Alumni Spotlight: Jenna Vincitore ’14 — Striking the Right Chord
Alumni Spotlight: Jenna Vincitore ’14 — Striking the Right Chord
For as long as she can remember, music has been part of Jenna Vincitore’s world — but it all started with one unforgettable night in third grade.
Growing up in Rockland County, New York, Vincitore’s class visited the local high school to hear its full orchestra perform. That evening, she attended what was called a “musical petting zoo,” where kids could try out different instruments.
“I saw the double bass — this giant instrument — and I was mesmerized,” she says. “My parents thought I meant the cello. They said, ‘There’s nothing bigger than a cello, Jenna.’ But I pointed and said, ‘That one. That’s the bass.’ And that was it.”
Her parents, neither of whom were musicians, rented her first bass and later even changed cars to make room for it. “I have the most supportive parents,” she says. “Not everyone would say, ‘Sure, let’s get a bigger car so our daughter can play bass.’”
After moving to Sarasota, Florida, Vincitore continued to pursue music, adding flute and marching band to her repertoire. She earned her associate degree at State College of Florida before auditioning for universities across the state. UCF was supposed to be a practice run.
“I didn’t know anything about the school,” she admits. “It was my first audition, so I figured I’d just get the nerves out. But when I met Professor Michael Hill and saw the campus, I called my mom afterward and said, ‘This is it. I want to go here.’”
A week or so later, Hill called to offer her a scholarship. “I was so nervous,” Vincitore recalls. “Bass is typically a male-dominated instrument, so I felt like I had to prove myself. But I was the only female bassist in the UCF Orchestra for all three years, and I loved every second.”
At UCF, Vincitore dove headfirst into the rigorous world of music education. Her days were filled with rehearsals, lessons, and master classes. “People don’t realize how many hours go into it,” she says. “I practiced three or four hours a day and performed half-hour juries each semester.”
Determined to experience all sides of UCF’s musical life, Vincitore joined the Marching Knights her senior year — a dream she’d held since transferring. Balancing her internship teaching middle school orchestra with evening rehearsals wasn’t easy, but she made it work. “I told Dr. Tobias, ‘I’ll make sure it doesn’t interfere.’ I just really wanted to be a Marching Knight.”
After graduating, Vincitore began teaching full time — first at West Orange High School, then Bridgewater Middle School, and now at Tildenville Elementary School, where she leads both the music and theater programs.
“In elementary school, my job isn’t to make them perfect musicians,” she says. “It’s to help them fall in love with music.”
Her classroom is full of rhythm sticks, triangles and laughter. She pairs instruments with animals to help her youngest students make connections — triangles become dinner bells for cows, hand drums mimic horses galloping.
“It’s organized chaos,” she says, smiling. “They’re learning without realizing it.”
Each year, Vincitore also directs a spring musical that has become a beloved school tradition, complete with a “Trunk or Treat” reveal, where she decorates her car to announce the next show. From “Frozen” and “Finding Nemo” to “The Lion King,” her productions now attract more than 150 student performers.
When asked what keeps her inspired, Vincitore doesn’t hesitate: “It’s those moments when a student finally gets it — when something clicks. One of my former middle school students is now graduating college with a degree in music education. She told me, ‘I chose music because of you.’ That’s when you realize — this is why I do it.”
