Notes from the Cougar Band Room

My daughter and I took this picture right after getting home from her first band festival a few years ago. Great performances and great smiles all around! A blissfully captured moment of when both my Mommy and Band Director hats were worn securely. It's not easy wearing both of those hats all the time though-- It's a LOT of hard work, but it's a balancing act that gives me the privilege of pursuing my best life. My love for teaching and making music feeds my soul and helps me to be a better Mom. Spending time at home with my family gives me the life I need to be a better director. The love of both feeds the other and ultimately, myself. Abba knows how it works... This summer, and this past week in particular, has been one of those more difficult times. TL;DR: I had to miss my first band camp as a director because I am 37 weeks pregnant and we are expecting our second daughter any day. The longer story... Mom Hat: Starting our family has been a long, com

Earlier this week at our band banquet, I was gifted a deeply thoughtful gift from our seniors: a scrapbook of pictures and handwritten memories from the past four years. The @SCHSBands seniors gifted me a scrapbook of pictures and memories at last night’s banquet. Each page is super special, but this one might be my favorite. 💖 pic.twitter.com/YLGx8wQ8yx — Lauren Staniszewski (@LStaniszewski1) May 16, 2019 The gift got me thinking it might be fun to take a look back over the past year and put together a little "scrapbook" blog post of my own from over the past year! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Looking back on my New (School) Year Resolutions, here's a summary of how they helped me grow over the past year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Some favorite articles/videos I discovered this year include: So in life, so in band. Fantastic article about one of life’s most tricky skills to maste