Ingrid Dykeman of the Hope College music faculty has been named the MSBOA Orchestra Teacher of the Year 2018 by the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association, which also recently presented her with an Emeritus award.
Dykeman, who is a lecturer in music and is the music-education coordinator at the college, was selected to receive the MSBOA Orchestra Teacher of the Year 2018 award through a vote by the association’s membership. She will be honored during the Michigan Youth Arts Festival, which will be held on May 9-11 at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. The recognition will include conducting a piece during the concert for the festival’s honor ensemble consisting of the top student winners of high school solo and ensemble competitions.
She received the MSBOA’s Emeritus award during this year’s Michigan Music Conference, held in Grand Rapids on Jan. 24-26. The recognition is given to retired band or orchestra directors with more than 20 years of service, 20 years of membership in the MSBOA and service to music education.
Dykeman has been a music educator for more than 30 years, teaching in the Kentwood and South Haven public schools, and has taught orchestra, German, theatre, general music and English. She has taught at Hope since August 2017, with her responsibilities at the college including assisting in student-teacher placements, outreach projects, guest lecturing and substitute-teaching Hope courses.
She was previously a finalist for the MSBOA Orchestra Teacher of the Year recognition in 1996, 2010 and 2012. She was also a finalist for teacher of the year for the Michigan chapter of the American String Teachers Association (MASTA) in 2009, and was honored by “Who’s Who” in “American Teachers” in 2005 as one of the top fine arts teachers in America.
Dykeman is an active private cello instructor and has had more than 40 years of experience as a private studio string teacher. She has operated Ingrid’s Music Studio since 1992, providing instruction in traditional cello, violin, viola, bass, electric Cobra cello and electric Viper violin. She is also a clinician with Meyer Music.
She has served on many community and state boards such as MASTA and the Friends of the Opera/ Education committee for Opera Grand Rapids. She has also served as the string committee representative for MSBOA District X and on the MSBOA string committee for alternative musical styles. She received The Opera Grand Rapids Betty Van Andel Scholarship (2006) and the Llewellyn L. Cayvan String Instrumental Scholarship (2006). She has also conducted during several summers at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp and served as an MSBOA string judge for the state of Michigan at both district and state levels for more than 20 years.
As a traditional cellist, Dykeman has played in various groups such as Westshore Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, Schenectady Symphony, Joia Trio and the Chancellor Flute and Bow Trio. She has also performed on her Cobra Electric Cello in the praise band for Cornerstone Church, and at the Mark Wood Rock Orchestra Camp alongside Mark Wood, world-renowned electric violinist and original member of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO). She has performed in a variety of community theatre productions and has sung several seasons in the chorus for Opera Grand Rapids.
In addition to conducting for various schools as a clinician for Hope and Meyer Music, she has been/is a guest clinician/conductor for the Tecumseh School Orchestras (winter 2011) and the East Tennessee Orchestra Association Junior Orchestra clinic (October 2010), Wayland Public Orchestras (winter 2015) and Knollcrest Music Camp (2015-17). She has also volunteered as a counselor for the Mark Wood Rock Orchestra Camp, in Kansas City, Kansas (2011-16).
She attended Hope College via a music/academic scholarship for her undergraduate degree in music education, graduating in 1985. While at Hope, she studied cello/string pedagogy with Dr. Robert Ritsema and received the music/academic achievement award. It was during her time at Hope that she also discovered her love for playing the violin.
Dykeman went on to receive her master’s in music education with an emphasis in string pedagogy in 1989 from the University of Michigan, where she met and later studied cello with Jeffrey Solow. She has also studied cello with Dr. William Conable (Ohio State University), Bruce Uchimura (Western Michigan University) and Ruth Alsop (New York City Ballet Orchestra). In addition to her master’s, she has taken post-graduate classes at Michigan State University and Boston University. She credits her love for teaching music to her first orchestra/ private cello teacher, William Cridge.