All boys. All boarding. Grades 9-12.
Arts
Music
Music At Woodberry
Woodberry offers a wide variety of courses for students to choose from that allow the development of their passion for music. From playing the bag pipes to mixing music electronically, boys have the chance to discover themselves through music using whichever instrument they prefer. See all available music courses here.
Private Lessons
Weekly private lessons are available on most any instrument. Students will have the opportunity to sign up electronically for private lessons during the first week of classes in the fall. Private lessons do not receive any academic credit and additional fees may apply.
Create Music Together
Choral Ensemble
The Dozen, Woodberry’s premier choral ensemble and one of its treasured traditions, specializes in acapella music from all periods of music history, especially the renaissance and modern popular music. The Dozen strives for choral excellence by emphasizing vocal technique, sight singing, performance practice, and music theory. As a member of The Dozen, you will be involved in creating original arrangements to be sung by the boys’ boarding school group.
Ensembles
Woodberry an all-boys, all-boarding school offers a wide variety of instrumental music groups, including the Concert Band, Jazz Band, String Ensemble, Chamber Music, and Pipe Band. Ensembles meet daily and include weekly private lessons or sectional rehearsals to prepare for many performances on and off the boarding school campus throughout the school year. At Woodberry you’re given the chance to showcase your musical talents to the community in our college prep school.
Chapel Choir
The Chapel Choir provides music for Woodberry’s weekly chapel services. As a choir member at the boys’ boarding school in Virginia, you will learn solid vocal technique and performance practice in a variety of styles, ranging from Gregorian chant and Renaissance polyphony to English cathedral music and some contemporary and world music. There is a big emphasis on choral diction in several languages and on music reading in both Gregorian and modern notation.
Music Featured Faculty
Our gifted music instructors offer students at our all-boys all-boarding school a wide range of knowledge and experience in music.
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Lisa Wright
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Education
Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester - BM -
Biography
Lisa Wright teaches music and directs Woodberry’s strings program. She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music. Before coming to Woodberry in 2010, she spent many years performing and teaching in New York City and serving in college administration. Ms. Wright is a founding member of The Bloom Trio and regularly performs with the Roanoke Symphony, Opera Roanoke, the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival, the Wintergreen Summer Music Festival, and the Chamber Orchestra of Charlottesville. She lives in Harrisonburg.
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Tim Stakem
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Education
Frostburg State University - BS
University of Southwestern Louisiana - MM -
Biography
Tim Stakem, who holds the Bernard Mastership, directs the jazz band, the wind ensemble, and the pipe band and mentors varsity music students. A member of the faculty since 1994, Mr. Stakem has a BS from Frostburg State University and an MM from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now University of Louisiana at Lafayette). He and his wife Tracey, are the parents of two sons: Brenden ’18 and Aidan '23. The Stakems live in the Jackson House.
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Wallace Hornady
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Education
Belhaven College - BM
Westminster Choir College - MM
The Royal College of Organists - ARCO -
Biography
Wallace Hornady is chair of the music department and the Preyer Master for Fine Arts. He teaches music, directs Woodberry’s vocal groups, plays the organ, and assists with dramatic productions. Mr. Hornady earned his BM from Belhaven College, his MM from Westminster Choir College, and the ARCO from The Royal College of Organists. He came to Woodberry in 1996 from the American Boychoir School and lives in the Seymore House.
Woodberry Forest School is an exceptional private school community for high school boys in grades nine through twelve. It is one of the top boarding schools in the United States and one of the only all-boys, all-boarding schools in the country.
Explore & Resources
Woodberry Forest admits students of any race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, and national or ethnic origin to all of the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, or national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic or other school-administered programs. The school is authorized under federal law to enroll nonimmigrant students.