Featured Clinician

Winifred Crock
Winifred Crock is the orchestra director at Parkway Central HS and maintains a private violin studio in suburban St. Louis. Crock has taught strings in the public schools for 22 years and has taught privately for 30. In addition to holding music degrees from Southern Illinois University and Kent State University, Crock is a Rotary International Foundation Scholar and graduate of the Suzuki Talent Education Institute in Matsumoto, Japan, under the tutelage of Shinichi Suzuki. She has also earned Kodály Certification from the Kodály Center of America in Boston and has traveled to Helsinki, Finland to investigate the Kodály inspired “Colourstrings” method of string teaching.

Under Crock’s direction, the orchestras at Parkway Central High have tripled in size and have performed in prestigious venues across the country. In 2000 Parkway Central music department was awarded the “Grammy Gold Signature School” status and in 2006 the “Grammy Signature School” award by the Grammy Foundation. Crock is a frequent guest ­clinician, conductor, and lecturer at numerous national and international conferences. She is active in many music organizations, writes frequently for national music publications and has been published in several international publications.

All-State Orchestra Conductors

Yoichi Udagawa
All-State Symphony Conductor
Yoichi Udagawa’s performances have been hailed as “powerful and emotionally evocative,” and his relaxed manner and ability to speak from the podium have helped new audiences as well as enthusiasts gain a greater appreciation for symphonic music.

Music Director and Conductor of the Cape Ann Symphony Orchestra, the Melrose Symphony Orchestra, and the Quincy Symphony Orchestra, Udagawa is also on the faculty of the Boston Conservatory where he teaches conducting. In addition, he is a cover conductor at the Boston Pops Orchestra.

Frequently invited to guest conduct, Udagawa has worked with many different orchestras including the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, the Nobeoka Philharmonic Orchestra, the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, the University of Texas Symphony Orchestra, the Indian Hill Symphony, the Garden State Philharmonic, the Brown University Orchestra, the Syracuse Society for New Music, the Boston Conservatory Orchestra, the Newton Symphony, the Austin Civic Orchestra, and the Mid-Texas Symphony.

Udagawa, the son of a nuclear physicist father and singer/artist mother, was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1964. His family immigrated to the U.S. soon thereafter. He began playing the violin at age four and made his conducting debut at age fifteen. After receiving a music degree from the University of Texas/Austin, he continued advanced studies in conducting with Gunther Schuller, Seiji Ozawa, Morihiro Okabe, and Henry Charles Smith.


Jeffrey Grogan
All-State Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor
Jeffrey Grogan continues his role as Education and Community Programs Conductor with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra for the 2007–2008 season. He leads the NJSO in a variety of concerts including Family Concerts, Summer Parks, and Concerts for Young People. He is also a frequent host of the “Classical Conversations” and “Post-Concert Chats” series.

Grogan’s humanistic leadership style, coupled with a strong command of skills as a musical communicator, have earned him an impressive reputation with audiences and music programs throughout the country. He considers his work with young musicians as one of the cornerstones of his career. He has recently led the Indiana University Summer Camps Orchestra, the New Jersey and Oregon All-State Orchestras, the Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestra Festival, the Michigan Youth Arts Orchestra, the California All-State Orchestra (Cal-Poly), and others.

Prior to his appointment with the NJSO, Grogan was Director of Orchestras and Associate Professor at the Ithaca College School of Music (New York). In addition to leading Ithaca’s graduate orchestral conducting program, he took the orchestra to its Avery Fisher Hall debut in April of 2005 and led the ensemble in concert programs in the United Kingdom.

Grogan was previously a faculty member of the University of Michigan and Baylor University and before that taught public school in Desoto, Texas. Grogan is a graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University and the University of Michigan. His dedication to new music manifests itself through recent collaborations with Robert Beaser, Michael Colgrass, Dana Wilson, and Karel Husa.

David Littrell
All-State String Orchestra Conductor
David Littrell is a University Distinguished Professor of Music at Kansas State University where he conducts the university orchestra and teaches and plays the cello, baroque cello, five-string violoncello piccolo, double bass, viola da gamba, and electric cello. Reflecting his interest in the music education of young people, he is the Director of String Fling, an annual event at Kansas State that attracts 700 string students. He also conducts the Gold Orchestra, which includes 76 Manhattan area string students in grades 5–12. The Gold Orchestra toured England in 1997, Seattle and British Columbia in 1999, and performed at Carnegie Hall in 2001 and 2006. They performed at KMEA in 2004 and at the ASTA National Orchestra Festival in Dallas in March 2004.

Littrell served six years as editor of the books and music reviews section of the American String Teacher, and he was editor of ASTA’s two-volume String Syllabus. He is the editor and compiler of GIA Publications’ three volumes of Teaching Music through Performance in Orchestra.
Littrell twice received the Kansas State University Undergraduate Teaching Award. He was the American String Teachers Association President in 2002–2004 and planned ASTA’s first stand-alone conference in March 2003. He represented ASTA on a trip to France in March 2004 to learn about import opportunities for French string instruments and bows.