Music Department

*Diane Falk-Romaine, Area Coordinator
Dr. Falk-Romaine, soprano, joined the William Paterson University Music Department in 1992 as the Director of Music Education. She holds a B.A. in music from Montclair State University, and an M.A. and Ed.D. in Music Education from Columbia University. Dr. Falk previously has taught at the University of Redlands in southern California; at Teachers College, Columbia University, Montclair State University; and with the Rutherford (NJ) public schools. She has had an active career as a soloist and professional chorister performing throughout the United States including concerts at Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fisher Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York City, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and The White House, and touring with the Goldovsky Grand Opera Company. Committed to excellence in music education, Dr. Falk has presented clinics at in-service conferences, served as a member of the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Music Educators Association and as chair for the National Collegiate Advisory Committee for MENC. She has had articles published in several music education journals and arrangements for handbells published by Harold Flammer. She is an active conductor, specializing in choral music, and many school and community musical theater productions.

Thomas R. Charsky
Thomas R. Charsky holds a Bachelor of Music Education and a Master of Music in Organ Performance from The Catholic University of America, Washington D.C. He has completed additional graduate studies in music education and supervision from Teacher's College-Columbia University, The Hartt School-University of Hartford and Montclair State University. He holds a Level 3 Orff Schulwerk Certification and has had extensive training in both Kodaly and Dalcroze Eurthymics. He currently teaches courses in Music Education and Music Appreciation at William Paterson University, where he is Director of Music Admissions and Recruitment, and at Caldwell College.

*Carol Frierson-Campbell
Carol Frierson-Campbell, Assistant Professor of Music Education at William Paterson University, holds degrees from Tennessee Technological University, Ithaca College, and the Eastman School of Music. She is the academic editor of Teaching Music in the Urban Classroom: A Guide to Survival, Success, and Reform, to be released by Rowman-Littlefield and MENC in April, 2006. An active member of the William Paterson faculty, she teaches courses in music education and research. Dr. Frierson-Campbell's personal research interest is the role of music and music teachers in public schools, especially those in urban settings. Dr. F-C (as her students call her) coordinates the Arts in Urban Schools Partnership, a project that brings high-quality professional development to arts teachers in North Jersey's urban schools. In addition, she serves on the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Music Educators Association as the Urban Issues Coordinator, and is an organizer and speaker for the Urban Issues session at the April 2006 Biennial Conference of MENC: The National Association for Music Education.

David Jones
Mr. Jones earned his Bachelor of Science degree in music education from Wilkes University and his Masters of Arts degree in music education from Montclair State University. Additional graduate work in administration and supervision was completed at Jersey City University and William Paterson University. He taught instrumental music for twenty- seven years. His longest tenures were at Hasbrouck Heights High School and Vernon Township High School. In 1991, Mr. Jones became assistant principal at Vernon Township High School and eventually became the principal. He retired on July 1, 2000. Mr. Jones has served as president of the North Jersey School Music Association and the New Jersey Music Educators Association.

Jacques Rizzo
Jacques Rizzo is author of over two hundred educational publications ranging from a set of texts on reading jazz to a songbook for the kindergarten-primary classroom. An ASCAP Award recipient, Dr. Rizzo's publications include original works for chorus, orchestra, and band, transcriptions of classical composers such as Handel, Mozart, and Beethoven, and arrangements of standard American composers such as Gershwin, Kern, Porter, and Rogers. He has directed choral, instrumental, and jazz ensembles at both elementary and secondary levels and served as Supervisor of Fine Arts for the Wayne Township Public Schools. He has been guest conductor of area and region choruses and bands in New Jersey, worked for the NJ Council on the Arts, adjudicated festivals in New Jersey and New York, and presented workshops at conventions of the ACDA, MENC, IAJE, and the NJMEA. He received his doctoral degree from New York University.

Linda Verdicchio
Linda M. Verdicchio holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music from The College of Notre Dame of Maryland and a Master’s in Music Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her school experience includes teaching positions in Baltimore City and Baltimore County, Maryland  and the Montclair Public Schools. She taught general music in the Ridgewood Schools for 27 years where she received the Governor’s Recognition Award. She currently supervises music student teachers.

* full-time faculty