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Biography / Resume

 

Choral conductor, song-leader, arts administrator, flutist, improviser, and lover of sacred song.

It isn’t that I can’t make up my mind with so many labels. My work, my art, and my spirituality are deeply intertwined and informed by a passion for creating beauty, building community, and exploring connections between creativity and spirit, between disciplines, between places and people, and more.

Whether I’m improvising or composing … whether I’m leading a community ritual or or writing a speech … whether I’m leading group singing or teaching a workshop, I am called to be to be a conductor, a conveyance for the creative energy which connects individuals to their authentic selves, to each other, and to the Mystery.

My Approach

I’m an “edgewalker.” I enjoy working at the boundaries of seemingly disparate things where collaborative experimentation leads to deeper learning and expanded understanding. Such edges might blend disciplines, purposes, organizations, and ideas.

I’m an “enlivener.” I believe many people crave a direct and embodied encounter with the sacred and with the arts. The work I create or direct often seeks to liberate the creative spirit within that framework and frequently includes participatory experiences. Enliveners, a term coined by The Alban Institute, are guides that develop the congregation as the primary choir.

How Did it Come to This

Music can shape and transform individuals and communities. My own experiences—singing with family members around the piano and kazoo-ing in a raft on the Snake river; the formal church music of my Baptist upbringing, performing the great choral masterworks and studying flute at Butler University; serving as choral director for Franklin College, three Unitarian Universalist organizations (since 1991), and the Indianapolis Women’s Chorus (for 13 years); studying Gregorian chant at St. Meinrad’s Archabbey; improvising at Music for People workshops; designing and performing in multi-arts worship events; and singing and dancing my prayers in ceremony—all these have gifted me with profound experiences that demonstrate the power of shared sounding.

Click here to read testimonials.

Click here to read about what I do.

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