Uniondale music teachers honored at Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame

Five exceptional music teachers from Long Island were recently honored at the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame in Stony Brook at their location of the same name during a special ceremony celebrating the organization's Educator of Note Award winners.

Founded in 2004, the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving, celebrating and highlighting Long Island’s musical and entertainment heritage as an important resource for future generations.

This year’s special ceremony, honoring the recipients of the awards from the past five years, marked the return of the LIMEHOF awards gala for the first time since 2019 due to restrictions brought on by the pandemic, held at their Stony Brook museum location of the same name, which was opened in 2022.

Among the honorees, two music teachers from Uniondale who have made tremendous impacts in young people’s lives both on and off the stage. Frank Abel, who won in 2022, and 2019 winner, Susan Weber were both recognized for their outstanding contributions to music education and their profound impact on their students' lives.

“We all had and have such meaningful careers that have impacted music education in so many different ways,” said Susan Weber. “Bottom line is that we all love seeing the reaction with our students and former students and as time goes on how music education impacts kids and it was just a very special day.”

LIMEHOF’s Educator of Note recognizes music teachers who are top in their field and making a difference by building strong educational programs for students. To date, the organization has inducted more than 120 musicians and music industry executives, and offers education programs, scholarships, and awards to Long Island students and educators.

Tom Needham, second vice chair and educational programs director at LIMEHOF, was proud to highlight the educators’ achievements. “When you get all these people together in one room and you hear about the number of students they’ve influenced over the years and the impact they’ve had on music education on Long Island — it’s truly incredible,” he said. “We’re so excited to have this opportunity to have them all here in the room and to celebrate the good things that they’ve accomplished.”

Supporting and highlighting musical education and upcoming talent through its education programs is a large part of LIMEHOF’s mission, according to Chris Collora, a spokesperson for LIMEHOF.

“Each year the Long Island Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame presents an Educator of Note Award recognizing outstanding achievement in Long Island music education and normally they present the awards publicly during their galas,” he said. “LIMEHOF has not held an awards Gala since 2019 in large part due to covid restrictions and these award winners were unable to receive their awards in a public ceremony, so LIMEHOF organized this special ceremony for them at their Stony Brook Museum location.”

“What a wonderful ride,” said Frank Abel. “It has been a wonderful journey after 42 years of teaching on this very special day to receive this very special award at the Hall of Fame.

“We don’t go in teaching for awards but this one right here I’m going to cherish,” Abel said.