Mimi and the Fender Amp

Mimi hates having her picture taken but loves guitar. Mimi is fifteen and has been taking guitar for two years. She has a natural pensity towards finger picking, solos, anything related to the blues and Daniel Bachmen. Last week, we went on the adventure of taking her amp apart. Her small 12"speaker, Fender amp has been having a lot of extra statice noise. We noticed that the jack, where the chord connects the amp and guitar was loose. So after an hour of looking up the schematic, and taking it apart, piece by piece, we were able to tighten a loose screw. This saved her a trip to the guitar shop. And she was able to start playing her electric guitar again.

Songwriting Class

Miski has been taking my weekly songwriting class since October of last year. She have been singing for only five months. And today she brought in a vocal effects pedal to share. The rhythm, melody and harmonies she came up were wonderful. We played a game of looping voices. The mic was passed around eight times. Eight different vocal patterns to create one song. It was a lot of fun. 

Arts Corps Honored at the White House

Arts Corps just received the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award from first lady Michelle Obama today.

This is the highest national honor in community-based arts education.

For the last couple of years, I have taught a weekly Songwriting class for Arts Corps as a part of the All Access after school music program ages 12-19. I am excited and happy for their success. Some of the hardest working teachers I know.

Arts Corps places professional teaching artists at schools, community centers, low income housing, residential treatment centers and other youth-serving organizations throughout King County. Many of these partner sites serve populations where the majority of young people qualify for free and reduced price lunch.Classes cover the spectrum of arts disciplines from dance and visual arts to photography and music.



White House Blog, Arts Corps Site