There once was a little boy named Jimmy whose mom told him he could be anything he wanted…a policeman, a doctor, a lawyer, even the President of the United States. He exceeded all her expectations and became a music teacher!
He’s now a grown man with four kids and 11 (and counting) grandkids. He loves eating pizza, mountain biking, spending time with family, and long walks in the mountains holding hands with his bride of nearly 40 years. His shoe size is 9.5 but please don’t send any shoes…more about that in a minute.
He “retired” from full time public school teaching but still teaches band full time – half time at each of 2 schools – a charter and private school. Some time is spent speaking, training, writing, podcasting, and performing. And also holding hands and eating pizza and cannoli.
Now for the boring, adult stuff…
He earned a bachelor’s degree from St. Joseph’s College in Maine and received his music education from the Army School of Music, graduating from the basic, intermediate, and advanced courses over a span of ten years and serving in Virginia, Japan and Colorado. He retired from the Army Band in 2006. He earned a teaching license from Western Colorado University and completed a master’s in music education at Southwestern Oklahoma State University. James believes in the value of life-long learning! He just don’t like standardized testing.
James’ life-long goal continues to be to “Act my shoe size, not my age.”
