Alex Ring
Contributing Writer
Leah Poe, the new orchestra teacher, has been in the school district for four years but just now moved to the high school. She brings experience of playing with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra four times.
Poe teaches orchestra for the year when Katherine Alexander is home on maternity leave. She has been in the school district for the last four years teaching orchestra at Steger and Hixson
Poe received her Bachelor’s Degree from UMSL in 2006. She then earned her Master’s degree from Webster University in 2008.
Poe does not have a music education degree. Instead she has degrees in musical performance for both violin and orchestral.
About what her dream job would be she said teaching at WGHS is what she has wanted to do. While in college Poe said she would practice about two-to-three hours every day, and that is the advice she gave to aspiring musicians, saying at least 45 minutes would suffice to stay competitive in the band.
Her musical experience has allowed her to play with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra four times. She said this was one of her best musical accomplishments.
Poe described playing with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra as, “The ultimate experience for taking every piece of information you have learned about reading/playing music, and putting it all together at the same time on the fly.”
Poe said playing with strobe lights and fire in the background is a great way to learn to play with distractions.
Poe said about her plans for WGHS orchestra, her goal was “Get the orchestra on the map” and to be competitive with the other local bands.
She plans to do this by taking the orchestra to festivals hopefully including the Heritage Music Festival hosted in Nashville, Tennessee this year. The goal of these trips is to gain competitive experience along with positive feedback.
Poe is very excited to be with the orchestra, and the expertise leading the band could result in getting the orchestra nationally known, she said.
