Great teaching begins with great learning. My musical education began in a children’s chorus where I learned sight reading and vocal exercises and nurtured my love and joy for music through international choral performances and national competitions. In college I trained with modern jazz star Alicia Olatuja, who helped me develop my sound as a solo artist and embrace my musical eccentricity. In graduate school, my studies with artist Carmina Escobar helped cultivate my body-voice connection and exploration of non-traditional vocal sounds. All these inform my own performances and my approach to helping students find their voices.
We begin with a conversation about goals and musical interests so that I can craft individualized lessons. I guide my students to link their singing and breath with movement to unleash freedom in their sound. We focus on using the voice as a tool for empowerment, self-expression and creativity. I work with students to find and workshop their own repertoire, and help prepare them for performance opportunities and achieve their musical goals and desires.
I have extensive training in jazz, pop, musical theatre, R&B, rock, classical, experimental and improvisatory music. I earned a Voice Performance Bachelors of Music degree from The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music (2014) and a Jazz Studies-Masters of Fine Arts from California Institute of the Arts (2017).
As a professional vocalist I’m a member of the social-justice choir Tonality, an auxiliary member of Los Angeles Master Chorale, section leader and soloist at First Congregational Church of LA, and part of the experimental vocal ensemble HEX. Recent performances, operas and other projects include Björk’s “cornucopia” tour, The Industry’s “Sweet Land”, Resonance Collective’s “Conference of the Birds”, and Tune-Yards at Walt Disney Hall. I am a composer and songwriter and have written and performed my compositions in chamber music, choral, orchestral, rock and jazz band settings. My albums are ACKLAND, an experimental art rock project, and Inner Astronomy, a contemporary classical cantata for voice and strings.
I have over 12 years of voice teaching experience, including at Sacramento Teagarden Jazz Camp instructing budding jazz singers. I have also taught at Pasadena Music Conservatory, Rhodes School of Music, and West Coast Music Academy. I currently teach from my home voice studio in Los Angeles, CA and offer online and in-person lessons.
Contact me for lessons at mollypmusic [at] gmail.com.
References available upon request