Director Team

About

Heather Brenner began playing piano at age 5 in Florida where she was born and raised. She joined band as a trumpet player in 6th grade and continued playing through high school marching band. In college, she attended Florida State University’s School of Music where she earned a Bachelor Degree in Music Therapy on piano.

For over 20 years, Heather has taught private piano lessons, which allowed her to work alongside being a Home School mom. Heather has participated in singing and playing on worship teams at church her entire adult life. From 2017 ‐ 2021, Heather was the Music Director at Rapid City Christian School, where she taught 6th ‐ 12th grade band and choir, as well as leading the student worship team for chapel.

Since moving to Sioux Falls in 2021, Heather has taught private piano lessons at Schmitt Music and Popplers Music. She has also started and directed the Sioux Falls Home School Band. The Sioux Falls Home School Band program is a dream that Heather birthed from wishing she had a band program for her own children to participate in as homeschoolers. Now that her nest has emptied, she has made that dream come to life for other homeschool students. And in her most recent venture, Heather was hired as the Band Director and is starting a Band program for the Abiding Savior Academy.

This Is My Life

In 2017, Heather recorded an album (under the name Heather Goddard) of 12 original songs titled “This is My Life”, which were born from the pains and struggles of her own life. This album is still available on most digital platforms as well as on YouTube:

About

Brooke Van Zee started playing clarinet at the age of 11 in Mitchell, South Dakota. She continued playing clarinet all throughout high school and college, as well as graduate school. For both of her undergraduate and graduate degrees, she attended Northern State University, earning a Bachelors and a Masters in Music Education. In total, she has played her clarinet for 20 years! She toured numerous times with ensembles that performed in New York, Europe and China.
Brooke taught 4th-12th grade band in a small town in South Dakota for four years, before staying home with her son. She has taught private lessons for 16 years, primarily on clarinet, but other woodwind, brass, and percussion too. Brooke has participated in worship team at her church since 2020.
Brooke moved to Sioux Falls in 2021 with her husband, Daniel, and son, Granger. She just began homeschooling her son and is thrilled to be able to teach band at the same time. She also has her own photography business that she started in 2016. Brooke loves Jesus, being a wife and mama, cats, band, photography, travel, and of course, homeschooling.