Lower Moreland Music Teacher Sarah Gulish Is A Semifinalist For Music Educator Grammy

LOWER MORELAND, PA — A local music teacher may be headed to the Music Education Grammy Awards next month.

Sarah Gulish, a music teacher at Lower Moreland High School, has been named a semifinalist for a Music Educator Award by the Recording Academy and Grammy Museum.

The award recognizes educators who have made significant and lasting contributions to the music education field and who demonstrate a commitment to maintaining music education throughout schools nationwide.

Gulish, 36, who is now in her 15th year teaching in the Lower Moreland School District, said she found out this past spring that she was nominated for the award. She is one of only 25 semifinalists from across the country, and the only one from Pennsylvania. She does not know who nominated her.

“I was really excited,” Gulish told Patch in an interview about finding out she was in the running. “I need to just tell people about this and bring some light to our program.”

Gulish said that once a nomination comes in the nominee has to fill out an application and participate in a quarter-final round with a couple of other hundred music educators before the competition moves forward.

She said one individual will be chosen in December to go to the Music Educator Grammy Award program in December to receive the top honor.

Gulish said the award is open to music educators of all stripes, including those who teach at public schools, private schools, charter schools, parochial schools and colleges and universities.

Gulish said her teaching outlook is to try and educate “every student,” which includes students who are very musically talented but also those who have never taken a single music class before in their lives.

Gulish said she is particularly excited because these types of awards typically, but not always, go toward music educators who oversee large music programs; it’s exciting to see a smaller program like Lower Moreland's recognized.

“I love it,” Gulish said of working for Lower Moreland. “It’s a really close-knit community. I like that it’s small enough that it really does feel like a family, especially our music program.”

Gulish said the Lower Moreland administration is great because school district leaders give teachers like herself a great deal of autonomy in the classroom.

One of the classes Gulish teaches is called Creativity and Collaboration in the Arts, and is a partnered class taught along side an art instructor, making for a relatively unique learning experience for students.

Gulish also teaches guitar class and leads a string orchestra for students of all grade levels at the high school. She is even involved in a high school rock band club, during which students get to visit real professional recording studios to get a feel for what it’s truly like in the music business.

Gulish is also excited because she gets to compete with fellow semi-finalist Alice Tsui, a music instructor from New Bridges Elementary School in Brooklyn, New York.

She said the two are friendly and know each other because they had previously collaborated on a past project.

According to information about the Music Educator Grammy Award program, the winner chosen in December will be picked out of a final lineup of 10 music educators from across the United States. The winner receives a $10,000 honorarium and matching grant for their school’s music program.

The nine additional finalists will receive a $1,000 honorarium along with matching grants, and the remaining 15 semifinalists will get a $500 honorarium plus matching school grants.