William Wassum is a native of Huntington, West Virginia, where
he received his BA in music education and his MA in violin performance from Marshall University. His major teachers at
Marshall were Alfred P. Lanegger, Patricia Green, Lucie Furlie, and Dr. Reed Smith. He is currently a doctoral student at Liberty University in music education.
During his 46 years as a music educator, he has directed award winning ensembles from the elementary through high school levels in Texas, West Virginia, South Carolina, and Virginia. Mr.
Wassum is currently the Director of Orchestras for Fredericksburg Christian Schools in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Former Director of Orchestras at Thornburg Middle School in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, Mr. Wassum helped to start the Spotsylvania County Orchestra Program 24 years ago. In Virginia, he guest conducted the Central Regional Orchestra, the Chesterfield All-County Orchestra, the Hanover All-County Orchestra, and the Southern Tri County Honors Orchestra in Maryland.
He is a member of the Paul Rolland Pedagogy Society, The Colourstrings Association, The American String Teachers Association, the Suzuki Association of the Americas, the American Viola Society, the National Music Teachers Association, and the National Association for Music Education.
He was previously President of the state of West Virginia String Teachers Association and for over 10 years chaired the North Central Virginia Regional Orchestra Audition Prep Day in a five county school system area of Virginia for The Virginia American String Teachers Association. William Wassum has been an orchestra conductor, violin and viola instructor, and chamber music coach for the Sam Houston State University String Camp (2 summers) in Huntsville, Texas, and taught violin and viola technique classes and sectionals for the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp (12 summers) in Twin Lake, Michigan. As a faculty member at Blue Lake, William performed on both violin and viola. Performing on violin Mr. Wassum played in both violin sections, and on one occasion sat as concertmaster with the Festival Orchestra. As a violist Mr. Wassum performed as assistant principal, and in one concert sat as principal viola. In 2000, Mr. Wassum toured France with the Blue Lake Faculty String Orchestra, and the Blue Lake American String Quartet, performing in Paris and the South of France. He served on the faculty of the Rappahannock Summer Music Camp in Fredericksburg, Virginia where he conducted the inaugural year orchestra, taught technique classes, and was the chamber music coach for ten (10) summers. William has been honored to present at the ASTA National Conference six years in a row and continues sharing his experience and knowledge with other teachers.
William began his interest in Rolland Pedagogy during student teaching after being involved in a Paul Rolland-styled String Exploratory class under his supervising teacher. Mr. Wassum saw Mr. Rolland in a Master Class at the University of Kentucky and knew that he had to learn more about Rolland Pedagogy. 1978 William attended a two-week session with Mr. Rolland at the University of Illinois. After Mr. Rolland’s untimely death in November of that year, Mr. Wassum followed Mr. Rolland’s former students and attended pedagogy workshops with teachers such as Gerald Fischbach and Sheila Johnson. Mr. Wassum is a certified Rolland presenter, mentor, and pedagogue with the Paul Rolland Pedagogy Society.
As a registered Suzuki violin and viola instructor, Mr. Wassum taught for the Marshall University Preparatory Department (9 years) and the Converse College Pre-College Department (3 years). He is currently the adjunct instructor of violin and viola and Director of the String Ensemble at the University of Mary Washington. Mr. Wassum continues to teach violin and viola lessons in the Fredericksburg community through the Wassum String Academy at New Life in Christ Church. He has studied the Karen Tuttle Coordination Technique, Bornoff Pedagogy, and the Colourstrings Method. William is one of a handful of Americans who have studied the Colourstrings method in Great Britain, Australia, and Finland with its founder and author Geza Szilvay and with Yvonne Frye, the leading Colourstrings tutor from the East-Helsinki Music Institute and pedagogy lecturer at the Sibelius Academy.
As a Suzuki violin and viola instructor Mr. Wassum taught for the Marshall University Preparatory Department (9 years) and the Converse College Pre-College Department (3 years). He is currently the adjunct instructor of violin and viola and Director of the String Ensemble at the University of Mary Washington. Mr. Wassum continues to teach violin and viola lessons in the Fredericksburg community through the Wassum String Academy at New Life in Christ Church. He has experience and training, not only in Suzuki, but also in Colourstrings and is one of a handful of Americans who has studied the Colourstrings method with its founder and author Geza Szilvay and with Yvonne Frye, the leading Colourstrings tutor from the East Helsinki Music Institute and pedagogy lecturer at the Sibelius Academy.