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9815 NE Covington Road
Vancouver, WA 98662
360-882-0501
musicalbeginnings@att.net
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Our Teachers
Susan Ferrell
Susan is the owner of Musical Beginnings. She has been
a licensed and practicing Kindermusik Educator since
1997 and has also taught piano for many years. She has
11 years experience teaching Special Education children
ages 2 - 10 years in the public school system. She is
the mother of two school-age boys. Susan has a background
in piano, oboe, and choir. She has combined her love
for children with her love and appreciation for music
in her growing business. |
Lori Edenfield
Lori has taught private voice, Kindermusik, choir
and musical theater classes since 2004 and loves the
opportunity to expose students of all ages to many
different aspects of music education. As a vocal performance
and music education major in college, she performed
in numerous concerts and musical theatre productions.
Lori was a featured soloist with her college jazz band,
lead singer in various local bands, and has performed
in over 15 musical theater productions in the Portland
area since 1989.
Lori lives in Vancouver with her husband
Patrick and their 3 children.
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Kristin Chaudhary
Kristin has been singing professionally since the
age of 18 and has performed with Opera Theater Oregon,
Vancouver Children's Opera, Washington Chamber Orchestra,
Bravo Vancouver, Cantores in Ecclesia, and the William
Byrd Festival.She was a winner of the NATS competition
and the Arizona Contemporary Chamber Music Competition
and recipient of the Miriam Wolfe and Autenreith voice
scholarships.
Kristin holds an MM in vocal performance
from Portland State University and a BM in vocal performance
from Arizona State University. She has completed additional
training at the American Institute of Musical Studies
(Austria) and Early Music Vancouver (Canada).
Kristin
has been teaching since 2003 and is a member of the
National Association of Teachers of Singing. In addition
to her work at Musical Beginnings, Kristin teaches
voice at Clark College and directs the Touch of Class
Chorale.
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Phyllis Ernsberger
Phyllis Ernsberger has a Bachelor's in Arts and Science
with a major in music (piano as the primary instrument)
from the University of Washington/Seattle and a Master's
in church music (organ and choral directing) from Westminster
Choir college in Princeton, New Jersey. She began her
violin studies in 7th grade and was a member of the Seattle
Youth Symphony Orchestra. She is currently director of
music/organist at Saint Andrew Lutheran Church where
she directs several choirs, rings in a bell coir and
plays fiddle in a Celtic band. Her other instruments
are recorder and accordion. |
Steve Jackson
Steve Jackson has been playing music actively for
the last 20 years. He began taking lessons at age 7,
and by 15 was studying guitar at the University of
Texas. At age 19, he began studying at Central Washington
University under classical musician and guitarist James
Durkee and jazz vocalist Vijay Singh. Steve still performs
locally with a variety of artists, including nationally
acclaimed Christian group Hyper Static Union. He is
passionate about music and enjoys helping others to
have enriching musical experiences as well. |
Becky Gregory
Becky Gregory began teaching herself to play piano
at the age of thirteen and began taking private lessons
at the age of fifteen. Piano and theory came easily
to her and within a year of beginning lessons she began
to play weekly for her church worship team. Through
our High School Becky was very active in the music
department, doing accompaniment work for choir and
drama productions, singing in various choirs, serving
as choir president and even being part of the auditioned
Nevada All-State choir.
After High School Becky studied
at the university of Nevada for two years, then transferred
to Central Bible College in Springfield, MO where she
studied music and Bible and graduated in 2005.
Becky
moved to Vancouver in 2006, with her husband David
to serve at Bethel church as children's pastors and
in June 2007 Becky also began serving as Minister of
Music for Bethel. In September 2007 Becky joined the
staff at Musical Beginnings as a piano teacher and
licensed Kindermusik educator. |
Gary Duckworth
Gary has been producing and directing musical theater
with youth of all ages for 18 years. Audiences from
100-900 people are usually left asking “How did
they get those young people to act and sing on that
level? Gary loves to teach life skills and values in
a humorous way while teaching music and drama. He feels
this is why many students return year after year.
Students
grow in self confidence as they learn to overcome insecurities
that are common to all of us. Gary works to draw out
or bring into focus what each individual child needs
to reach their full potential. Students are able to
watch and listen to themselves on camera which helps
them to act and sing with a maturity beyond their years.
Many youth theater teachers know acting but they could
be better at knowing how to motivate the youth to go
beyond the ordinary and create something special in
the role they are playing. Gary knows that “we
are all acting all the time”. We tend to learn
a lot about ourselves in a good acting class that effects
us in a good way. |
Kelly McLean
Kelly is a licensed Kindermusik educator who brings
an artistic, creative and humorous approach to the Kindermusik
class. She has been working 10+ years with children,
ages newborn to 10 years, in before-and-after school
programs, and developed and supervised curriculum for
art activities, plays and talent shows. She has a degree
in Art and studied Early Childhood Education. Kelly likes
to spend each day singing and dancing with her two daughters,
as if life were a musical. |
Sarah Kim
Sarah is a native of Vancouver and has been classically
trained in voice for over 10 years, performing opera,
musical theater, and sacred music.
Sarah was recently
a Young Artist for Portland Opera To-Go’s Outreach
program, playing Musetta in their production of La
Bohème and also an Apprentice Artist for the
Astoria Music Festival, being featured with the Festival
Orchestra. Concurrently, she was a soloist with Oregon
East Symphony, Henderson Symphony, a finalist for Rimrock
Opera’s Margaret Kimball Operatic Competition,
and Coeur d’Alene Symphony’s Young Artist
Competition. She is also the recipient of Opera League
of Northern Arizona Artist Scholarship.
Sarah received
her Master of Music in Voice Performance from University
of Nevada Las Vegas, where she had a Teaching Assistantship
and taught privately. She also received her Bachelor
of Music in Voice Performance from Northern Arizona
University, where she was awarded an Opera Scholarship
and began teaching at that time as well. Sarah has
been teaching since 2003 and immensely enjoys teaching
when she isn’t performing. |
Kattie Coffman
Kattie Coffman has studied piano for twelve years.
She has the equivalent of a Bachelor's Degree in piano
performance and music theory through the Associated
Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM). She is
currently working on her performance diploma through
ABRSM and studies with Dr. Lena Vozheiko-Wheaton of
Vancouver, Washington.
A Yacolt Washington resident,
Miss Coffman has been teaching piano since 2003 and
has served as church pianist for Amboy Baptist Church
for four years. |
Luke Doss
Luke has been playing music for fifteen years, attended
Vancouver School of the Arts, and is currently pursuing
a Bachelors degree in music. He enjoys writing music,
producing and conducting. He is also very passionate
about history and the classical era and spent a year
working at Fort Vancouver Historical site, giving interpretations
on the rich history of our area.
"I love all
parts of art and music and I feel that teaching is
the most rewarding part. I am a very patient teacher,
and very enthusiastic about learning in general. Life
long learning is a motto for me. I had my first child
who is now eight months old, and watching him figure
everything out for the first time fascinates me. It
lets me appreciate how little we all know, and how
much potential we all have." |
Sarah Rumrery
Sarah has been playing violin for 10 years and viola
for 8 years. She also plays piano.
Throughout her music
education she has at attended Suzuki camp, YMA camp and
was a part of the Metropolitian Youth Symphony in Portland,
OR. Viola is her main instrument which she plays in the
Clark College Orchestra.
Music is a very important part of
Sarahs life. |
Heidi Ames
Heidi Ames is equally proficient
in piano and voice, having begun her music studies
at age 13 in Tigard, Oregon. She has performed throughout
the United States, the Caribbean and in Europe.
Ms. Ames has attended Johanna Meier Opera Theater
Institute, Oberlin Piano Institute, Colorado College
Vocal Arts Institute, Charles University in Prague,
and completed an apprenticeship in opera accompaniment
at The International Institute of Vocal Arts in Chiari,
Italy. While living in Italy, she held the position
of Assistant Musical Director for the Teatro Comunale
in Bolzano for the 2004/2005 season. She recently completed
her M.M. in vocal performance at The University of
Montana, where she performed the title role in Puccini's
Suor Angelica and was a soloist in Bach’s Magnificat. In 2008, she won a singing
competition that awarded her the opportunity to perform
in a star-studded gala accompanied by Grammy winner David
Foster. Ms. Ames has appeared as a guest soloist with
the Oregon and Mid-Columbia Sinfoniettas and will be
performing operatic arias with the Columbia Gorge Symphony
in December 2009.
Her teachers have included David Cody,
Pamela South, Martile Rowland, Dean Kramer, and Sedmara
Rutstein. Ms. Ames has performed in master classes
with Alan Monk, Trish McCaffrey, Bruno Ragacci, Jean-Philippe
Collard, Leon Bates, Loren Hollander, and Pamela South.
She has coached with Lydia Brown, Judith Blegen, Raymond
Gniewek, John and Jolly Stewart, and Charis Dimaris.
With over 10 years of experience as a music teacher,
Ms. Ames enjoys teaching children and adults of all
ages and abilities and in all musical styles. Her varied
and interesting career has given her a unique, holistic
approach to teaching, focusing on each student’s individual
strengths and learning styles while instilling a sense
of responsibility in each student to become his or
her own musician. |
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