TEACHER'S CORNER: PRACTICE MAKES PROFITS IN ST. MARY'S MUSIC CLASS

Practice makes perfect, and in Jim Hindman's music class practice can also make profits.

St. Mary Cathedral School band students who practice their instruments regularly earn "band dollars." Once a semester, they can redeem their dollars to buy items. Last year items included a rubber rat, videos, CDs, flashlights and a $5 bill.

"To be any good at playing any musical instrument requires hard work and practice," Hindman explained.

While Hindman thinks of himself as band director first, he teaches an assortment of courses at St. Mary's. He instructs general music classes for grades kindergarten through eight and teaches first and second grade social studies.

He also is the computer coordinator and manages a 16-station Apple computer lab and four IBM multimedia workstations. He also teaches the high school band class at Notre Dame High School.

This is the fourth year Hindman has been teaching at St. Mary's and Notre Dame. Prior to that, he taught for five years in public schools.

The year before Hindman began working at Notre Dame, the band program had dwindled to the point that the course wasn't offered at all. Under his direction, Notre Dame has a small, but good band.

At the District Music Festival last year, Notre Dame had 16 playing members, which reportedly was the smallest high school band in attendance. The band earned an overall I rating, the highest possible. "I was extremely proud of the hard work the students put in to make this accomplishment possible," he said.

Hindman and his wife, Robyn, perform with two Christian singing groups. One is a trio called "First Love." Hindman plays piano and his wife sings. They also sing in a southern gospel quartet called "New Beginning."

He also leads the congregational singing at his church, First Assembly of God in Jackson. This past summer, Hindman was both a performer and the conductor of the Community Band in Chaffee.

"I played in band in school beginning in the sixth grade and continued through five years of college," Hindman said. "I still enjoy performing today with the Chaffee Community Band."

He and his wife have a 14-month-old daughter, Cassie.