About Ms. Newman

About your teacher...

Hi, Ms. Newman here. I am seriously excited you are in my class! I was kind of a weird kid, so I know what it's like to feel left out, talked down to, or misunderstood sometimes - my goal as your teacher is to make sure you always feel seen and heard in a respectful way - whether you are super quiet, crazy-outgoing or a little bit of both.

My musical journey began with piano lessons at four years old, but I begged my parents to let me play the harp. Well... we didn't have a harp but we did have a piano so they said, "no." Oh well! As a teenager I saved up for a small harp and taught myself to play it, but I am still plotting to eventually play a big, orchestral harp! I came to love piano too, and now, as a teacher, I advocate for all students to play the instrument their heart truly wants while staying open to the possibilities!

The summer of 2014 I graduated from Central Washington University's School of Music with a Bachelor's degree in Music Education: Broad Area (three certifications to teach K-12 Orchestra/Band, Choir and General Music) and a separate Bachelor's in Piano Performance. While at CWU, I was a co-teacher in the their Preperatory Strings community program for three years and co-ran the Sonatina Festival for two. I learned so much from the friends I made there! I often take lessons with the fabulous Nino Merabishvili in Bellevue, WA.

My first years of teaching K-12 were spent in Auburn, WA at Cascade Middle School (2 years, Choir) and Olympic Middle School (4 years, Choir and Orchestra). I am a real nerd about teaching choir and solfege! I love my Auburn kids and still attend their graduations each year.

A health scare led me to take a break from the classroom for a year, but by the time fall of 2019 rolled around, I was really missing being around kids and just had to find a way back in! I was hired for a long-term sub position at Fernwood Elementary in the Northshore School District and the rest is history! This is my third year running Orchestra at seven  six NSD schools with our new, 5th Grade Instrumental Program and it is my fifth year in the district.

I live very happily with my dog Mia (about 10 years old) and two cats, Blewett (10 years old) and Denali (2 years old!). We enjoy gardening on our tiny patio and are obliged to take walks in all manner of weather. Blewett's pastimes include sleeping in freshly planted beds, playing fetch, playing jump-scare with me (extreme peekaboo) and listening to Mozart. Mia's favorite activities include napping in the sun, sniffing out everything in existence, and doing tricks (her current favorite is "spin"). She believes Mozart was a hack. Denali is an engineer-cat who's sole mission is to find out how EVERYTHING works and likes to test the durability of all objects placed on high surfaces. Currently, her favorite pastime is harassing our robot vacuum.

I enjoy drinking herbal tea or decaf coffee and always welcome donations to our Amazon orchestra wishlist. :)