The Becton Community welcomes new music director, Caitlin Lennox!

Lennox is a self-driven and passionate musician who appreciates all aspects of music. She firmly believes that music is one (if not the best) expressive form of art. She has been a part of band since middle school and has 10 years of experience in Marching Band. She recently graduated Cum Laude at West Chester University being a part of the Class of 2021, and originally only applied for the marching band position, but was gifted the opportunity to be the general music director as well. Lennox joined Becton on the consensus that she “wanted to be a part of such a renowned district.” Lennox had already heard of Becton through others and learned of the growing community with the merging of Maywood into our Becton school system. This enticed her considering “more towns mean more people to teach” according to her.    

Additionally, Lennox holds great values regarding teaching. She believes that her job takes poise and intricacy in order to produce something satiate. When asking her personally what she believes makes or breaks any good band teacher, she stated, “The most important qualities of a band director are a willingness to continue learning, as well as the ability to adapt to students’ needs. Every student comes into music class with a drive to create, and it is the job of the music teacher to foster that creativity. Allowing yourself to accept new information as it is presented will allow a teacher to remain up to date with technology, as well as standard practices. Being able to adapt to each student and their individual needs will allow each student to grow their music ability to its highest potential.” Anyone can certify that Lennox herself also embodies these qualities. 

However, being a band teacher also requires Lennox to mentor other students who play instruments she is not as familiar with. For those who do not know, Lennox majored in Clarinet, and minored on Alto Saxophone, but also played baritone in Marching Band. However, there are obviously more instruments than that in the band. To accommodate this Lennox shares, “I approach teaching instruments that I am not entirely familiar with by using my base knowledge of that instrument, as well as resources that are available to me such as my colleagues, method books, and online resources. I have experience in all instrument families, I completed my major on the clarinet, played baritone in marching band, and taught in an orchestral setting.” Lennox is classically trained, which enables her to teach music with tentative and detail-oriented techniques she has observed or built up from her experience in an orchestra. 

For those who still are not enticed, when interviewing Kacie Lu and a few other band students, the common ground was that Lennox is a great teacher. Kacie Lu states, “I like band class a lot! I think it’s always a fun opportunity to meet new people with similar interests, or generally still a class where people need to talk to each other, and it develops inter-grade friendships.” Lu has always been fond of the band for its enabling nature of life-lasting relationships. Lu further explains she joined the band to “continue pursuing the trumpet in school…” Lu is certainly enthusiastic about Miss Lennox being the new band teacher, and she is not the only one! According to a few other bandmates, Lennox keeps the class on task and ensures everyone is focused on their goals, but still makes sure the class is a fun time and encourages social interaction. 

Lennox’s favorite type of music to listen to is “alternative / pop punk.” Being that Lennox is mainly a clarinetist, she also enjoys playing solo clarinet. Lennox dreams to one day teach an exceptional band or concert-band program. We are proud to have someone like Lennox in our Becton Community.