Hi, I’m Joanna

I’ve been teaching music since 2001. While elementary school band and general music are my absolute jam (full disclosure, I love recorders), over the years I’ve taught both instrumental and exploratory music to students in preschool through grade 12. I’ve taught in both public and independent school settings, as well as in 1:1 lessons, small studio classes, summer camps, and after school workshops.  

Throughout my career I have, time and again, noticed a lack of quality resources available for the specific, and sometimes unconventional, niches in which I found myself teaching. I’ve also found myself, most often, as the only person in the building teaching music. With the information online not being nearly as robust as it is today and a budget of nearly nothing, I spent the early part of my career learning how to create my own materials out of pure necessity. I learned what works (and what doesn’t) through trial and error. Lots of error. Some days, mostly error.   

I’ve recently shifted my teaching load to allow me to focus more on blogging and resource creation in order to share with others what I’ve learned, and am still learning, along the way. I hope I can save you some time and help you simplify your teaching life with the ideas, information, and materials I share here.

In my free time, I enjoy listening to 1980’s new wave, thrifting for records, long conversations with my dog, and playing 20-year-old computer games with my partner.