Norm Sands
Norm Sands began composing motivating music for his beginning recorder students in 1989. Since then, he has gained national attention as a composer of educational music through his compositions for Wide World Music, a division of Shawnee Press, Music K-8 magazine (Plank Road Publishing), and SandSoundS, Norm's own publishing venture, which is now a part of Shawnee Press. Upon receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education from Penn State University in 1985, Norm worked in the Bellefonte Area School District in Pennsylvania as an elementary music specialist. He received several awards during his 11 years as an elementary general music/choral teacher including Outstanding Contributor to Education '89, Outstanding Young Educator '90-'91, and a Citation of Excellence from the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association in 1992. Norm developed curriculum and taught in the REAL (Reinventing Education for Active Learning) Initiative in Bellefonte from 1993 to 1995.From 1995-1998, Norm was an elementary music specialist in Deep South Texas where he was nominated Teacher of the Year in two different school districts.