Wiley PTA Welcomes Maggie Hemedinger
The first day of school is right around the corner, and this year we are welcoming several new teachers joining the Wiley team. We are so excited these talented folks will be teaching and leading our kids this year! Our parent volunteers have interviewed each new teacher so we can learn a little more about who they are and what makes them so passionate about teaching. Please help us welcome them to the Wiley family!
In this interview, Wiley mom Tift Merritt speaks to Wiley’s new music teacher, Maggie Hemedinger.
Tell us a little bit about who you are and where you were before you got to Wiley!
I was born and raised in Raleigh, and I am happy to be in my hometown. I have two younger siblings; my family is very important to me. I spend a lot of time with them, they are in Raleigh too. I lived with my partner Jonathan, and we do a lot of traveling together. I am interested in music because I love the community aspect of it and I love making music with others, so that’s where I come from when I come into teaching music.
What is the next place that you and Jonathan really want to travel?
It’s a very long list! We both studied abroad in undergrad – he went to Valencia, Spain, and I went to Valparaiso, Chile, and we actually studied abroad in the spring of 2020, so it was cut short, so we both really want to go back to those places and finish what we missed out on.
The community aspect of music – are you in a band?
I am not in a band. Vocal music is my specialty, so choir is really where I come from.
Choir is a band!
I am in a vocal band! I have a lot of choral singing experience.
How did you get to Wiley?
I was searching for open positions very early on, I graduated last year, and I was just so excited about Wiley — the chance to teach right downtown, right in the middle of the city! Wiley is an international school – I have a dual degree in Spanish – multiculturalism is really important to me, and embracing different aspects of different cultures in music especially and in language! It seems like a perfect fit – that the community would value that too!
Oh boy, we sure do! And we are so excited that you are going to be with us thinking about how music and language weave all around the world and pull us together!
Will you tell us about your music when you aren't teaching kids about it?
I do some songwriting, and I like to play around on the ukulele, and I also am joining some community choirs now that I am out of undergrad and don’t have that as a class option anymore! I love choirs – I love singing.
Are you going to make a Wiley choir?
Yes! Ideally!
When you think about being a kid, what do you remember about music?
When I think of making music as a kid, I just think of being able to sing freely with my friends without any hesitation or worry about other people, which starts to change as you get older! So creating that safe space for people to be themselves and express themselves with music is what I would like to channel from my childhood.
Do you have a favorite teacher, and can you tell us what they taught you?
When I was in high school, there was a choir director – we are still very good friends, she has a podcast, and I edit it (LISTEN TO CHOIR BATON HERE!). She taught me about not giving up. She taught me sight reading, and our biggest quote was, “Don’t stop, don’t give up!” That became my motto through her teaching. There’s a hard piece – don’t stop don't give up, keep working on it. It isn’t going to come easy, but you’ve just gotta keep trying.
What is one of your favorite pieces of music, and why?
The Imaginary Garden, by Marie Claire Saindon, a French-Canadian composer. She wrote it for an acapella choir to sing. It has a beautiful text. The text was written by an Iranian poet imprisoned and slipped out little pieces of paper to her family. That’s where the poetry comes from. So it’s about standing up, taking a stand, being who you are. It’s a really beautiful poem and the way the music is written, you can feel it in that space. I loved it so much that I contacted the composer to see if she had a solo arrangement that I could sing for my recital, and she said, “Well, I don’t right now, but I could write one!” Anytime I hear or sing or interact with that piece — I can’t not say it’s my favorite!
What do you love about teaching music to kids?
I love opening new possibilities. Not everyone will leave music classes and continue making music their whole lives, but I hope something sticks with them – a cultural connection, a historical connection, or a musical connection.
How can music help kids with other kinds of learning and in other facets of their life outside of music?
Especially with Wiley being language centered - music itself is another language. Learning to speak a musical language can help with learning English, Japanese, Chinese, French, German, Spanish!
There’s a phrase structure, there’s a grammar of its own!
Yes!
What is the most important thing kids can bring to your class?
An open mind! A readiness to try new things! If they bring that every day, we can go really far!
This is a question from my daughter Jean: What are we going to do this year in music?
We are going to have so much fun!
