Laura Bock
Biography
Laura Bock is an Assistant Professor of Music Education and the Music Education Coordinator at San José State University.
As a young musician, Bock grew up in central Maryland where she was an active member of her high school band and orchestra programs. She completed a BM in Music Education and Music Performance (Flute) at James Madison University and later completed both an MM and a PhD in Music and Human Learning at The University of Texas at Austin.
From 2011-2015, Bock taught 5th and 6th grade band at Walker Upper Elementary School in Charlottesville, Virginia. She served as the District XIII representative to the Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association and also performed as a second flute and piccolo player with the Charlottesville Symphony Orchestra.
Between 2017 and 2022, Bock was a band director in the Blue Valley School District (Overland Park, Kansas) where she worked with students in grades 5-12. In 2021, she became a co-conductor for the first Wind Ensemble program of Harmony Project KC, which provides free music instruction to youth in the Kansas City urban core. Bock performed on flute and piccolo with both the Midwest Winds and the Crossroads Wind Symphony and was recognized as the 2020-2021 Outstanding Young Music Educator for eastern central Kansas.
During graduate school at The University of Texas at Austin, Bock taught the woodwind and brass methods course for undergraduates and served as the Early Childhood Music coordinator as well as an orchestra teacher for the UT String Project. She also studied harp and performed with the UT Harp Ensemble.
Bock enjoys working with a variety of students across different musical content areas and age levels. Her research explores the hallmarks of effective and efficient music practice as well as trends in music teacher retention and attrition.
