Hannah Bowie on Becoming the Leader of the Band
Castleton Music Ed major lands a job teaching in nearby upstate New York
Hannah Bowie and her family moved around a lot when she was a child. But in each new home and each new school, she played the flute. Being a band member was a comforting constant.
“I had a lot of different band teachers, and some of them were great; some were not. I really liked the good ones. I just loved playing the flute. So, when I thought, ‘I want to make an impact,’ next thing you know, I’m like, I should go to music school,” she remembered.
“Now I also play clarinet and saxophone,” she added. “I ‘double’ which is a common thing for musicals [pit bands]. So, I play in the Wind Symphony and the jazz ensembles [at VTSU Castleton]. And then I’ve played in the pit orchestras for all the musicals. I also do a little bit of theater tech on the side as well,” she explained.
All those experiences make for a very rounded music teacher, which will be Hannah in the fall. She recently accepted a position teaching high school in Hudson Falls in New York, where she will manage high school band, jazz band, marching band, and a music appreciation class. This exciting offer came after Hannah did her student teaching through VTSU—also in upstate New York.
“With the Granville [New York] Junior/Senior High School, there was a junior high band and a senior high band, and I got to work with them. I conducted a piece and then, eventually, I did all of the rehearsals. I also taught lessons over there, which was really fun because I got to know the kids individually,” she related.
Music educators are usually licensed to teach at all levels (Kindergarten through 12th grade), so Hannah also did a practicum at Whitehall Elementary.
“I did all general music for pre-K through 5th grade, and then I did a 5th grade choir and a 6th grade choir, and then a 5th grade band and a 6th grade band. It was really fun, because I never had a ton of experience with general music, especially with the little littles, like pre-K, where they were only like 3. It was a lot of pretending to be animals and playing with fun instruments like boom walkers. And that was a completely new thing for me, but I ended up really enjoying it by the end,” she noted.
Hannah credits the internet for leading her to her now-alma mater.
“I went to high school in Maine. I did a quick Google search one day of music education degrees in New England and Castleton popped up. I got in touch with the arts department through that link and I set up an audition. I came and auditioned, and I fell in love with the campus immediately,” she mused.
“The people—especially in the music department—they just felt like home to me. And I loved how you can get one-on-one attention, but still not know every single person on campus,” she relayed.
She allowed that the music department curriculum—especially in the music ed track—is very demanding, but the close camaraderie makes the challenges fun.
“It’s a lot of courses and a lot of performances and practicing and everything else in between. But because we’re such a small department, we’ve kind of like family. I have the nickname of dad of the department. Everyone walks around and calls me dad and it’s great,” she laughed. “And we have
movie nights and we do all these fun things together. And it’s just it’s made it feel so much better here,” she said.
When asked if she had advice for students planning to go to music school, she answered, “Definitely find a program that works for you. Find a professor that you enjoy studying with and one who’s going to give you one-on-one attention. That gives you opportunities like going to conferences, going to events—it really helps you get ready for being a teacher or being a performer,” she advised.
“Castleton as a whole has really helped me just become a good person, I feel, and it’s taught me a lot of things I need to know about going into the real world, like networking, especially with the music department,” she explained. “We host a lot of events, and we go to a lot of events where I’ve met a lot of local music educators, which has helped me prepare a network.
“Students don’t always realize that people do notice all the small things you do at school, and they will recognize you for them,” she stressed. “In an interview, I was recognized from one of the events we had at Castleton. And I’m really grateful that I picked a small school that allowed me to do that.”