An upbeat music classroom houses dozens of high school students and their new teacher. The teacher works off the energy in the room and inspects the sheet music of her repertoire with mathematical precision. The students are attentive and engaged as the harmonized sound of dozens of students as one fills the room.

“The amazing thing about teaching, in general, is that you get to work with people and you get to talk about human issues, relationships, problems, and the human experience all the time,” the teacher said. “Through music, I just think that’s an extra special way to do that.”

Emma Castaldi, a current voice and piano instructor, recently joined Parker’s Music Department following Upper School music teacher Sunnie Hikawa’s retirement.

In 2013 Castaldi completed her Bachelor of Arts in Choral Music Education at Northwestern University. “I’ve been a singer my whole life. I’ve always loved to sing,” Castaldi said. “In high school, I thought it would be cool to be a music teacher, and I think it was mostly because I had music teachers that were so impactful and awesome to be around and inspiring.”

After graduating, Castaldi held positions in the musical departments at Glenbard East High School, Glenn Westlake Middle School, Elk Grove High School, and Jack London Middle School. In 2017, she returned to Northwestern University to begin her master’s degree which she finished in June of this year. “I worked a little bit and then I wanted to come back to school and learn more,” Castaldi said.

While taking classes at graduate school, Castaldi concurrently went through the interview process at Francis Parker. “What’s interesting is that I lived right across the street, so I’ve been around and seen Parker for a long time,” Castaldi said. “I moved to the city five years ago, and I always thought it was such a special school and an awesome location. Chicago has such a cool community, especially for music.”

In addition to teaching, for the past eight years, Castaldi has trained voice and piano students as a private instructor. She recruits local students who typically range from lower school to college students. From there, she coordinates schedules for her students and tailors the private lessons to the need of each individual student. She focuses on building musical technique and preparing for performances.

Castaldi will teach each of Parker’s choir classes, which include New Chorale, Special Chorus, and Grape Jam. As she continually engages her students, she plans to include students in the song selection decision process for performances. Junior Jared Saef is a member of Grape Jam and had the opportunity to meet Castaldi last school year. “I am looking forward to this year with her,” Saef said. “She gave off a very bright and positive vibe, and I am looking forward to working with her during chorus. It seems like she could potentially be a fantastic choir teacher.” In addition to teaching classes, Castaldi will also co-direct the fall and spring musicals.

This past spring, Castaldi got early exposure to the various music programs at the school through the interview process. “When I started interviewing and learning more about the program, it just seemed like a really exciting place to work,” Castaldi said. “I loved the people in the Music Department and talking to the students.” Over the month of May, Castaldi observed Upper School teacher Sunnie Hikawa and Middle School teacher Rob Denien during their classes and performances. “I went to the Spring Showcase and saw the retirement Morning Ex. That’s usually not the case. When you’re a new teacher, sometimes you show up in August and set up your classroom and that’s it,” Castaldi said. “I feel really lucky that I’ve gotten to see what it’s like, and I’m so excited about the quality of singers that are in the program.”

Senior Hannah Kershner attended Castaldi’s sample class in the spring. “[Ms. Castaldi] is definitely different from Ms. Hikawa with her style of teaching and ways to control the class, but I believe it will be a successful choir year and years to come,” Kershner said. “I think that the class will adapt really well to this new adjustment because Ms. Castaldi seems really nice, and I believe she will be a good teacher.”

When asked about her passion for teaching music, Castaldi elaborated on her education philosophy going into this school year. “I think at this time your life, high school-aged students are mature and have a cool perspective on life and the world,” Castaldi said. “It’s important to continue to develop and grow that.