Jean Wilmouth

Jean Wilmouth (1938–2007) was an internationally known musician, educator and retailer who taught the Orff and Dalcroze methods of music education throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Jean grew up in the Beechview neighborhood of Pittsburgh. He graduated from South Hills High School and studied music at Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University). He met his wife, Rita, when they were both performing for the Wilkinsburg Symphony Orchestra. They became sweethearts when she also enrolled at Carnegie Institute of Technology to study voice. They married in 1963, when Jean was starting the elementary instrumental music program in Fox Chapel School District. Jean left Fox Chapel, and eventually became the Vice President of Volkwein Bros. Music Store. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon University, and taught percussion/Orff methods at both Duquesne and Carnegie Mellon Universities. In 1967, Jean founded the Gateway to Music Percussion Ensemble, which performed concerts for school children, prison inmates and retirement communities throughout the Pittsburgh area for almost 30 years.  Jean performed regularly with the Butler Symphony Orchestra, and the Mister Rogers band.  He helped to start the Pittsburgh chapter of Orff-Schulwerk and hosted both the 1975 and the 1980 American Orff-Schulwerk Association (AOSA) conferences.  In 2003, Jean was awarded the AOSA Industry Service Award.