88. Amy Clement and Sarah Ball discuss their careers and decades of co-teaching at North Gwinnett Middle School

Amy Clement has taught orchestra in Gwinnett County since 1997.
She is currently in her 16th year as one of the orchestra
directors at North Gwinnett Middle School. Orchestras under the
direction of Ms. Clement have consistently received superior
ratings at Large Group Performance Evaluation and her students
also participate in solo/ensemble, countywide honor orchestras,
MYSO, ASYO and Georgia all-state orchestra. The NGMS orchestra
received the GMEA Exemplary Performance Award in 2009, 2015, and
the NGMS fine arts department received the first GMEA Music
Program of the Year in 2018. Under Ms. Clement’s leadership, the
NGMS 8th grade orchestra was selected to perform at the GMEA
conference in Athens January of 2024, and Savannah January of
2012. The NGMS honor orchestra was selected to perform at the
Midwest Band and Orchestra clinic in December of 2013 and
Carnegie Hall in April of 2017.





Ms. Clement has presented at conferences in Georgia, the national
ASTA conference in Orlando as well as the Utah Music Educators
Association. She has served as a clinician and adjudicator
throughout Georgia. Ms. Clement has held leadership positions as
Georgia ASTA treasurer, GA ASTA President, was a member of the
ASTA K-12 committee (2018-2020), GMEA District 13 orchestra
division chair (2010-2012), GMEA District 13 treasurer
(2016-2018) and GMEA Vice-President in charge of all state events
(2017-2019). She is currently Past President of Georgia ASTA and
is one of two middle school orchestra lead teachers for Gwinnett
County Public Schools. In 2012, she was awarded GMEA’s Volunteer
of the Year.





A native of Louisville, KY, Ms. Clement began studying the violin
at age five at the University of Louisville. She is a graduate of
Loyola University in New Orleans where she studied violin with
Valerie Poullette and string education with Dean Angeles. Ms.
Clement received her BM in music performance and MME in string
education. She and her husband Andy live in Lawrenceville,
Georgia, with their dogs Zoey & Lovey.





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Sarah Ball has been teaching orchestra for twenty-eight years,
currently at North Gwinnett Middle School in Sugar Hill, Ga,
where she is one of three orchestra directors. The NGMS orchestra
program has 600+ students enrolled in grades 6-8. The 8th grade
orchestra was selected to perform at GMEA in January (2012 and
2024), and received the GMEA Exemplary Performance Award in 2009
and 2015. In December 2013, the NGMS Honor Orchestra was one of
three middle school orchestras selected internationally to
perform in Chicago, Illinois at the Midwest Clinic, and has
performed at Carnegie Hall.


Mrs. Ball has presented professional development sessions at the
school, county, state and national level including the Midwest
International Band and Orchestra Clinic, national ASTA conference
and The Ohio State University String Teacher’s Workshop, and the
Habits Institute in Charleston, SC. She is active as a clinician,
adjudicator, and conductor throughout the country. Mrs. Ball is
on the author team for the new GIA Publication, Habits of a
Successful Young String Musician. She is passionate about making
learning fun, impactful, and inspiring all while holding students
to highs standards. Ball started violin at the age of 10 in the
Henderson County (NC) strings program. She currently resides in
Johns Creek, Georgia with her husband Jerrod, and their cats,
Topsy and Turvy.





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