Joc Heckman
MM '18
As a full-time elementary band and orchestra director, I appreciate that University of the Arts truly puts “you” in UArts. Their Master of Music in Music Education program is carefully designed to fit the needs of current music educators. The program blends a set of foundational core courses together with personalized, relevant electives that run in tandem with the renowned Summer Music Studies courses. I have learned from some of the best in the business—from a jazz bootcamp with Denis DiBlasio to a class of all things pertaining to young bands with Scott Watson, and to music technology with Tom Rudolph—UArts classes are taught by true experts that excel at their craft. Thank you so much to everyone at UArts for the skills, knowledge and professional relationships I have taken with me and that in turn, I can bring to my students.
Joc Heckman is an alum of the UArts MM in Music Education program and an elementary band and orchestra director in the Eastern Lancaster County School District. A native of Hamburg, PA, Joc earned his bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Lebanon Valley College, where he studied the saxophone with Tom Strohman. While teaching instrumental music for grades 4–6 at the district’s three elementary schools, Joc also directs two elementary bands, an elementary jazz band and two elementary orchestras. In addition to performing in evening concerts for families and in-school “concert tours” of the district’s three elementary schools, Joc’s elementary students at ELANCO can also be seen actively engaged with the community such as the elementary jazz band’s annual performance at Tel Hai Retirement Community and elementary band’s side-by-side Memorial Day concert with the New Holland Band.