What does it mean to teach music with joy, authenticity, and an armful of puppets, beanbags, and boomwhackers? In the latest episode of ArtScene | The Podcast, Queen Anne’s County Public Schools shines the spotlight on Erika Beyer, PreK–2nd grade Music Teacher at Kent Island Elementary School. With five years in the classroom and a lifetime of lived experience, Erika shares her journey from collegiate swim champion and trombonist to passionate early childhood educator, mom, and joyful force in the music room.
A fourth-generation teacher, Beyer didn’t always plan on following the family path. “I thought I’d be a pilot,” she laughs. But after teaching swim lessons in high school and studying music education in college, she found her calling—especially after a formative semester with a birth-to-age-4 music program that forever changed how she viewed early learners. “Making music into fun and games became the most satisfying way I could connect with people,” she says.
Beyer’s episode explores the power of play, why her call-and-response “🎵Hello, Musicians!🎵” sets the tone each day, and how becoming a parent has reshaped how she sees every student. “Now that I know what it feels like to love your own child,” she shares, “I can’t help but see my students and picture them as someone’s baby. It’s given me even more strength to be patient and gentle when they need it most.”
Listeners will hear about Beyer’s creative classroom resets—from dandelion breathwork and flower-shaped dance movements to the student-driven performances where second graders compose, arrange, and choose instrumentation for their own songs, and how she engineers special moments where students have the opportunity to sing during her spring musicals.
“I want every student to walk into my room and feel seen and heard,” Beyer says. “Music isn’t just a subject—it’s how we build confidence, how we feel safe to be ourselves.”
Beyond her classroom, Beyer has presented her work at the Maryland Music Educators Association (MMEA) conference, where she modeled a classroom filled with laughter, creativity, and connection. She’s currently pursuing her Master’s in Special Education—not to change content areas, but to better serve every student who enters her room.
“Erika just radiates joy. She makes music feel accessible and empowering, especially for our youngest learners,” said Fine Arts Supervisor Michael Bell. “You walk into her room and you don’t just hear music—you feel that sense of belonging. The way she blends purposeful play with movement, and heart, it’s what every classroom should feel like.”
“Joy is the standard,” Beyer says. “Not just the goal. It’s how we teach, how we lead, and how we live.”
🎧 Listen to the full episode of ArtScene | The Podcast featuring Erika Beyer on Spotify or at https://anchor.fm/artscene.
