Hill Engel (she/her/hers) is the OMA/Music Teacher at Doolen Middle School.
Ms. Hillary Engel grew up in central Illinois before moving to Tucson in 2009 where she attended the University of Arizona for both her bachelor's and master's degrees in music education and percussion performance, respectively. Once she completed her time at UA, she chose to stay in Tucson and has been teaching in TUSD for the past 9 years, with this being her third-year teaching OMA and music at Doolen MS.
Ms. Engel owes the life that she has today to music and an incredible support system. Music was the catalyst that she needed to find the strength to rewrite her own life's story. Through music, Ms. E has travelled and performed all over the world, including Mexico, Brazil, China, and South Africa. Though she is not able to fluently speak the language of many of the places she has performed, she has always found a common language with those musicians through music. It is Ms. Engel's hope that each of her students is as uplifted and supported through music as she was.
We asked Hill six questions about her life as a musician:
What Instrument Do You Play?
Percussion
Best flavor of Pop Tart?
Brown Sugar Cinnamon, for sure!
Favorite Piece to Conduct?
Whitacre's "October". It was always a favorite to play and took on a whole new meaning after conducting it.
Baton, Pencil, or just your hands?
It depends-hands for smaller groups, baton for bigger groups.
What Instrument do you WISH you knew how to play?
I wish I had had voice and piano lessons growing up, but it's never too late to start!
Best piece of musical advice you've been given?
"Practice alone, rehearse together." Also, "Early is on time and on time is late" is appropriate for every one of life's occasions, not just band practice 🙂
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