Allow me to introduce myself...

My name is Carol Baker and I am a music teacher with 14 years of experience.  I have taught primarily general music and chorus in elementary schools, but I have also taught preschool music, middle school and high band and chorus, beginner orchestra, and private piano.  I currently sing with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra Chorus and am raising two budding little musicians of my own.  My husband, Geoff Baker is also a musician (violin and classical guitar) as well as a fabulous teacher of social studies and outdoor education.

What my colleagues and parents most appreciate about me is my energy, enthusiasm, organization, cooperation, collaboration, and excellent planning.  Oh, they also love the many cool programs I put on with the students every year ranging from my chorus of 100 students singing traditional and pop music to my general classes telling folk tales through song, movement and music that they have created themselves, or a classroom concert for parents that shows off students playing recorder or violin.

My students will tell you that I am fun, a little zany, have even more energy than they do, sing well, have great ideas, and encourage them to find their own voices, move their own bodies, and make their own music.  They enjoy the variety of experiences I bring them and learn quickly to understand that they won't like everything (who does?), but that they will always like something, and that everyone has musical ability that gets better with practice.

My greatest hope as a teacher is that my students come to believe that every person is a music maker.  If you can talk you can sing, if you can walk you can dance, and if you can type you can play an instrument.  Just like everyone can throw a ball, the more you practice the better you get.  We're not all going to Michael Jordan or Adele, but we can all improve and we can all enjoy tossing the ball around the backyard and singing with our family and friends.

That sounds so simple, but the details require very careful planning, preassessment, resource research, collection, and organization, and all kinds of on-going work to pull it off!  Please check out some of my videos and sound files for examples, or keep reading to see my letters of reference and my resume.

I hope to talk with you about whether I would be a good fit for your school!