Hello! My name is Julie Blakeslee, and I teach General Music at Miles, Orchard and Broadwater Elementary Schools. This is my 27th year in Billings Public Schools. How time flies when you're having fun! I am married to Buzz, and have two dogs--a yellow lab named Jazz, and a German Shepherd named Rizzo. They enjoy running, hiking, eating, playing with toys, listening to Julie play piano, guitar, & violin, and being generally lazy.

I have been involved in music all my life. It all began when my Mom dragged me kicking and screaming to piano lessons as a young child. Little did I know, it would become my life's passion. I studied piano, violin and voice all through school, and was a piano major in college. I maintain a small piano studio during my "spare" time. My latest challenges include playing all voices of recorders; and classical guitar, which I have been wanting to pick up for some time. As soon as I can make time to practice, I'd like to take classical guitar lessons. I play violin in the Canyon Creek String Ensemble and the Local 4-Oh-6 fiddle band.

I earned my B.A. in Music Education from Rocky Mountain College and a Masters in Curriculum & Instruction (music emphasis) from Montana State University in Bozeman.

I am a National Board Certified Teacher. I hold Level III certification in Orff-Schulwerk, and have completed other Orff courses including Curriculum Development, Advanced Curriculum Development, Master Class, and Recorder Applications. I am an AOSA Teacher Trainer, teaching recorder pedagogy and technique to music teachers during the summer in Orff Levels courses at the University of Missouri, St. Louis; North Dakota State University, and the University of Montana. I have also taught several times at the American Orff-Schulwerk Association (AOSA) National Professional Development Conference.

I am Past-President of the Montana General Music Teachers Association. It is exciting to work with educators throughout the state, and help to bring quality professional development to music teachers in Montana. I am the current past- president of Treasure State Orff, our state chapter of AOSA. We provide three workshops per year for music teachers and university music majors.

I am the Ensembles Director and Webmaster for the Red Lodge Music Festival, a summer camp for students who have finished grades 7-12. How rewarding it is to see former students playing their instruments so well! I hope to see your child there someday.

I love teaching music to elementary-age students. Singing, saying, moving and playing with them is a joyful exploration of music!

I also enjoy running, hiking, cross-country skiing, boating, fishing, reading, gardening, computers, listening to and playing many styles of music.