A clear mind, a set of ready lungs and the anticipation of hundreds of eyes watching you, this is what is in store for the Glacier Peak Choir with the help of the new teacher Mrs. Erickson. Never heard of her?

Well, she’s from Salem, Oregon and has traveled to France, Switzerland, Germany, Amsterdam, and Luxembourg with her Edmunds Community College jazz choir, Soundsation. She was also in the concert choir there as well, and helped start and direct the girl’s jazz group. The transition was made from small time choir student, to professional jazz singer for over 25 years that started a couple years after college, and she joined a band at the age of 23. Trying different tastes of music such as Pop and R&B didn’t suit her low voice.

One could say that jazz is her true calling, “It seems to fit me better, and I really like it because it’s creative and different every time because you’re making things up on the spot,”

Now, think about singing in front of a crowd, the audience drawn to the beautiful melodies coming from the center stage with good friends surrounding and supporting you. Then imagine directing about 50 teenagers in a tiny room with barely any room to fit all of them on the risers and teaching them multiple songs at a time. How would someone make such a transition? Mrs. Erickson started when her two kids, Kayla, 25, and Trevor, 22, were in high school drama, she started helping out with all the fundraising and she got to know the students, when she realized that she liked working with that age group.

“When my kids grew up I needed something to do. Because I’d just been singing, but I wanted to do something that was giving back, rather than just having an audience. I wanted to help the next generation,” she said.

Her transition from professional to teacher was gradual, as she had started teaching private lessons and has continued to do so for 20 years. “I had a couple students that were high school age and they needed prep for auditions, and I loved seeing the light go on and them taking my instruction and using it and having it work. There’s something inspiring about that.”

Her other inspirations are listening to good music, and going to live performances “I like to see how the performer affects me, and watching the audience respond.” She also has three albums, ‘Prelude’ ‘While Strolling Through the Park’ and ‘Urban Christmas’. She now lives in Woodinville, and along with working at Glacier Peak, she also works at Northwest University as their Jazz choir director.

“I’m really loving this school district. It’s one of the most supportive school districts I’ve ever seen. I’m glad to have my job here at Glacier Peak, the students are awesome. I love all the enthusiasm and all the supportiveness, were mostly kind to one another,” she said. Ultimately, she would like to expand the choir here at GP. She would like to have her own classroom instead of having to share it with Mr. Johnson. She also wants two choirs, beginning choir and select choir. And if there are enough students willing to join, a girls choir, boys choir and a jazz choir.