Joining us this week for our Staff Spotlight series is Hayock's newest music teacher, Olivia Johnson. She teaches both general music and chorus.

How long have you been teaching?

This is my first year at Haycock, but I've been teaching piano & voice lessons for more than 20 years. I've also directed choirs and taught for six years at private schools in the Pacific Northwest.

What do you love about Haycock?

I love the students' enthusiasm for learning, their insightful comments, and how happy they are to be together. We also have a great team of music specialists!

What makes you smile or brings you calm?

Easy to moderate hikes, my toy poodle Archimedes, checking things off my to-do list, and the shared sense of humor I've built with my kids

What books are you currently reading?

I listen to A LOT of audio books, so I'm going to overshare on this one. I'm currently listening to Ted Gioia's Music: A Subversive History, as well as A Year of Wonder: Classical Music for Every Day by Clemency Burton-Hill. 

I recently finished Angela Duckworth's Grit, Daniel Pink's Drive and Jonathan Haight's The Anxious Generation. I love non-fiction and historical fiction. 

What other media entertains you?

I've never been a huge TV/movies person, but I think Poldark is my favorite series from the last few years. I recently listened to the Beatles albums in chronological order, and I got to see Imagine Dragons in concert last year, which was amazing! 

My favorite keyboard composers are J.S. Bach, Rachmaninoff, and Prokofiev. I also love a lot of contemporary choral works. 

What fills your time outside of school?

I don't have a lot of time for hobbies outside of music and my three kids, but when I can make time, I really enjoy Euro-style board games like Agricola, Wingspan, and Ark Nova. I also like to take Coursera courses on anything to do with history and culture, and I love visiting national parks.  

Our students love "fun facts" about people and topics. What's a fun fact about you?

During my college years, I performed as vocalist in a rock band openings acts for Survivor and Foreigner. 

Is there anything else you'd like to share about yourself that wasn't asked?

As a general music teacher, I often get asked what my main instrument is. In college my major instrument was piano and my minor instrument was voice with a focus on choral conducting and collaborative piano. In middle and high school, I played flute in band and tenor saxophone in jazz band. We didn't have much of a strings program in the school district where I grew up, but I love orchestral music, so it was a lot of fun for me to participate in the FCPS parent orchestra on viola a couple of years ago.