Gloria became owner and director of Music Together in Susquehanna Valley in June 2023. She and her family moved to the west shore in the summer of 2022, having previously lived in Palmyra, PA and been born and raised in Lambertville, NJ. She graduated from Lebanon Valley College in 2011 with a B.S. in Music Education and B.A. in Music Performance on Clarinet. She then taught in the Lebanon School District for ten years, teaching first to fifth grade general music, chorus, and handbells for eight years, and Elementary Band for two years.

One of Gloria's favorite things about Music Together is the emphasis on the musical environment parents and caregivers create for their children, and that this environment is the real source of a child's music ability. And she is a testament to that! Born to self-professed "not musical" parents (she's still working to help them rebrand themselves!) they surrounded her with a varied musical palette, frequent kitchen dance parties, and enthusiastic singing at home, in the car, and out and about. With Music Together she's learned it's not genetic. It doesn't "skip a generation," like her parents thought. Grown-ups engender musicality in their kids through the way they play with music with their child. That was a huge lightbulb moment for her looking back on her own childhood.

Gloria and her husband, Steve, have three daughters, two of whom fell in love with Music Together in Fall 2022 with Miss Kathy. When she’s not playing piano, guitar, ukulele, saxophone, clarinet, or accordion (yes, really), Gloria enjoys sewing, watching movies, playing... I mean working... in the family veggie garden, and doing silly voices and making up new lyrics to songs.

Julie comes to Music Together in the Susquehanna Valley with a variety of musical experiences. She grew up in Northern Maine playing flute and discovered Elizabethtown College offered a major in Music Therapy. Once in PA, she met her future husband in choir at college, and the rest as they say, is history. They sang together in the Harrisburg Singers and she began her music therapy career in Harrisburg and worked with therapists at Penn State Medical Center and Elizabethtown Masonic Home. In 2006, she moved to Lancaster County, started working with "Tempo! Music Therapy" and became a licensed Music Together Teacher. She continued to use Music Together songs in her therapy practice and taught classes, sometimes with her own children on her lap. For a change of pace, Sean and Julie moved back to Hershey in 2014 and became houseparents at Milton Hershey School.

As her children are now almost grown, Julie's son is majoring in music education at Susquehanna University and he credits that decision with seeing the joy that music brought his mom. With that new found passion, Julie is ready to help parents navigate the pleasures and demands of raising kids with the joy of music.

Mandi Kelley is a Central Pennsylvania native, having grown up in Middletown, moving to Harrisburg when first married and now a resident of Enola on the West Shore. She has an Associate’s Degree from HACC in Theatre Performance, a Bachelor’s of Arts in English with Teaching Certification from Messiah College (now University) and a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. Having served ten years as an English teacher with the Carlisle Area School District, she decided to step away from the profession to raise hers and her husband of ten year’s children.  

When she isn’t chasing toddlers around, you can find Mandi singing songs of all kinds, dancing in the kitchen, camping, kayaking, and generally being silly and loving life with her precious family. 

Music and theatre have been the cornerstone of Mandi’s life since she was little, so as the newest teacher with the Music Together in Susquehanna Valley, she is most excited to share her passion for both teaching and music with the families in the areas she’s always called home!

Kathy Eckhaus is the founder of Music Together in Susquehanna Valley. She loves to make appearances in classes by subbing, sitting in, and supporting the current teaching staff.

Kathy has a Master’s Degree in Education and more than 30 years experience in the field of education, including 11 years in early childhood settings. She trained at the Center for Music and Young Children in Princeton, New Jersey.

Ms. Eckhaus studied piano, voice and flute and taught herself basic guitar. She loves music and enjoys sharing that love with children and their families.

Kathy spent 3 years teaching in Malaysia for the Peace Corps and has traveled extensively in India, Europe, Latin America and Asia. She adds a multicultural dimension to her classes and introduces families to instruments and songs from around the world.

Music Together allows children and adults to improvise words and movement to songs. Kathy encourages this in her classes and is often seen rolling on the floor with families pretending to be birds having a dust bath, or standing on one foot while singing about a pink flamingo. Kathy says teaching Music Together is the best job she's ever had and her enjoyment shows!