Earl E. Higgins served as Chair of the Music Department of Great Neck North Junior High School for 25 years. A conservatory trained clarinetist, Mr. Higgins was able to develop talent on all levels, introducing a new world of music to some, while challenging the more talented students to improve and grow. Anyone studying music in one of Mr. Higgins classes knew that music was something to be taken seriously.
Mr. Higgins was raised on Long Island, New York and was graduated from the Juilliard School of Music in 1959, where he studied clarinet with Daniel Bonade and composition with Frederick Hart. After earning an MA degree from Columbia Teacher's College, Mr. Higgins served three years in the US Army as a clarinetist with the United States Military Academy Band at West Point, New York.
     Mr. Higgins served as principal clarinetist with the Columbia University Symphony Orchestra, the Riverdale Symphony Orchestra and the Little Falls Symphony in upstate New York. Before settling in Great Neck, Mr. Higgins served as Director of Music at the Stratford, New York High School, and Eastport, New York High School.
     After retiring from the Great Neck Public School System in 1991, Mr. Higgins has been busy as a writer. His most recent projects include:

• US Grant's Overland Campaign, 1864-65
• The Vanderbilt Empire: The New York Central Railroad
• Carmen Dies at Three: Teaching General Music In The Public Schools