Heather Smith
Heather M. Smith, Owner and Director of MUSIC PLAY, is a former elementary music teacher for the Loudoun County and Fairfax County Public Schools. She also held the music teaching position at the Lake Anne Nursery Kindergarten for a number of years. Currently, she is the Director of Children’s Choirs at St. John Neumann Catholic Church, and the music teacher at United Christian Parish Preschool, both in Reston. Holding Bachelors degrees in Music Education and Voice Performance from the State University of New York at Buffalo, Heather also has a Masters Degree in Music Education from the University of South Carolina.

Heather has assisted in numerous early childhood research projects including her Masters thesis project entitled Vocal Responses of Two Infants to Three Criterion Songs. She was also one of six music teachers featured on the PBS Documentary Music Play: Ba Ba, Be-Bop, Beethoven. Heather lives in Reston with her husband and three children.

Jennifer Zschunke
Jennifer Zschunke is an enthusiastic singer and entertainer who has spent years performing with a cappella and madrigal groups. A former marketing and communications professional for non-profit, high tech and investment firms, Jennifer chose to stay home when her oldest son was born in 2006. She took MUSIC PLAY wth her son in 2007 and was immediately pleased with the program and Heather's commitment to its theories. In turn, she began working with Heather in 2008 to train to become a MUSIC PLAY teacher.

Jennifer sang in three high school choirs, including the elite Madrials, and, at the College of William & Mary, sang with the Intonations, an all women's a cappella group, for four years. After graduating from college and moving to the D.C. area, Jennifer sang with dcVocals, a co-ed a cappella group, for five years; after a move to Atlanta, she sang with Octave Atlanta, an all women's a cappella group, for three years. Currently, she is singing with Kismet, a local D.C. all women's a cappella group that performs regularly at Jammin Java, among other locales.