Music Directing

a bit about music directing and me

Services:

Teaching and accompanying for classes, playing for auditions and shows: starting $40/hr
Piano tracks of songs/audition cuts, and piano and vox teaching tracks:
- 16-32 bar audition cut: $10-15
- Full song: $15-30
- Just a teaching track: $15
- Teaching track/plunk AND piano track: $30
Transcriptions: $60 per minute of music transcribed
Other skills you can ask me about: MainStage patch changes and basic concert building, piano/vocal score maintenance and cleanup, and more

I am a music director who cares, provides resources, and pays attention to the details. I also understand the value of empowering musicians and singers to trust themselves, and discover strong choices that only they can make for themselves.

I bring my background as a writer, actor, musician, singer and multi-instrumentalist to these positions. I have training in musical theatre, opera, and pop/rock styles, and skills in vocal directing, piano conducting for MT pop/rock pits, music assisting/copy work, playing piano and Keys 2 parts (including parts involving MainStage patches), songwriting, guitar, and ukulele. I'm energized by working on new musicals and assisting a composer's process as a songwriter myself, and have served as a music assistant for companies such as the Eugene O'Neill National Musical Theatre Conference, Keegan Theatre, Devil's Isle Shakespeare Co., and more.

As a music teacher working with youth at Imagination Stage and Educational Theatre Company, and MDing in educational (college, elementary, middle, and high school) and youth-driven environments, I love challenging and empowering young artists by fostering foundational technique and helping them find their own voices.

Conducting, Piano, Guitar, & Ukulele Videos

Instruments

Original Music

As a singer-songwriter, my style is contemporary musical theatre bordering on folk/indie indie pop songs, often around themes of life shifting and changing, and asking questions that feel unanswerable, but finding an answer through song. My music is piano and guitar-driven, with reflective, nostalgic melodies. I most recently presented songs at District Fringe's inaugural Floor Fringe in its new era, excerpt of "Per Aspera" below:

Arranging My Life: A Senior Cabaret

In spring 2021, I wrote and performed a solo virtual cabaret featuring original poetry, music arrangements, dialogues about my life, and more. The audio from that night was recorded professionally by Daniel Erickson and graduate assistants from the Greenberg/Katzen team at American University. I'm very proud to present the live album and full cabaret here!

Time Stamps!

Golden Age Piano:

11:58 "Interlude" by dodie

12:46 "Warm All Over" from THE MOST HAPPY FELLA

14:44 "My Darling, My Darling" from WHERE'S CHARLEY?

Original Arranging:

33:58 "Time Heals Everything" from MACK AND MABEL by Jerry Herman

and "Not a Day Goes By" from MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG by Stephen Sondheim

Contemporary MT Piano:

20:55 "Tilly's Aria" by Todd Almond

42:42 "Running" by Adam Gwon

Guitar:

23:10 "Out of My Head" by Kooman and Dimond

28:43 "Big Yellow Taxi" by Joni Mitchell

Arranging My Life

Director's Note on A Living Newspaper Project: when a crisis hits home

Through this project, inspired by Living Newspapers like One Third of a Nation, we talked to AU students and alumni to uncover stories of young people affected by the housing and eviction crisis amidst COVID-19. Our nation has failed the people who are about to become the nation. As AU students ourselves, it feels like the crisis hits home and we can tell students’ stories. We also asked about how they found help, providing resources to housing support and COVID-19 relief assistance at the end of our virtual monologue book. Looking back on our work, I know that this is just the beginning, and there are many people in this country still facing evictions in the new year. It remains essential that their voices are heard. Thinking ahead to what’s possible in 2021, I have cautious hope of a better tomorrow for all those who need a home and comfort in these dark times. View more about The Living Newspaper.

A Call For A New Federal Theatre Project

Throughout the fall 2020 semester, I worked on my senior theatre capstone, where I explored lots of firsts: engaging in playwriting and documentary theatre research inspired by Living Newspapers like One-Third of a Nation by Arthur Arent, developing original arrangements to turn "Nickel Under The Foot" and "Gus and Sadie Love Song" from The Cradle Will Rock into ensemble songs and editing vocal parts together, and directing and music directing my fellow peers. Here are some of the projects that I was involved in!

Capstone