About Mr. VandeWalle

Willie I. Kocurek Elementary School

Music Department

9800 Curlew Drive

Austin, Texas 78748

Contact:

Phone: 512-841-5313

Fax: 512-282-7824

E-mail: Have a Question? Click Here to Ask Me!

“I learned so much in Mr. VandeWalle’s music class last year! I got my black belt in recorder with his help. I enjoyed participating in Music Memory and the Recorder Fest. His great sense of humor makes his classes so much fun!”

-Elissa, 5th Grade (2008)

Mr. Van is a music teacher at Widen Elementary. He has been at Widen since 2001. Every year he does a Christmas musical and a Spring musical. So far out of all my music teachers, he is the best.

-Chelsea, 5th Grade (2002)

Mr. Van is smart and nice. Mr. Van is a very talented music teacher. I am proud to have him as my music teacher. Mr. Van is also working for his Master's degree and has played the saxophone in several bands. Mr. Van was born in the 1970's.

-Jena, 4th Grade (2002)

Mr. Van is a tall, cool music teacher. He likes to play the saxophone and is very talented. We are lucky that he is our music teacher.

-Alyssa, 5th Grade (2002)

Mr. VandeWalle is the music teacher at Kocurek Elementary school in Southwest Austin.

Mr. Van started studying music more than 20 years ago when he was in elementary school. Like you, he learned to play the recorder, read basic music notation and sing basic folk songs through his school’s music education class. In 5th grade he started studying the saxophone.

In Middle School and High School he participated in Marching Band, Concert Band, Jazz Band and various other small ensembles.

It wasn’t until after High School that he started taking music much more serious and decided to make it his career. In college he began playing live music in Austin, San Antonio and a variety of other places. He performed with several bands like Salsa del Rio and Blu Funk Junction. He also recorded several albums with these bands. Playing with these bands has given him the opportunity to travel to places like Huatulco, Mexico, Oaxaca, Ireland, England and Amsterdam.

He graduated from college in 1999. He has taught at the High School and Middle School levels as a band director and is now teaching elementary music. This school year will be his 10th year in Austin Independent School District. Of those 10 years, one and a half years were spent at Barbara Jordan and Andrews Elementary. Then he spent 6 years at Widen Elementary School. This school year will be his second at Kocurek Elementary.

Mr. VandeWalle has acted as the co-sponsor for campus programs such as the “Super Scholars” and the campus newspaper, The Widen Word. In 2003 he was selected as Widen Elementary School’s “Teacher of the Year.” He also spent four years serving as a PTA board member as a teacher representative, parliamentarian and historian. Currently Mr. VandeWalle is in charge of the Koala Choir and he is co-sponsor for the campus Saftey Patrol.

He is excited about returning to Kocurek Elementary and is looking forward to the 2008-2009 school year.