Rita Grethen Jarrard received a Bachelors of Music Education Degree from WSU at River Falls, WI. and a Masters of Music Education Degree from MSU at East Lansing, MI.  She taught elementary band for 31 years, 27 of which she was employed by the fourth largest school district in Minnesota, District #196 of Apple Valley-Eagan-Rosemount.  During those years she kept looking for better instructional books, constantly writing and arranging extra exercises to bridge the gaps in the materials that were available at the time.  Finally she wrote entire individualized lesson books to help teach the uniqueness of each instrument and found significant improvement in the learning achievements of her students through these books.  Elementary band teachers began using them in the rest of the school district. When middle school band teachers began to notice improvements in the background of students entering their programs, she then wrote level two books for all instruments.  During her teaching years she also wrote and arranged many full band compositions which she shared with other teachers and eventually put these together in book form.  Recently she has created band rehearsal books to closely parallel the development of concepts and techniques taught in her lesson books.  Through these companion books, she hopes more teachers will be able to utilize the individualized method books even when teachers are forced to instruct students in large groups.  All of her books are under the "Musical Magic Series" published by Increase Music. In recent years she has been commissioned to write compositions for elementary bands, and in her spare time she volunteers her time playing music for religious services and community events.