Rhonda Stees is a passionate music educator with a broad and varied experience in instrumental music education which includes public school teaching, college teaching, leading youth community music, and a private studio. Mrs. Stees currently teaches as an adjunct faculty at both James Madison Univeristy (JMU) and Bridgewater College (BC) in the areas of instrumental music education. Mrs. Stees has served as a JMU University Supervisor for Music Education student teachers for nearly 20 years, and has also taught music appreciation and Instrumental Techniques classes, in addition to coaching chamber groups. At BC, Mrs. Stees has taught a variety of music education courses, leads the Chamber Strings, and has taught within the oboe and string studios. 

Mrs. Stees has been an active public school educator in Arizona and Virginia. In Virginia, Mrs. Stees taught middle school and high school orchestra and served as the Orchestra Chair for the VA Music Educators Association and the VA Band & Orchestra Directors Association. Her interest in community music education for youth led her to co-found the Massanutten Youth Brass Band in 2010, a regional group of which she is currently the Director. She has also served as the wind and percussion coach, as well as interim and current conductor, for Shenandoah Valley Youth Symphony Orchestra for numerous years. Mrs. Stees earned her Bachelor's Degree at the University of Illinois and a Master of Music from Arizona State University. Mrs. Stees conducts the Youth Chamber Orchestra and Youth Symphony Orchestra in the EMU Preparatory Music program.