Salvatore Vinciguerra is the director of music at Doctors Charter School of Miami Shores. He is a native of Miami, Florida. He holds his Bachelor degree in Music Education from Troy State University, where he studied with many notable individuals in the band and composing fields which include: Dr. John Long, Dr. Harry Begian, Robert W. Smith, Carl Vollrath, and Ralph Ford. He performed in “The Sound of The South” marching, and symphonic bands, as well as the Troy State University String Ensemble.
Dr. Vinciguerra holds his Masters degree in Music Education from Valdosta State University, where he was the graduate assistant to the Director of The Valdosta State University Symphony Orchestra. The degree program at Valdosta State emphasized music education curriculum writing, and orchestral wind and string training. His duties as a graduate assistant included teaching elementary and middle school string classes in the Valdosta Metropolitan area, as well as teaching as the assistant conductor of the projects elementary and secondary youth orchestras.
His biography appears in the fifty-seventh edition of the Marquis Who’s Who In America. He has been awarded by the Miami Shores Village for having the Doctors Charter School Music Program featured at the Florida Charter School Conference in 2014, and the Florida Department of Education Office of K12 School Choice for his outstanding support of the 2014 Florida Charter School Conference. His professional activities include curriculum writing for Hillsborough County Public Schools in Tampa, Florida, and Clayton County Public Schools in Jonesboro, Georgia.
Dr. Vinciguerra was awarded several grants to help purchase musical instruments, music, and equipment for many of the schools where he taught in Florida. The organizations include: Community Foundation of Sarasota, Leslie & Margaret Weller Foundation Category 1 & 2 Grants (2004, 2005); Arts Council of Manatee County Music Grant (2004); Arts Council of Hillsborough County Music Grant (2002); Wharton High School P.T.A. Music Grant (2002, 2003); Doctors Charter School P.T.A. Music Grant (2006, 2012, 2014, 2015).
His professional affiliations include: American String Teachers Association; Conductors Guild; The College Music Society; League of American Orchestras; College Band Directors National Association; Florida American String Teachers Association; Florida Bandmasters Association; Florida Choral Association; Florida Music Educators Association; Florida Orchestra Association; The National Association for Music Education; The World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles.
He has been teaching instrumental and vocal music since 1997 in public, charter, and private schools in the southeastern United States. His current teaching position at Doctors Charter School of Miami Shores includes teaching band, orchestra and chorus.
Chorus classes at Doctors Charter School perform on an annual basis during the month of December to several nursing homes, and local community venues which have included: Aventura Mall, North Shore Medical Center, St. Catherine’s Hospital, Villa Maria Nursing Home, and the Miami Shores Chamber of Commerce.
In December 2011 the music department was a Semi-Finalist for the 2012 Grammy Signature Schools Enterprise Award. They were one of four schools from Florida and one of thirty-one schools in the United States to be selected by the Grammy Foundation.
In April of 2012, Dr. Vinciguerra was able to bring the Henry Mancini Institute String Trio as part of the Chamber Music Outreach Program with the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami to Doctors Charter School to give a special performance.
In 2014 the Doctors Charter School Music Program was featured at the 2014 Charter School Conference in Orlando, Florida. Dr. Vinciguerra helped initiate community partnerships between Doctors Charter School with The University of Miami, The Florida Grand Opera, and the Adrienne Arsht Center allowing students to attend performances and meet many famous musicians which included: Aaron Neville, Kenny G, Frank Sinatra Jr., Arturo Sandoval, Dave Grusin, Chick Corea and Branford Marsalis.
In 2015 Doctors Charter School chorus students were selected to perform for Walt Disney World’s Candlelight Processional in Orlando, Florida. Band students also participated in The University of Miami Honor Band, and the 2016 Florida All-State Honor Band. Music students attend annual musical enrichment trips that include instrumental and choral workshops at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, as well as a trip to New Orleans Louisiana, in which students attended private concerts by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the Louis Ford Sextet.
Dr. Vinciguerra holds his Doctorate degree in Music Education from Boston University where he studied various subjects in music education that included psychology, sociology, philosophy, history of American music, and research techniques. He has studied music theory and analytical techniques with composer John Wallace, orchestration techniques, musical and cultural perspectives on the blues, and jazz arranging with composers Benjamin Beirman and Adam Schoenburg.
His dissertation entitled Lived Experiences of Secondary Instrumental Music Teachers Who Teach Students with Learning Disabilities, employed phenomenological inquiry to understand instrumental music for students with learning disabilities. His research advisors included Dr. André de Quadros (Boston University), Dr. Ryan Hourigan (Ball State University), and Dr. Ronald Kos (Boston University). The publication is located on Proquest’s Dissertations and Thesis Global and emphasized the need for continued research in secondary music education and special education.
