It is my heart’s desire to share the healing and joy that music generates with the world community, and I offer patient and clear instruction, allowing space for wherever you are in the process of learning. I encourage students to take notes and record their sessions if possible in order to have the maximum benefit away from the lesson and for future reference. It's the practice of continually returning that allows for breakthrough.
A little about me:
With over 20 years of world music and vocal performance experience, Renée launched her music studies at Laney College in Oakland, CA 1991, soon after transferring to Mills College in Oakland, CA in 1997, acquiring a B.A. in Music with a specialization in vocal performance. While at Mills, Renée had the pleasure of studying vocal Jazz techniques with Faith Winthrop Molly Holm, and, soon after, with Ledisi at The Jazzschool. She has also had the pleasure of studying with many Bay Area gifted artists, including:
* Composition with Pauline Oliveros and Jacqui Hairston
* Afro-Brazilian and North African percussion with ritual, Brazilian Bateria leader, and percussion instructor Bruce Silverman
* East Indian Raga with Rainey Eastman-Gannet and Shabda Khan
* Neo-Soul singing with Trewlany Rose
Renée is a certified and seasoned Music Together teacher who has been joyfully leading children and families in facilitated musical experiences since 2001. Renée is also an enlivened drum circle facilitator trained in the spirit of Village Music Circles by Arthur Hull. Most recently she is joyfully leading an ongoing Vocal Improvisation circle in Marin.
In addition to a multi-culturally diverse vocal repertoire, Renée is a skilled and growing multi-instrumentalist, a practice that developed out of her natural curiosity, and was further supported by her studies acquiring a certification in Sound, Voice, and Music Healing at California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, CA.
Renée has facilitated ritual through song for over ten years in the Lakota-Sioux ceremonial tradition, with Bay Area ensemble The Sons and Daughters of Orpheus, and most recently in the local Jewish Renewal community. She has had the pleasure of facilitating private rituals including birth, coming of age, and other ceremonies that assist members in the process of being held by community.
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