Editor’s note: The Brown County Democrat asked Superintendent Laura Hammack to pass a note with questions from us to their new teachers. We’ll be introducing them over the next few weeks.

Dan Lyng

Serving: Brown County Intermediate School as a general music and chorus teacher; Brown County Junior High School as music technology teacher

Q: Where are you from, originally?

A:  I was born in Clifton Park, New York.

Q: Where did you work before coming here?

A: I lived in Boston for the last two years and earned a master’s degree in voice pedagogy from the New England Conservatory.

Q: What made you decide to be a teacher?

A: I had such positive and defining experiences in my own public school music education. I want to create that same experience — hopefully even better — for my students.

Q: What are you most looking forward to this school year?

A: Teaching the music technology course, definitely. Piloting a course that has never been taught at BCJHS gives me and the students a chance to be super creative and also gives us room to explore their personal interests. Dr. Laura Hammack and Mr. Brian Garman are amazing and were able to get us five new MacBook Pros for the course, so we will be able to use more advanced software than their Chromebooks would allow. I have to share one project just because I’m so excited about it: We will be using the overtone-analyzing software Voce Vista Pro to visualize the harmonic spectrum of the students’ voices. The students will then use the Madde computer sound-synthesis software to artificially replicate their own voices. It will sound like them, but it will be totally computer-created.

Q: What is one thing you want your students to know about you?

A: I am here to help you in any and every way I can.