About Me

Hello I am Mr. Andrew Yenzer! The 2023-2024 school year will be my second year at HMS and my second year teaching. I will be teaching 6th grade band, 7th/8th grade bands, and high school bands as well as lessons and everything in between.

I am originally from Des Moines but I am not unfamiliar with small town living. I have also lived in Leon, IA which is 10 miles north of the Missouri border and similar in population size to Hartley. I currently live in Hartley with my girlfriend and our two cats.

I went to Iowa State University and graduated with a degree in instrumental music education in May of 2022. My primary instrument is bass trombone and I have played in the Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, the ISUCF'V'MB, Jazz 2.0, Jazz One, Symphony Orchestra, CySlides (trombone choir), brass trio chamber ensembles, as well as performing in some solo performances. I also performed in the Spencer Municipal Band over the summer. I love to play trombone whenever I can but I love to teach band a lot more. Last summer, the music department completed training in Conversational Solfege levels 1 and 2. I am now Conversational Solfege certified as well and will be experimenting with it and our curriculum all year.

Outside of school I like to cook and eat new foods, play video games with friends, watch movies, travel, and visit with friends and family. 

I believe band and music education should be accessible for all students. I will work extra hard to make sure we can make a band experience that is positive and educational for you. However, it is on the students to keep track of their schedules and let me know if there are any conflicts. I will work through any conflicts but I cannot read minds and keep track of things for you. 

Music education fosters creativity and expressiveness in ways that can not happen in other academic classes. My goal is that you will have opportunities to explore that and develop our skills as musicians. I hope by the end of the year our connection to music is stronger and we can continue our lives with music.