Mr. Hanna has been a band director at the middle school since 2003. He has taught hundreds of students, including many who have gone on to pursue music as a career themselves. Mr. Hanna has also teaches a variety of other music classes at the school, and has developed several new courses including "World Music" and "Digital Music." Mr. Hanna loves his work and the students of Stone Bridge Middle School.
Mr. Hanna grew up in South Jersey, and played clarinet in his school band starting in 4th grade. By high school he was deeply involved in the band, and started playing several other instruments as well. He joined the school chorus, acted in the school plays and musicals, and got serious about his clarinet studies. It became clear that music was going to be his career path.
He then went to Rutgers University and double majored in Music Education and Music Performance (Clarinet). He played in several bands, orchestras, and chamber ensembles at Rutgers, and sang in the Rutgers Glee Club, one of the best men's choruses in the US. With the Rutgers Glee Club, he traveled on several international tours through Europe, sang in performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and participated in several recordings.
Mr. Hanna performed for several years with the New Amsterdam Singers in NYC, and went on several international tours with them, including to Argentina and Uruguay in 2007. In 2010, he again traveled with N.A.S. to Cuba on a government-sanctioned performance tour and had an amazing experience learning about the beautiful music and culture of Cuba.
In 2013 he again went on tour with N.A.S., this time to South Africa, where he performed alongside the amazing and passionate singers of several choirs in South Africa, and proudly accompanied the choirs on the djembe (an african drum).
Mr. Hanna currently lives in Lawrenceville with his wife and two sons. Besides teaching and playing music, he spends a lot of time running and cycling, playing soccer with his kids, doing projects around the house, taking care of their gardens, and reading books on history, astronomy, technology, finance, and anything that looks interesting.