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Now entering her sixth year as a music teacher in the Diocese of Bridgeport's school system, Sharon Hagopian had done a good job of keeping her secret identity from her bosses and fellow teachers. But a recent item in the Connecticut Post's Saturday "Music Notes" column revealed the truth to her fellow educators: Miss Hagopian was, in fact, indie rocker Cannonball Jane.
Now entering her sixth year as a music teacher in the Diocese of Bridgeport's school system, Sharon Hagopian had done a good job of keeping her secret identity from her bosses and fellow teachers.

But a recent item in the Connecticut Post's Saturday "Music Notes" column revealed the truth to her fellow educators: Miss Hagopian was, in fact, indie rocker Cannonball Jane.

"I didn't even know you had written about me and so when I went to work on Monday, my principal came up to me and said, 'Hello, Cannonball Jane,' " Hagopian said in a phone interview Monday night. "I was completely taken by surprise.

"No one knew. I had kept completely quiet about anything that happens after the 2 o'clock dismissal bell."

Her alter ego now out in

the open, Hagopian said that the "reaction at school wasn't as horrible as I thought it might be.

"They were very supportive and enthusiastic about it . . . at least I hope so," the elementary-school teacher said with a laugh.

The item in the Post that blew Hagopian's cover was announcing the release of Knees Up!, the new seven-song EP from Cannonball Jane that was released in early October. The electro-pop disc, with touches of '60s girl group vocals, was recorded entirely by Hagopian — with some assistance from guitarist Jamie Gustkey — at her Milford residence.

The do-it-yourself approach is what works best for Hagopian, dating back to her time at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, where she studied multi-track

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recording.

"I actually stole the key to our recording studio and I would go down there and stay all night and compose using the antiquated equipment," she recalled. "But I never released anything or thought it was feasible.

"It was kind of a dream, I guess, or a fantasy that maybe some day . . ."

And when that day finally did come, Hagopian had the name Cannonball Jane already picked out.

"I came up with the moniker when I was a teenager," she said. "It was always something I knew I would use at some point."

The pseudonym came in handy for Hagopian, who jokingly referred to herself as being "kind of a recluse." It allowed her to keep her music career separate from her day job.

"I have to say, I am pretty isolated — in case you can't tell since I am a one-woman band," said Hagopian, who grew up in northeast Ohio. "I'm not part of a scene of any sort. I really don't know a lot of local musicians. I've kind of kept to myself. "I'm a very shy person, so I never have actually been in a band, but I have always really enjoyed creating music. So I started recording on my own — these Cannonball Jane-style songs — probably about five years ago. Technology had advanced so much by that time that you could do a lot in your own home."

Cannonball Jane's first effort, called Street Vernacular, couldn't find distribution in the United States, but it was released in the United Kingdom in 2006 and garnered great reviews from The Times of London and Time Out London.

"That was very gratifying, but it was kind of bittersweet, because I had to fly thousands of miles to enjoy it," she said. "We did do a small tour over there and it went well and it was received well. I just wish and still hope that the same will happen here in the United States.

"But Knees Up! has also gotten very good reviews, so I'm excited about that."

Street Vernacular was finally released in the U.S. in September and, like Knees Up!, is available through Hagopian's Web site at www.cannonballjane.com.

For Knees Up!, Hagopian called on a friend to do a remix of the song "Take it to Fantastic." That her friend was Adam Horovitz, aka Adrock of The Beastie Boys, should help bring extra attention to the EP.

"My business sense did kick in," she said with a chuckle when asked about having Horovitz's name attached to her Cannonball Jane project. "But he was more than happy to do it.

"He has helped a lot of other bands by helping produce and doing remixes and so I simply asked him if he'd like to do a remix for me. And he really liked the song 'Take it to Fantastic,' so I thought that would be a good match."

There are actually three versions of "Take it to Fantastic" on Knees Up!, the third being another remix, this one by UK producer DJ Downfall.

While going it alone has worked well for Hagopian on the recording side, trotting Cannonball Jane onto the stage was a bit more troublesome.

"It took me a while to figure out what works best," said Hagopian, who also teaches piano at the Little Red School of Art and Music in Stratford. "I have a guitarist for all of the songs that require that and I use prerecorded music as a backing track and, depending on the song, I have a sampler with me. I've kind of gone the spectrum of trying to do a lot of it live, but sometimes I kind of get trapped behind my equipment.

"It's all really subjective what the audience wants. Do they want a frontperson who's really energetic and out front or do they want to see me twisting and turning knobs and playing a little Mozart sample on the keyboard? I don't know. It's always a work in progress, I suppose."

Though Knees Up! hasn't even been out for two months, Hagopian plans on concentrating more on her vocals for future Cannonball Jane records. "I really appreciate a fine melody, as well as a good beat, and I really love harmonizing," she said. "Sometimes my voice is really drenched in reverb on the recordings, but live I really give it a lot of gusto when I sing. "I love to sing. I think I can do a lot more with my voice than what's been shown on record."

For more information or to purchase Knees Up! and Street Vernacular, visit www.cannonballjane.com.