Crestline Music Department

The music department stays very busy, which is challenging and rewarding. All students have the opportunity to participate in a production each year. Performing together allows children to work cooperatively toward a common goal and provides a means to assess music objectives.

Laura Butler has been teaching music at Crestline Elementary since January 2005. She enjoys collaborating with Janet Nelson to provide Crestline students with standards-based music instruction. They believe music should be fun and educational.

Professional Background

Mrs. Butler taught high school choral music and drama and preschool music in Memphis, Tennessee before moving to the Birmingham area and worked as a P.E. Assistant at Deer Valley Elementary in Hoover prior to teaching music at Crestline. She holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Mississippi College. In addition, she attained Orff-Schulwerk Level I and Level II certification at Samford University under the direction of Shirley McRae. In 2007, she achieved National Board Certification for Early and Middle Childhood Music, and she renewed her certification in 2017. She received a Mountain Brook Schools Outstanding Performance Award for 2007-2008 and was selected as Crestline's 2014-2015 Teacher of the Year. 

Her love of teaching music and using technology led her to start a music education blog with ideas and resources geared toward elementary music teachers (Make Music Rock).