Biography


Mr. Laux in concert dress
Mr. Charles Laux, Jr., orginally from Mentor, Ohio, holds degrees in music education from Ohio University and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Currrently in his fourteenth year as a music educator, Mr. Laux is the orchestra director at Heritage Middle School and a string specialist in the Hilliard City Schools, Hilliard, Ohio.

In 1996, Mr. Laux began directing orchestras in the Clark County School District centered in Las Vegas, Nevada. His first assignment was at Swainston Middle School and from 1997 until 2003, he served as orchestra director and webmaster at Lied Middle School. During his term in the CCSD, Mr. Laux was chair of the CCSD Middle School Honor Orchestra and served as a technology consultant for the secondary music teachers.

In 2003 he relocated to Orlando, Florida and served as the orchestra director and guitar instructor at Cypress Creek High School. After two years at Cypress Creek, Mr. Laux was appointed as the orchestra director Winter Park High School. In 2006, the Winter Park Philharmonic was selected to perform at the prestigous Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago.

Mr. Laux conducting at the Midwest clinic in 2006

In addition to public school teaching, Mr. Laux has spent the twelve years as an adjunct faculty member at the college level. He taught for the College of Southern Nevada and Valencia Community College (Orlando, FL) teaching online music appreciation courses. He has also served as an adjunct faculty member at The University of Nevada, Las Vegas where he taught string instrument methods.

Mr. Laux's leadership roles include serving as president of the Nevada and Florida chapters of the American String Teacher's Association (ASTA). He is also a member of the Music Educators National Conference, the Ohio Music Educators Association, the Association for Technology in Music Instruction, the Technology Institute for Music Educators (TI:ME), and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity.

Conducting a concert at Full Sail
Mr. Laux has presented educational sessions at Florida Music Educators State Conferences (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007), the 2008 & 2009 Ohio Music Educators State Conference, and yearly national ASTA conferences (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009). His session topics have included podcasting in music education, audio recording for educators, basic teaching concepts and rehearsal techniques, and class guitar instruction. He has performed with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, the Nevada Chamber Symphony, and several other orchestral ensembles. He also continues to teach privately, and is a violinist in the Columbus String Quartet.

Charles with his wife Tricia and Brutus Buckeye
For the 2007-2008 school year, Mr. Laux served as as a graduate teaching associate in strings and full-time Ph.D. student in residence at The Ohio State University under the supervision of world-renowned string pedagogue and researcher, Dr. Robert Gillespie. His teaching duties included teaching string methods and string technique labs for music education majors, supervising student teachers, and serving as assistant conductor for the Columbus Symphony Youth Orchestra Chamber Strings. Mr. Laux is majoring in music education with a cognate in Technology of Instruction and Media and his research interests include distance learning (online instruction) and the use of technology in music education. Mr. Laux served as director of orchestra, grades 7-12, in the New Albany-Plain Local Schools in New Albany, Ohio during the 2008-2009 school year.


In his spare time, Mr. Laux's hobbies include working with Macintosh computers and applications, developing websites, audio recording, softball, and cooking. He resides in Hilliard, Ohio with his beautiful wife Tricia, son, Charles III, and two cats, Layla and Eleanor.