who are the goobers?

Rob Westerberg & Jarika Olberg

Rob Westerberg is Choral Director at York High School in York, Maine. He is past state President of the Vermont Choral Directors Association, Vermont Music Educators Association, the Maine Music Educators Association. Mr. Westerberg has managed District, All State and Eastern Division Choirs and has twice run the Maine All State Music Festival. He has served the Maine Department of Education in the rewriting and revision of the Maine Learning Results for the Visual and Performing Arts, first in 2005 as a member of the writing team and again on the 2020 steering committee. He is also a co-founder of the nationally recognized Maine Arts Assessment Initiative.
Westerberg holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Keene State College and a Masters in Music in Choral Conducting from the University of Maine. He is the 2020 York County Teacher of the Year and has also been professionally recognized by the Keene State College Department of Music, the Maine Department of Education and the Maine Choral Director’s Association. He is past Director of the Portland Community Chorus. has directed the Portland Symphony Orchestra’s Magic Of Christmas Choir, guest conducted over sixty Honors Choirs throughout New England, and conducted the Maine Festival Chorus on the stage of Carnegie Hall. At York High School he established a graduation requirement specifically for music, making it the only public High School in the northeast to possess one. He is a frequent guest clinician for proficiency based learning and reporting in music education.

contact Rob: mainellama4@gmail.com

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Jarika Olberg is a 2011 graduate of Plymouth State University and has already spent time as choral director grades 4 through 12 for the Wayneflete School in Portland, Maine, and as a K-5 music teacher in Ponte Verda, Florida. She has come back to New England as choral director at Oyster River Middle School in Dover, NH and has a voice studio of her own as well. Her website is Jarikaolberg.com. She is about a light year ahead of where she should be in her development in the field of choral music and education, and continues to be a mentor to me. Her ongoing studies have quickly made her one of the most valuable resources I know with regard to both practice and pedagogy in the music classroom. “Isn’t it obvious” is her catch phrase and is almost always preceded by a concept so wonderfully articulated that it challenges your way of thinking; don’t listen to Jarika if you don’t want to be challenged.

Why start a blog with Jarika? Well… isn’t it obvious?

contact Jarika: jpolberg@gmail.com