Setting the stage for long term success in the music department

SEELEY LAKE – After the combine started on fire and the main belt in the swather blew while she was operating it, Janet Morgenstern decided that managing the family's 11,000-acre ranch in Wibaux, Montana was not something in her future. However, the love of music that her family instilled in her grew into a passion for music and teaching.

After 17 years of teaching music across the mid-west, Morgenstern is the new Seeley Lake Elementary and Seeley-Swan High School music director. She looks forward to sharing her love for technology and passion for K-12 music education. Her goal for the year is to take community input and build the five, 10 and 20 year plans for the K-12 music program.

"I'm hoping to be here for at least 20 years," said Morgenstern. "The goal is to stay and to build something cool and to leave it better than I found it."

Morgenstern attended Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana. She graduated in 2004 with a double major in K-12 music education and sociology/anthropology. She specializes in vocals and piano.

Morgenstern's first year she taught band, choir and orchestra at Billings Central Catholic School. She then moved to Huntley Project Schools in Worden, Montana where she taught kindergarten through sixth grade music for 10 years. Her husband Aaron, a woodwind specialist, taught junior high and high school band and choir.

Morgenstern's favorite thing at Huntley Project was helping each grade level produce a half hour musical. By the fourth grade, students expected and looked forward to the opportunity to perform.

"The dramatic part of that program was life changing for certain kids. It changed their opinion of what school is and what they can and cannot do," said Morgenstern who loves drama. "The kids gain a stage confidence that you don't have to reteach every year,"

Morgenstern has a passion for reaching students who don't think they can do something or those that don't believe they have talent.

"That is a really good skill to have going into a small schools," said Morgenstern. "You hear the old yarn that small towns don't value the arts and that is not really the case. It's not a lack of value, it is often a lack of understanding that it is not a hobby, it is a life skill. Once you can communicate that, you see really good results."

After about six years at Huntley Project, they saw the community make a culture shift where the community valued the arts. The music programs were very successful and were flourishing when the Morgensterns left.

Morgenstern moved around with her husband after he left teaching and starting working for Enterprise Rent-A-Car. Morgenstern taught in Rapid City, South Dakota. However, after COVID cutbacks with Enterprise, the Morgensterns decided they wanted to return to Montana.

"I missed the small towns and K-12 education. I'm very passionate about K-12 small schools. I like being my own feeder for the high school," said Morgenstern. "I'm more comfortable in a rural setting."

When the job opened in Seeley Lake, Morgenstern was quick to apply, thinking it would be a perfect fit.

"Seeley Lake was a small school, near my family and friends, in a beautiful setting and it ticked off a bucket list item for my husband who wanted to move to the mountains," she said.

Missoula County Public Schools hired Morgenstern as Seeley-Swan High School's music director and Seeley Lake Elementary hired her as the kindergarten through eighth grade music teacher. Morgenstern is excited that SLE and SSHS are both well equipped with instruments and they are in good condition.

At SLE, Morgenstern is working towards a balanced schedule where each grade level receives weekly music instruction. There will also be a band and choir program offered as electives for the junior high students. Morgenstern said she needs to develop a consistent curriculum for all students that builds on itself and she looks forward to introducing musicals like she did at Huntley Project.

During the first block at SSHS, Morgenstern is teaching World Drumming. She loves teaching culture and will integrate her educational background in music and anthropology.

"World Drumming is a hybrid of social studies and music," said Morgenstern. "It will be a really good taste of the world."

Second block, Morgenstern will be teaching band. She hopes to start a drumline this first year. She sees the importance of pep band and hopes SSHS will graduate to that in three or four years. However, she said in the meantime, a drumline has several benefits. First, pep band charts are often too challenging for beginning musicians to play well while drum rhythms are easier to learn. Pep bands also require a larger group to cover all the parts. In drumline, woodwind players can also double on drums. The biggest need right now is replacing and purchasing additional percussion equipment for the drumline.

"We need to have a unique solution to whatever we do here," said Morgenstern. "That is my solution to get something started in the first year."

Some of the biggest challenges Morgenstern has encountered in her career is helping her coworkers and the community understand that music and the arts is a lifestyle and an important part of the curriculum, not just a reward or activity. She is also easily convinced of change which can sometimes "upset the apple cart."

"Any change has to be what is good for the art, what is good for the community, what is good for my students and a change that I can manage with the skills that I have," said Morgenstern who strives to find the sweet spot.

Morgenstern hopes to integrate technology and help her students make videos using music from their curriculum to enhance it.

"You can do crazy, mind bending things with technology and music," said Morgenstern.

While COVID leaves many unknowns, Morgenstern looks forward to student performances and sharing them with the community in some way, either through technology or in person as regulations allow.

"I will just take the opportunity to build skills until we can make those decisions," said Morgenstern.

When she is not teaching, Morgenstern loves playing music with her family and friends. She and Aaron have participated in the Tuesday night jam session at Double Arrow Lodge playing guitar and accordion. She also enjoys quilting and using her embroidery machine. After buying a house in Seeley Lake, Morgenstern is excited to explore the outdoors, go camping, fishing, learn how to cross country ski this winter and spend time with her husband and two boys, Reece, 6, and Elliot, sixth grade. She looks forward to getting embedded in the community and getting to know people on a first-name basis.

For more information contact Morgenstern via email jmorgensternsle@sleonline.org