Sam Tooley teaches string orchestra at Stewart Middle School and Baker Middle School in Tacoma, Washington. A 1995 engineering graduate of Walla Walla College, he subsequently completed a master's degree in music education at the Eastman School of Music, focusing on the ideas of Edwin Gordon's music learing theory.

Now in his third year with the Tacoma Public Schools, Tooley previously taught music in Pasadena, California, at Clare E. Rogers Elementary School in College Place, Washington, and at the Koror SDA Elementary School in the Republic of Palau. He plays bassoon, low brass, and violin.

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