I am excited to be teaching music at Superior Elementary School. So many teachers, students, and parents have made me feel very welcome. I know it will be a wonderful year!

I started singing almost from birth, so my mother says. My mom is the kind of person you always hear singing, humming, or whistling. My dad was the classical music nut—I grew up listening to ballet, opera, and Frankie Laine cowboy songs.

In 6th grade I started my elementary band career playing flute. For Christmas that year my parents gave me a guitar—I learned to play in church. In high school I had this amazing band director, Mr. Becker, who inspired and challenged me. I was a top notch math and science student, but music is where my heart lived and so to college to study music I went.

I graduated from the University of Iowa in 1986 with a degree in flute performance and a teaching certificate and off to teach I went. My first job was in the small Iowa town of Shellsburg. When I say small, I mean small. We had our own school district of 300 kids, K-12, all in one building. That’s half the size of SES! I was THE band director—5th grade, 6th grade, junior high, and high school bands, as well as jazz and marching. I also did musicals with the students—Brigadoon, The Sound of Music and Music Man.

I married my husband, Jim, in 1988. He finished his PhD in music education, and off to Ball State University we went for his first college job and my masters degree in flute performance. It was in Indiana that I first tried teaching general music and choir—I liked it so much I’ve stuck with it.

In 1994 we moved to the Boulder area—Jim to teach at CU first as associate professor, then chair of music education and now as Associate Dean of the College of music. For the first year, I taught music part time at Eisenhower Elementary in Boulder. For the last 10 years, I have been teaching elementary general music, elementary band, musicals, talent shows, etc. at Westminster Hills Elementary School in Adams County District 50. I loved my job and figured I’d stay there until I retired. As the music teacher, you know all the kids in the building, and feel like such a celebrity. Everyone knows you, and you feel very loved. It’s a difficult position to leave. So why leave…?

We moved to Rock Creek in 2001. Last fall our son, Brody, started kindergarten at SES. At my son’s music program this spring, Mr. Haley announced he had taken a job at the school his daughter would eventually attend. I was inspired to do the same—and voila…here I am. We also have a daughter, Lily, who will attend SES four years from now.

My classes are all about having the students own their musical education. Playing musical instruments and singing are skills that everyone can develop and do not require a magical “talent”. In class I emphasize singing while playing accompaniments, especially on xylophones. I have students compose music to demonstrate understanding of concepts, as well as to give them creative opportunities. In order to make my classroom work cooperatively, I help students to have the self-confidence to recognize and appreciate the ideas and compositions of their classmates.

Last, but not least, I do intend to continue the musical traditions at SES of the Songbirds, the 5th grade musical, grade level music programs and talent shows. These may not look exactly the same, but they will still offer the students at SES an opportunity to perform for the community and their peers.