educator connect
Congratulations to jazz educators
Leighanne Jezierski Rudsit; Franklin HS, and
Amanda Howland ; Bridgewater-Raynham Regional HS!
Meet the two jazz educators were selected to participate in the 2023 Jazzhers Connect Leadership Program, designed to increase visibility and create connections for women and non-binary jazz educators. They travelled to the 15th Annual Charles Mingus HS Jazz Festival with the Newton South Jazz Ensemble and spend a weekend focused on jazz history, education, and performance.
Leighanne J. Rudsit has been teaching music for 25 years. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of New Hampshire in 1995, studying Trumpet with Dr. Robert Stibler. Her teaching career began here in Franklin where she taught 6th grade Band and beginner lessons at Horace Mann Middle School, along with 4th and 5th grade beginner lessons at Parmenter, Oak Street, and Kennedy ElementarySchools.
In 1999 she attended Northwestern University in Evanston, IL earning her Master of Music degree while studying Wind Conducting with Dr. Mallory Thompson. She returned to NH teaching at Winnacunnet High School for 1 year. In 2000, she was hired to take over her own High
School Band Director’s position at Pinkerton Academy where she taught for 5 years. During her time at Pinkerton she created the Wind Ensemble and Concert Band, 2 Jazz Bands, and received recognition for increasing the size of the Marching Band from 95 to 180 members. Ms.Rudsit won the New Hampshire Band Director’s Outstanding Young Band Director award in 2003.
Ms. Rudsit returned to Franklin High School in 2005 where she now directs the Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, 2 Jazz Bands, Jazz Combo and teaches AP Music Theory. She lives with her husband and 3 children in nearby Wrentham, MA.
Amanda Howland is a local trumpet player and the director of band and chorus at Bridgewater-Raynham regional high school. She is a 2011 graduate of Anna Maria College with a degree in Music Education. There she studied trumpet with Jonathan Clark, piano with Elizabeth Noone and guitar with Kevin Grudecki. She performed in the Jazz Combo at AMC under the direction of Boston-area bassist Steve Skop and the Wind Ensemble at Worcester Polytechnic Institute under the direction of Douglas Weeks. She recently completed her Masters in Music Education at Boston University.
Amanda began her career teaching as a long term substitute for elementary music and Middle School Band in Somerset, MA. Then, Kindergarten music in Westport for one year. Since then she has been at the Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School district teaching 7th grade general music and Middle School chorus at Bridgewater Middle School (2014-2018). For the past 4 years, she has been teaching High School Symphonic Band, Concert Band, Choir, Music Theory, Jazz and Marching Band.
In addition to teaching, Amanda is also a professional trumpet player and has had the privilege of performing with the John Allmark Jazz Orchestra, the South Coast Jazz Orchestra, The Larry Brown Swinglane Orchestra, The Meadowlarks Big Band, Tri-County Symphonic Band, The Bay State Band, the Portuguese American Marching Band, and many others.