Instruments
Piano
Intro to singing
Beginner accordion
Guitar
Songwriting/Composition
Bio
Education
-Bachelor of Arts
Ethnomusicology
Nustrat Fateh Ali Khan, Marc Seals etc. University of Washington
-Piano, Vocal Jazz
Ford Hill, Chuck Israels Western Washington University
-Classical guitar Instituto de Bellas Artes San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato Mexico
-Ongoing in person studies:
New Orleans piano
Tom McDermott, New Orleans La. Son Montuno
Oswaldo Perigo, Havana Cuba Blues piano/accordion
Centrum Acoustic Blues Workshop Various teachers ie. Henry Butler, Daryl Davis, Sunpie Barnes
Bio:
Teacher:
Caryn is an animated and warmhearted teacher who has been forming lifelong bonds with her students for 29 years. She primarily teaches piano, but also guitar, singing and accordion. She is the sole creator and director of Morningstar Farm Song Dance Camp and Three Rivers Singing Camp, annual performance camps in the San Juan Islands and Whatcom county. She also founded a children’s choir program on Orcas Island.
Giggles and belly laughs fill Caryn’s life, as she is dedicated to making lessons fun, and facilitating a deep love for music that will continue to grow as students learn to teach themselves. She teaches students to learn both by ear, and by notation and chord charts, and encourages them to sing along with their instruments in a very comfortable and non intimating way. Instrument lessons are geared towards the individual student, and she follows their goals and desires. They may include but are not limited to the following skills:
Improvisation Ear training
Sight-reading
Chords and learning from charts Theory
Technique
Song writing/composition
Blues
Artist:
Caryn spent decades as a touring singer- songwriter, as well as studio musician backup singer. Some local bands she has been in are Steve Webb and the Great Mad Swirl, Brasscadia and Tim McHugh and the Lost Poets. She has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Oregon Country Faire, Seattle Folklife and Kerrville Folk Festival, opened for Taj Mahal and shared the stage with Sara MacLachlan. She had leading roles in community theatre musical productions such as Guinevere in Camelot. Her beloved solo album Remember the Fire continues to earn praise. Her newest endeavor is accompanying improvised musicals at the Upfront Theatre.
Training:
Caryn went to a strong performing arts high school and was privileged to sing in award winning choirs. She was in every musical theatre production, and was the paid piano accompanist for the Allstate and All Northwest Choirs. She pursued a double major in music and theatre at WWW, studying piano with Ford Hill and vocal jazz with Chuck Israels. Her sophomore year, after learning Spanish for a quarter in Michoacan, Mexico, she enrolled in the Instituto de Bellas Artes in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato. She later transferred to the University of Washington school of music to earn her degree in ethnomusicology, and incorporate her love of world music and culture in her major. She studied piano with Marc Seals, Kiwali singing with the esteemed Nusrat Fateh Alli Khan, and at 23 moved to Spain to spend a year researching and writing her thesis before earning her B.A. from the UW.
Piano Specialties:
New Orleans piano
Ragtime
Blues
Cuban Son Montuno
Song writing/composition
Singing specialties:
Discovering own’s own natural voice Building confidence
Show tunes and musical theatre Improvised musicals
