Well, I've been singing for the sheer joy of it since I was young, and began serious voice study at the age of twenty one at San Francisco State University, where I received a Bachelor's degree in Music Education. While at SFSU, I sang in the University Chorus and Chamber Singers, both under the direction of Dr. Joshua Habermann. I have studied privately with Dewey Camp and Deborah Benedict Jackson, my most recent teacher and dear friend.

I've also enjoyed singing with the choir of Metropolitan Community Church in San Francisco, under the direction of Bob Crocker, Martin Benvenuto and Grace Renaud. My most recent performance experience has been with the San Francisco City Chorus, under the direction of Mark Tuning and Larry Marietta. Ever a lover of musical theater, I was also a member of the ensemble cast in Lucy Simon's Secret Garden, produced at SFSU, and played April in Stephen Sondheim's "Company" with a small theater group in San Francisco.

One of my passions is using the arts to make a difference in the lives of those in need. While at MCCSF, I started the Foundation Concert Series, which raised money for the Metropolitan Community Foundation, an organization that provides food, clothing, showers and dignity to the homeless of San Francisco's Castro and Mission Districts. Besides the fun of performing, I really loved working with the other artists who were kind enough to share their musical gifts for a good cause!

My most recent musical adventure has been to open a voice studio in my new home in Rancho Cordova! In my ten years of voice study and performance, I have had the pleasure of working with many wonderful teachers and musical directors. Not only have they helped me to develop my musicianship and vocal technique, but they've also constantly reminded me of why I sing – to connect to something in myself and with others. I just hope that I can give to my students what my teachers have given to me. In my studio, I want to develop technique and expression, to foster good musicianship and a sense of fun in the process of learning and performing. Each voice is as special as the person possessing it. It's my goal to help my students discover how special they and their voices are.
 

How'd I get into music in the first place? Well I'm pretty sure the whole singing thing started when I was a baby. I remember my mom singing to me when she tucked me in at night, and I bet it's safe to say that all started way back before I can remember. My family used to sing in the car on the way to camping trips too, not to mention around the campfire once we got there! When it came to the holidays, I'd start humming Christmas carols around the beginning of October. By the time I was in high school, I was the one singing to my nieces and nephews at bedtime; and in the kitchen with my dad while we made dinner; and along with the radio; and, and... The point being that it was pretty darn hard to shut me up!

When it came to college, I knew I wanted to study music. The problem was, despite all the singing I'd done when I was younger, I didn't have any actual training! I gave up on the idea at first, but then I decided to take a couple of general ed classes in music. Then I decided maybe I'd minor in music. Then I thought I'd maaaaaaybe get a Bachelor of Arts degree. Then I took the leap and switched to the much more intensive Bachelor of Music program.

It wasn't easy. Just about every last one of the other voice majors had a lot more experience and training than I did, and it didn't take long for me to realize that my only natural gift when it came to singing was how much I loved it. My first private teacher lost his patience with me a lot. My second one spent a lot of energy trying not to. It took years before I passed the audition to get into the advanced choir, and forget about solos. It got to the point where I was thinking of quitting.

And then I took a class called simply, "The Voice". I studied the science of singing, how to take care of one's voice, and how to teach others to sing. In fact, I even had to teach someone else and keep a journal of the process for part of my grade.

It was in teaching someone else that I realized a few things. To begin with, I quickly saw that I had actually learned a thing or two that I could pass on to someone else. It also didn't take long for it to occur to me that I was pretty good with people, and I liked working one on one in a studio setting.

Well, actually, I absolutely loved it. My student had not only some of the same vocal issues that I had worked to overcome in my own singing, but some of the same insecurities, anxieties and frustrations as well! If learning to sing had been easy for me; if it had come naturally; if I hadn't had to work through problems, how could I have helped someone else do the same? I'd finally realized that my love of music really was a gift.

Anyway, that's why I sing and why I teach. Purely and simply because both make me incredibly happy. I don't need to get into an exclusive choir, or land a contract with an opera company to tell me that my voice is "good enough". Neither do my students. If their voices entertain friends at a dinner party, or make a child feel safe and loved as they fall to sleep at night, then their voices are good enough. I'm just here to teach them healthy vocal technique, and to help them find joy in the process.