My name is Miss Bianca, and I am a local Sacramento music educator and musician. Originally from Mākaha, HI, my family relocated stateside when I was young (my padrastro moved us to Fresno). I moved around quite a bit, but the majority of my life has been spent in the 916. As an adult, I moved to two cities outside of Sacramento: Stockton, CA and Columbia, South Carolina (Ft. Jackson, specifically). Despite moving around, I was educated entirely in Sacramento schools, including TRUSD schools before TRUSD existed!

• American Lakes Elementary - Kinder

• Alethea B. Smythe Elementary School (Now Smythe Academy of Arts and Sciences) - 1st and 2nd grade

• Babcock Elementary School - 3rd grade

• Kenneth Avenue Elementary School - 4th-6th grade

• Starr King Middle School - 7th and 8th grade

• Mira Loma High School - 9th-12th grade

• American River College - AA Degree

• CSU Sacramento - B.M. Music Education

I have been teaching privately for over 15 years, and previously taught 7 years in the San Juan Unified School District, where I taught General Music (K-5 classroom), 2 levels of band, class piano, and choir. I took a 5 year break from the school system to focus on growing my private studio, my work in the arts nonprofit field, and my work as a professional musician. I ended up working with another local nonprofit, CLARA, and it was thanks to their teaching artist program that I returned to my second home: the music classroom! I spent 2.5 years working with CLARA, teaching in Sac City Unified and Natomas Unified, and am now proud to be in Twin Rivers full time. I can now say that I have taught in every district where I attended school (and then some!). 

I received my first college degree in Music Performance from American River College, and followed it quickly with a Bachelor's of Music in Education from CSU Sacramento. While in college, I took as many of the music classes as I could in order to receive a diverse education - classical studies, jazz studies, choral studies, voice lessons, piano pedagogy, clarinet and bass clarinet studies, and even went for a secondary degree in Foreign Language Studies, with concentrations in Spanish, Italian, German, and American Sign Language.

Outside of teaching, I play with the Rancho Cordova River City Concert Band (principal clarinet), and just started my Master's in Education. I have a passion for community music, and believe that access to music, quality music performances, and music education should be available to all. I believe it is important as an educator to remain active in the subject I teach, and will not ask students to do things that I myself am not doing (like practicing, making mistakes, and trying new things). 

I am the former Vice President of the board for the Rancho Cordova River City Concert Band, former board member for the Sacramento Valley Symphonic Band Association (I just stepped down from the board after 10 years of service), and am the current regional membership coordinator for the state of California for the Association of Concert Bands.

Completely outside of music, I enjoy spending time playing games, reading and collecting books, dancing, traveling, and working on new languages and puzzles. My favorite colors are black and rose gold, my favorite gems are sapphires and opals, and I will choose Sanrio over Disney any day. I like learning new things, and am full of really weird facts - I used to read the encyclopedia for fun as a kid, and would memorize Trivial Pursuit cards and Guinness World Records. I enjoy popular culture, love memes, and embrace my millennial cringe (to be cringe is to be free).