About Melanie
Melanie is 29 and originally from Fayette, Alabama. She graduated from Fayette County High School in 2002. Melanie studied both choral education and instrumental music performance at The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and graduated with a degree in horn performance in May of 2006. In August 2006, she moved to Lubbock, Texas to pursue a masters degree in horn performance at Texas Tech University and finish the courses for her choral education certificate.
As she became more involved in the education program at TTU, it was very obvious to Melanie that sharing her love of music through teaching was really where her heart was. She decided to shift her focus from performance to education and finished her coursework for the Masters of Music Education degree in June 2008. Melanie completed her degree in December 2008 after student-teaching at Murry H. Fly Elementary School and Cavazos Elementary School, both in Odessa, Texas. Upon completing her student-teaching, Melanie was immediately hired as a full-time music teacher at Murry Fly and Cavazos Elementary Schools where she finished out the 2008-2009 school year teaching Kindergarten through 6th grade general music and 6th grade beginning strings.
Melanie and her husband, Brandon, relocated to the North Texas area in the summer of 2009 to allow Brandon to begin doctoral studies in music at The University of North Texas. Melanie taught for three years at Nell Burks Elementary in McKinney ISD and transferred to Denton ISD in 2012 to work closer to home. Melanie is currently the Elementary Music Specialist at Paloma Creek Elementary where she teaches Kindergarten through 5th Grade music and conducts the Pride of Paloma Creek Choir made up of 80+ 4th and 5th Grade students.
In keeping with her passion for sharing music with young children, Melanie pursued and received her license to teach Kindermusik in the summer of 2010. In addition to her full time public school position, Melanie taught Kindermusik classes for newborns through 5 year olds until she had her own newborn in the spring of 2012.
In the summers, Melanie is busy continuing her education by attending workshops, conferences and classes . In the summer of 2010 Melanie completed her Level III Kodaly certification with the West Texas Kodaly Initiative in Lubbock, Texas. In July of 2013, she completed her Level II Orff Schulwerk certification at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Melanie plans to pursue and complete the final levels of both her Orff and Kodaly certifications in the summer of 2014.
Melanie lives with her husband, Brandon, and daughter, Ella Elizabeth in Providence Village, Texas.