It’s been quite some time since I was last active here on my own website. I notice that the last post was June 11th of 2014! Wow, so 6 years have gone by and although my webpage doesn’t reflect it, things have been changing and evolving form me over the last 6 years. In a way, I am returning to my roots. Both my parents were teachers and now after almost 20 years in the music therapy business, I am returning to school for a master’s in music education. It’s not that I don’t love the work I do as a music therapist, I do. I just really feel the desire to get into the school system. I was a student in RUSD schools my whole life and now my children are RUSD students; it’s also the same district my parents taught for and with so much history there, I love our schools. I love the teachers that teach for our schools. I love the students that attend our schools. But I see that as a system our schools are failing all these people I love. When I was offered a music specialist position at the Racine Early Education (REE) Center, I was a little skeptical. I knew the director and felt that she was a great advocate, who truly cared about the students and was awesome to work for. Plus, I love the early childhood kiddos the best, but I wasn’t sure I would be able to acclimate to a system like Racine Unified School District after years of working for myself. In the end I took the job and did both- wearing my teacher hat 2 days a week and kept my therapy hat the other 3 days of the week. Now as I ponder the next phase of my career, I think I can do amazing things to change the broken system. I am pursuing my license so that I can continue to teach for the public schools and in the process will earn my Masters. I think I have great things to offer as a Music Therapist of many years’ experience in addition to the education I am getting back in school again at Cardinal Stritch. I am a hybrid of what music can be- healing supportive, adaptive and innovative plus, standards driven, research-based, skills focused and collaborative. I do not only address the music skills you learn in general music so that you can understand the language of music, but I use the music as ways to discover the strength students have inside music and otherwise, that helps them to develop important life skills. Emotional expression, self-awareness, kindness and compassion, empathy and confidence are at the core of everything I teacher.
As I make this transition, I will be updating and modifying this website to reflect my work as both a teacher and a therapist. During the school year, I will focus on what is happening in school. In the summer I will be focusing on therapeutic services. Keep an eye on the website for changes as they are rolled out and bear with me as I make this transition. We are living in a new normal and I am evolving to adapt to the change. Join me on this journey.