The goal of this clinic is to help participants develop their ensemble into a team by involving their students more deeply as learners, musicians, and leaders. This clinic will provide ideas, examples and templates for: relationship and team building strategies, setting agreements and goals, incorporating student voice and choice, increasing student engagement, and strategies to reset your classroom when things go wrong. Attendees will have opportunities to share and brainstorm ideas together.
Laura Goucher
- Biographical Information
Laura A. Goucher has been the Director of Bands at Mahtomedi High School (MHS) in Mahtomedi, MN since 2019. Her primary duties at MHS involve conducting the Wind Ensemble, Wind Orchestra, Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Orchestra and Percussion Ensemble. She also teaches a guitar class, a percussion class, a piano class and AP Music Theory. Previous schools Ms. Goucher has worked at include Hermantown High School (Hermantown, MN), Nashwauk-Keewatin High School (Nashwauk, MN) and Mounds Park Academy (St. Paul, MN).
Laura is a 1996 Magna Cum Laude graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN. While there, she performed with the prestigious Gustavus Band, as well as numerous other ensembles. She is a horn player, who has performed with various groups, including the Twin Ports Wind Orchestra in Duluth, MN.
Laura is an active member of the Minnesota Band Directors Association, currently serving as the Treasurer. In addition, she has been a regular member of NAFME and the Minnesota Music Educators Association (MMEA) and has served as the All-State Band horn coach, as well as frequently judging the all state horn auditions and jazz trumpet auditions over the years.
Ms. Goucher has conducted performing ensembles at the MMEA Clinic in 2002, 2007 and 2022 and also presented at the clinic in 2024. In addition, she has adjudicated all around MN and has conducted various honor bands around the midwest, most recently being the University of Northern Iowa Festival of Bands in January of 2024. And she proudly serves on the staff for the MN Ambassadors of Music program.
Ms. Heidi Stodola is in her 27th year of teaching and is currently teaching band and orchestra at Osseo Middle School in Osseo, MN. She has taught all levels of instrumental music, including positions in out-state Minnesota, Minneapolis, and now in Osseo. Ms. Stodola received her BA degree in Instrumental Music Education from Augustana University in Sioux Falls, SD, and studied her Master of Music in Instrumental Conducting at St Cloud State University in St Cloud, MN.
Ms. Stodola has conducted several middle school honor bands and has served as substitute conductor of various Twin Cities area adult concert bands. She has presented at the Minnesota Music Educators Association (MMEA) Mid-Winter Convention on several occasions, including topics connected to the large ensemble classroom: Building Teamwork, Comprehensive Musicianship Strategies, Digital Online Instruction Packages, and Demystifying the Horn.
Ms. Stodola is an avid performer around the Minneapolis-St Paul metro area, playing 4th Horn in the Northern Symphony Orchestra (Anoka, MN), 2nd Tenor Horn in the Lake Wobegon Brass Band (Anoka, MN), Viola in the North Hennepin Community College Orchestra (Brooklyn Park, MN), as well as subbing in several other area ensembles. She has also had the joy of coaching several French Horn sections of various honor bands for MN Band Directors Association (MBDA) and for the MMEA MN All-State Bands. Ms. Stodola is a member of MMEA/NAfME, MBDA, MnSOTA/ASTA, and the Twin Cities Horn Club.