Teacher Feature: Meegan Hughes

• Meegan Hughes
• Posted 12/26/22
• 3 comments

Get to know our authors!  In our “Teacher Feature,” you will not only learn about our contributors’ professional endeavors but also get to know them as humans too.  Just like our readers – our authors are actively teaching in schools across the United States.     

Mrs. Meegan Samantha Hughes has been making musical magic with students in grades K-12 and at the university level since 1997. She earned her B. Mus.Ed, summa cum laude, from The Hartt School of Music (CT) and her M.A. in Music History and Literature degree, summa cum laude, from LIU Post (NY). Her Master’s thesis stressed the importance of folk music and instruments as living history. 

Meegan currently teaches K-5 General Music, chorus, recorder, ukulele, and yoga in East Meadow, N.Y. She has had four choral arrangements published with Carl Fischer LLC: “Old Dan Tucker” (under Bernstein), “TAPS”, “Eliyahu Hanavi”, and “American Ladies of Song” (all under Coleman). Meegan’s 2006 debut album, “I Hear Music”, continues to sell worldwide and receives airplay on national radio and internet streaming services. Meegan has been playing piano professionally since 1989 and is in frequent demand as an accompanist, vocal coach, and Finale® copyist. She has presented workshops at conferences on topics including Jazz in the Elementary Choir, Finale® for Beginners, Arranging For Your Elementary Choir, and the Jumping Flea Ukulele Jam. 

Some other interesting facts we learned about Meegan…

How did you end up becoming a music teacher? 

In 1st grade, our class held a performance called, “When I Grow Up.” I adamantly chose the teacher because I loved telling other kids what to do, at 6. Music was the obvious vehicle. 

What inspires you to share your experiences with other teachers? 

Sharing your wealth of knowledge with others is the root of our profession. How did we hooked onto the classics or be inspired by a live performance? Teachers. Family, school, media, and self-exploration are all teachers. The arts should be passed down, cultivated, expanded upon, and collaborative. I love connecting to someone through the arts. Music friends are friends for life.

What is your favorite music teaching moment?

There are incredible memories from each grade level. In kindergarten, when they’re beginning to identify ta, ti-ti, and rest, we play with handmade materials (lesson plans available soon on musicconstructed.com), and when the class collaborates to help another student finish creating his measure, it’s electric! In 3rd grade, when you give them their recorders, (usually their first instrument ever), it’s as if they just won a new car from Oprah. When after 12 weekly rehearsals, the entire 5th grade of 130 kids, not just the Chorus, sings, “Do I Make You Proud?” at graduation and brings the audience to tears. It’s playing in a pit orchestra with former students that brings it all full circle for me.

What has been the biggest surprise/revelation about being a music teacher?

For 10 years, I only wanted to teach in a high school program. I thought, “You only make real music in the upper grades, and who wants to tie shoes all day?” I did my student teaching 2 hours away from my university just to avoid being placed in a close elementary school. After graduating, I took a job in a JH/HS, very green and confident, but it didn’t feel right to me. While those experiences ultimately helped me grow as an educator, it wasn’t until I took on a one month leave replacement in an elementary school that I realized my perspective had completely changed. 20 years later at that same school, I can attest that we make real fine music.  

How do you deal with stress?

Make music, of course! I love to sit at my baby grand, close my eyes, and play Bach’s “Air On A G String.” When the song is over and I blink my eyes open, it’s as if I was somewhere else for the past 4 minutes. I practice yoga daily, as well.  

Fun Facts About You?    

What is your favorite food?

I’ll never turn down pizza, but dessert is my favorite meal.

Do you have any pets?

My husband and I currently spoil 2 cats and a dog. Kila, is a miniature pinscher, was found lost and starving on a school campus in upstate N.Y., near our house. The owners of the farm store on campus took care of her for a week, and she was receiving a lot of attention. My husband, however, won the prize. He went into the store for a dozen eggs and came out with a Kila! 

What is your favorite style of music to listen to?

Growing up in the shadow of NYC, I am so fortunate to be exposed to many cultures and styles of music on a daily basis. I know close to 60 musical soundtracks that I will randomly quote at times. I recorded a jazz album in 2006, and jazz still takes up a lot of real estate in my brain. I love to dance to afrobeats and mambo both at home and in my classroom.

When I ask my 1st graders what they’d like to dance to, they always yell out, “Counting Spicy!” otherwise known as Mambo No. 8. My Spotify morning playlist contains the harmonically stunning music of Take 6, the creative funk of Scary Pockets, the idolized blend of The Swingle Singers, the genius of Lin-Manuel Miranda, the flair of French pop star, M, the hometown hero, Billy Joel, the happy soul of Jon Batiste, and the thunder brass of William Walton’s “Belshazzar’s Feast”. A musician should speak multiple dialects of our music language fluently. 

What is your favorite school appropriate beverage – are you a cola or coffee drinker? 

I have never had a cup of coffee in my life, but I am obsessed with “healthy” soda called Zevia and lemon water. 

What is your favorite book?

The score to Mozart’s Requiem.

We hope you enjoyed getting to know Meegan as much as we have.  Check out Meegan’s articles below!