M.M. Alumni Spotlight: Alex Gittelman

"The M.M. program at University of the Arts introduced me to essential techniques that I use daily in my teaching."

Alex Gittelman earned his Master of Music Education from University of the Arts in 2016 and has been
teaching at Haverford Middle School since 2011. He teaches 6th and 7th Grade General Music, the HMS Jazz
Ensemble, and the 6th, 7th, and 8th Grade Bands, the award-winning Haverford Middle School Jazz
Ensemble, the HMS Woodwind Ensemble, the HMS Brass Ensemble (founded in 2013) and the HMS
Percussion Ensemble (founded in 2015). He is also the assistant director of the HHS Competition Marching
Band and the 5th Grade District Band and director of the Haverford Summer Music Program.
In the 2010-2011 school year, Gittelman was an instrumental music teacher in the Pennsbury School
District. During his tenure there, he was Director of Bands at Penn Valley Elementary School, Co-Director of
Bands at William Penn Middle School, Director of Orchestras at Pennsbury High School, Village Park
Elementary School, Manor Elementary School, Oxford Valley Elementary School, Penn Valley Elementary
School, and Fallsington Elementary School, an Associate Director of the Pennsbury High School Marching
Band, and Assistant Director of the Pennsbury Concert Jazz Band.

Gittelman is a member of many premier ensembles in the Philadelphia area, including the Blackbird
Society Orchestra, the salsa band Latin Express, and the brass quintet City Brass. He has performed with
various artists, including Clark Terry, Branford Marsalis, Joe Wilder, Carla Cook, Jon Faddis, Lew Soloff, and
Jimmy Heath. His private teachers have included Matt Gallagher, Eric Schweingruber, and Terell Stafford.