Hoke County Schools

As long as I can remember, I have always loved to sing. My family even had a rule just for me – no singing at the table. I was in choirs, sang solos, played the piano (not beautifully, but I played) throughout my childhood, and was just generally a happy, fun, musical, creative kid!/ As an adult, I still sing at the table… and everywhere else! I still love music, but my biggest love of music now is finding fun, creative ways of explaining concepts and creating music. I think I excel at breaking down musical concepts for little people in accessible ways. I LOVE coming up with different ways of composing, working collaboratively to make music, sharing other cultures or musical styles, and using technology to create sound. I am a total music-teacher nerd, because even after 17 years of teaching, I still have the most fun coming up with new activities, making materials, and watching those ideas come to life with my students. I love when students finally get it, and when the sounds start to sound less like NOISE, and more like MUSIC! /Notice, I didn’t mention performances. I feel that music (at least for younger students) should not be about the performance, but the experience. Sure, I still direct musicals and concerts, but that is not as important to me as the process. Students still have to learn music theory, but what they DO with that theory is far more important than the notes they write down. Music is participatory, or it should be.

That’s what gets me out of bed each morning. The chance to be creative, to do what I love to do, and to, hopefully, inspire my students to be life-long music makers, or at least appreciators. Every time a former student sees me and tells me about the instrument they are learning, or the concert they just attended, that little girl inside of me starts singing…again!