Bio

**My Biography...//Danielle Guthrie//**

I was born on July 27, 1984 at Deaconess Hospital in Spokane, WA. I am the first born of a younger brother and sister- Will is 22 years old and Aly (Alysha) is 20. When I was 4 our whole family moved from Cheney to Anchorage, AK for my Dad's job. It was in Anchorage where I realized my passion for music. Every time "Yakety Yak" played on my Mom's cassette player I would pretend to be King Curtis on the sax. When we moved back to Spokane 41/2 years later I was blessed with a saxophone from Santa, after Santa was forced to listen to hours of me playing Disney songs on the recorder in my room. Since then I have gone throught multiple private teachers. These teachers. along with my passion and 7 years of attending band camp (Yes, I do start stories with "This one time at band camp..."), were my motivation and inspiration to continue to keep music a priority in my life. After moving back to Spokane, I attended Freeman Elementary (also where I'm presently student-teaching) through junior high. During this time I also took up piano and flute lessons. In high school I transferred to Joel E. Ferris High School because they had soccer and a better music program. Ben Brueggemier is one teacher who I thank for my success today, because he exposed me to so many new experiences- band trips to Colorado and Utah, jazz band, marching band, musicals, small ensembles, and the bassoon- to name a few. I attended my first year of school at the University of Oregon, but transferred to the University of Washington my second year for several reasons. Once I transferred to the University of Washington I realized that I couldn't live without playing music for the rest of my life (I'd been a chemistry major up until then). So, I auditioned and made it into the UW school of music education program. Since then I've learned to play all the musical instruments and gained some amazing experience- going on a tour to Japan with the UW wind ensemble, working with a music therapist at Bellevue's Music Works, teaching beginning band at First Place Elementary, playing in a funk band that played around the local Seattle bar scene, and playing in the UW sax quartet. Presently, I am now obviously attending Eastern Washington so that I can student-teach in Spokane, where my husband has a job as an attorney at Lukins and Anis law firm. In December I will be giving my senior recital, which will include performances on the bari, alto, and soprano sax, as well as my transcription of a Hungarian folk song arranged for saxophone quartet. I believe that my experience within the music education program has prepared me very well to become a certified music teacher. It is degree that requires us to constantly be out of our comfort zone and "learn how to learn" every time we learn a new instrument. For example, without my experience, I wouldn't be able to teach the beginning guitar class for 7th-8th grade that I'm presently teaching at Freeman. I also now feel comfortable singing in front of a group, which is definitely something I never would have imagined. I want to use my experiences to empower children, to inspire them to be better, and to get them excited that they can achieve whatever they want to achieve if they are will to work.