Candy Dolson Maxwell

Candy Dolson Maxwell picked up her clarinet for the first time when she was 10 years old, under the musical care of Mabel (Reim) Meyer.  She always loved music as a child, and knew she wanted to play the clarinet when she saw the high school marching band in the local Memorial Day parade.  As she grew, her love for music grew as well.  She began taking lessons in 1985 with Lori Ludlum of Williamstown.  At that point in her life, under the guidance of her high school band director, Albert Bazzel, she decided she wanted to become a music teacher.

In 1988, Mrs. Maxwell began studying music at Rowan University with former clarinet professor, Dr. Benjamin Christy.  During her time at Rowan, she ranked at the top of Dr. Christy’s studio, playing principal clarinet in the Rowan College/Community Orchestra under the direction of both Dr. Robert Taylor and Maestro Salvatore Scarpa.

Upon graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Rowan in 1994, Mrs. Maxwell secured a position in Pittsgrove Township as the district’s choral director for grades one through twelve.  Over the past 15 years, Mrs. Maxwell has given private lessons to many young clarinet students helping many of them achieve seats in the All-South Jersey Band and Orchestra, the All-State Band and Orchestra, and the All-Eastern Band and Orchestra.  Several of her students have gone on to study music in college and become music teachers, college professors, composers, and performers.  In 1999 Mrs. Maxwell left Pittsgrove Township and accepted her current position as general music teacher, choral director and bell choir director at Whitman Elementary School in Washington Township.