Matthew H. Spieker has been a music educator for over 30 years and has taught all levels of orchestra and general music in U.S. school districts of South Carolina and Colorado. From 2005 to 2007, Dr. Spieker taught at the John F. Kennedy Schule in Berlin, Germany and since 2016 he has taught at Ball State University as an assistant professor of music education with an emphasis on string/orchestral education.

Dr. Spieker’s school ensembles performed several times at Colorado’s state music convention and received numerous superior ratings at large group music festivals. Some of his ensembles toured Germany and Austria and received wonderful reviews of their performances. These tours also included cultural opportunities that created lifelong friendships with students and teachers at the German Sinfonie Orchester der Musikschule Lüchow-Dannenberg.

Dr. Spieker is a guest clinician, adjudicator, and an orchestral all state/honor orchestra conductor throughout the United States. He also worked abroad in cities including Brussels, Vienna, Geneva, and Beijing, and since 2000, Dr. Spieker has been the conductor of the Internationales Orchester Camp in Lüchow, Germany.

As a clinician, Dr. Spieker speaks to issues concerning string pedagogy, classroom culture/environment, recruiting, motivation, and more. He has presented at numerous state conferences and at several national conferences such as American String Teacher’s Association (ASTA), National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Directors’ Academy, Society for Music Teacher Education (SMTE), and the Midwest Clinic in Chicago. Dr. Spieker is also an Educational Clinician for Conn-Selmer.

Published articles include state music journals of Indiana, Alabama, and Oregon. National articles include NAfME’s Teaching Music, General Music Today, Research Issues & Music Education, ASTA, and Journal of Historical Research in Music Education. Dr. Spieker’s research interests include string pedagogy, classroom culture/environment, philosophy of music education, figurative language, and music education history.

Dr. Spieker has been involved with professional communities of ASTA (American String Teachers Association), NAfME (National Association of Music Education), IMEA (Indiana Music Educators Association), CMEA (Colorado Music Educators Association), AMEA (Arizona Music Education Association), AMIS (Association of Music in International Schools) and CMS (College Music Society).

A recent project involves Ball State collaboration with the local Youth Symphony Orchestras of East Central Indiana in which pre-service teachers gain teaching experience by working with YSOECI ensembles. Through YSOECI, some BSU students are actively working in the community by teaching string instruments to students at two different after school community-groups for children in the Muncie area.

The best part of Dr. Spieker’s life is being a husband to Roberta, father to Brittney and Lyndsey, and now Grandad (Grumps) to his grandchildren.