Trumpet and Horn for the Music Teacher

Rachel J. Maxwell attended Illinois State University and graduated in 1993 (Summa Cum Laude) with a Bachelor`s Degree in Music Education. She received a Master of Music Education degree from the University of Illinois in 1997. In 2003 she completed a Master of Educational Leadership degree from Aurora University. Mrs. Maxwell has also completed additional coursework in team-building, leadership and working with diverse students. Mrs. Maxwell has taught band in the West Aurora School District (1993-95) and in the Oswego School District (1995-present).

Mrs. Maxwell currently serves as the Director of Bands and webmaster at Traughber Junior High School and as the Junior High Performing Arts and Band Coordinator for the district. She has taught music education courses at VanderCook College of Music in Chicago and North Central College in Naperville, IL and has been invited to be a guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator at a number of music camps and festivals including The NC All-State Middle School Band, ISYM, Il State Univ. Junior High Camp and several IMEA District Level Festivals. She is also a part of the team from Oswego who commissioned and premiered Sheltering Sky (2012) by John Mackey , Sol ye Sombra (2014) by Donald Grantham and Atmosphere (2016) by Scott McAllister.

Under her direction the bands at Traughber JHS have received national acclaim and have performed at The Midwest Clinic (as a clinic presentation and rehearsal lab group), the Illinois Music Educators Association All State Conference (1999, 2008, 2010, 2014), the University of Illinois Super-state Festival and at the ASBDA 2004 National Convention. The Jazz Bands have performed at the North Shore Jazz Festival, Music in the Parks, Jazz in the Burbs, IGSMA Band Contest, Oswego Jazz Nite, Oswego Junior High Band Festival and Hackney`s.

Rachel Maxwell is a member of the The National Association of Music Education, Illinois Music Educators Association, American School Band Directors Association, National Council of Supervisors of Music Education, and a number of honor societies. She is the recipient of the Who`s Who Among American Teachers Award, Who`s Who Among Emerging Leaders Award, Who`s Who In American Education Award, Who`s Who Among American Women Award, ASBDA/UMI Outstanding Young Band Director Award-Junior High Division for the North Central Region of the United States, Chicagoland Outstanding Music Educator, National Band Association Citation of Excellence, and the National Recipient of the Jim Ott (Drum Corps International) Scholarship. She also serves on the advisory team for the dynamic professional learning Facebook site Band Directors Group; A World-Wide Professional Learning Community.

Matt was born in Calgary, Alberta and was raised in Palm Springs, California.  He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from VanderCook College of Music in 2014 and his graduate degree in Music Production from Berklee College of Music in 2020.

Matt educates by day and is an active musician and producer by night. He has taught for Palm Springs Unified School District for the past 11 years, serving as director of bands at Desert Hot Springs High School for 7, and Palm Springs High School for 4. As a band director, he has conducted his ensembles at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles twice, and has led international performance tours to Ireland and Spain. His band will perform as part of the Rome Parade on New Year’s Day in Italy in 2026.

Additionally, he has served as the applied trumpet instructor at College of the Desert in Palm Desert, California for the past 10 years. He maintains an active schedule as a freelance trumpet player and producer, and can be found on numerous independent releases for various artists ranging from pop to jazz and hip-hop.

This is the second MECA course that Matt has taught for VanderCook- the first being “Audio Recording and Editing Techniques for the Music Educator”.