument was French Horn which she studied under the instruction of Gary Stephens and Sarah Ford. During her time at CSU-Pueblo, Cecilia played with many of the university ensembles, including the university wind ensemble, orchestra, brass ensemble, and horn choir. In addition to participating in ensembles, Cecilia entered into private lessons on multiple different instruments, including clarinet, guitar, cello, and voice. Throughout her time at CSU-Pueblo, Cecilia was a music theory tutor and beginning piano tutor. Cecilia graduated from CSU-Pueblo with a Bachelor’s of Music with an Education Emphasis K-12.
Currently, Cecilia teaches private lessons on Piano, General Music, Trumpet & French Horn. She also is a member of the Rocky Mountain Wind Symphony, Canyon Winds, & Little London Winds.
Rebekah Emery
(2016-present)
Rebekah has lived in Colorado since 1994. She started playing violin in 1998.Throughout her childhood she studied violin privately with talented musicians such as Nancy Grey, Alana Pritchard Carithers, and Kay Wehofer. Rebekah was a member of Peakharmonic Youth Orchestra (formally known as Young Concert Artists). While playing in Peakharmonic, she had the opportunity to work with Michael Hanson, the concertmaster of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic. She also served as concertmaster for Peakharmonic for two years.
Throughout the years, Rebekah has been a member of Pikes Peak Philharmonic, a counselor for the Lamont Summer Academy, an assistant teacher in the Colorado Springs Youth Symphony’s Little Mozart program, and has taught private violin, viola and cello lessons.
Rebekah graduated from Pikes Peak Community College with a Liberal Arts degree. She also served as concertmaster for the Pikes Peak Community College String Ensemble, which she still is a part of even though she has her degree. At Pikes Peak Community College, Rebekah studied with Terri Moon, former member of Parish House Baroque and current member of the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs. Rebekah has been the strings director for Pikes Peak Home School Band since 2016.
Bill Callen
Founder of the Pikes Peak Home School Band Program (2001-2020)
On November 1, 2021 Bill Callen was Posthumously Awarded the Roy Ernst Award for showing perseverance, passion and commitment to outstanding musical achievement in the spirit of the New Horizons International Music Association philosophy of lifelong musical learning.
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A native of Clinton, Missouri, Bill (deceased) attended Central Missouri University, and received both a Bachelor of Music Education degree and a Master of Arts degree. While at the university, he studied Saxophone performance under Dr. Eugene Rousseau, a well known classical Saxophonist.
After serving three years in the Fifth Division Army Band at Fort Carson, Colorado, he began a thirty-year teaching career. He spent five years in Aurora, Colorado and then moved to Colorado Springs in 1975. He taught at Holmes Junior High/Middle School for the next twenty-five years, retiring in 2000.
In 2001 he founded the Pikes Peak Home School Band, giving home school students the opportunity to play in a band of their peers. In 2002 he co-founded the Pikes Peak New Horizons Band, which reached out to the adults in the community.
Bill was married to Carolyn and they have twin daughters: Karen, who lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado and Kendra, who lives in Falcon, Colorado with her husband Jon. A personal lifetime achievement for Bill was being runner-up for the Crystal Apple Award, given to the outstanding educator in Colorado Springs School District 11.
Bill and Carolyn enjoyed traveling over the years. They have been in all 50 states, all the Southern Canadian Provinces, Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama.