Cheshire, CT Music Performance Lessons

ation. I have also performed with the Juilliard Orchestra, the U.S. Coast Guard Band, and International Opera Theater. I hold a Master's in Music from The Hartt School and a Bachelor of Music summa cum laude from Arizona State University (ASU).

Though I specialize in saxophone, I also love teaching beginning and intermediate piano.

If you are outside my travel radius, I may be able to accommodate you for an additional travel fee - please contact me!

***Lesson Materials***

Saxophone students must have an instrument in good repair and required accessories (reeds, mouthpiece, etc.). Piano students must have access to a tuned piano or a keyboard with touch-sensitivity. I am happy to recommend instrument and accessory brands; please check with me before a major purchase. Quality, working equipment is critical to students’ success.

I periodically request that students purchase books and other lesson materials.

IMPORTANT: If you are planning to buy a saxophone or mouthpiece, please consult with me first. Having a good quality saxophone and mouthpiece is essential to your success. There are a number of cheap saxophones and mouthpieces readily available, but they are often of poor quality. I can recommend options for your first saxophone or mouthpiece purchase that may be more expensive, but will help you succeed in the long term.

t the Oakdale Theater, the Rock Cats Stadium, and has also done a number of radio and television interviews. Brian has provided liturgical music for many years in CT; also, in Sicily and Rome. Mr. H is a patient, enthusiastic teacher who enjoys helping his students master the art of guitar.

*** Lesson Details ***
In the first half of the lesson, students can expect to learn music fundamentals from a guitar method book, i.e. how to read music; I also teach guitar tablature. Depending on ability (beginner, intermediate, advanced), I will show them chords, scales and how to play a guitar solo. The second half of the lesson is spent with the student learning their favorite songs and building a repertoire (song list) for possbile future performances.

*** Studio Equipment ***
home: Seating for parents. I provide the amp, instrument cable and music stand. I expect the student to have a guitar and notebook. If the student does not have a guitar, I will give a referral for reasonably priced guitars.

*** Travel Equipment ***
I expect the student to have a guitar and notebook. If the student does not have a guitar, I will give a referral for reasonably priced guitars.

*** Specialties ***
Rock, Pop, Jazz, & Beginner Classical

Pick and Finger style Guitar & Bass

horale, with Hartford Opera Theater as Elise in Dawn Sonntag's Verlorene Heimat, Pythia in Nkeiru Okeye’s We’ve Got Our Eye on You, and as Miss Paige in Dan Shore’s An Embarrassing Position which was nominated for Best Featured Ensemble in a Musical through the 2015 Broadway World Connecticut Awards. She has also performed with Opera Theater of Connecticut, Connecticut Lyric Opera, Madison Lyric Stage, Greater Worcester Opera, Revolution Opera Alliance, the Simsbury Light Opera Company, and the Greater Meriden Concert Chorale.

Prior to moving to Connecticut, Rachel lived in St. Louis, Missouri, where she frequently performed with the St. Louis Symphony as a member of the St. Louis Symphony Chorus. She has also performed with Winter Opera St. Louis, Union Avenue Opera, and the Southern Illinois Music Festival. In 2012, Ms. Abrams had the opportunity to be a sponsored young artist with Winter Opera St. Louis where she performed the role of Echo in Ariadne auf Naxos, covered Musetta in La Bohème, and performed in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical review: A Grand Night for Singing. Ms. Abrams has also performed with Opera Fort Collins, Loveland Opera Theater, Victorian Lyric Opera, and Opera Classica Europa in Bad Schwalbach, Germany as an apprentice artist. Additional operatic credits include Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflöte, Giannetta in L’Elisir d’Amore and Miss Pinkerton in The Old Maid and the Theif.

A passionate performer of Jewish music, Ms. Abrams was featured as a soloist in Martin Bresnick’s puppet opera, Der Signál, with the Hartford Independent Chamber Orchestra during the 10th Annual Celebration of Jewish Arts and Culture at Charter Oak Cultural Center in October of 2014. As an active performer of art song, Ms. Abrams has collaborated with various musicians throughout the New England region to create diverse and accessible art song recitals. In April of 2015, Ms. Abrams and pianist Michael Korman presented a recital featuring the works of Schönberg, Ruth Schönthal, Previn, and Weill with the Maurice Greenberg Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Hartford.

Since the winter of 2016, Rachel has been an active performer with Lollipop Opera Outreach. This touring opera company brings the joy of opera to thousands of school children throughout New England. This season, she will perform the roles of the Mother/Witch in Hansel and Gretel, Babe in The Three Pigs – A Pig Tale, and participate in the premiere of a new interactive “culinary” opera adventure: A Fairytale Kitchen.

In addition to being a passionate performer and collaborator, Rachel is a private music educator dedicated to the success of her students. Ms. Abrams maintains a private studio of voice students out of her home in West Hartford, Connecticut. In addition to her private teaching studio, she is the alto section leader at St. James Episcopal Church in Farmington. She has also taught at Farmington Valley Academy Montessori in Avon, Arts Place in Cheshire and Summit Studios in Manchester.

As a voice teacher, Ms. Abrams provides her students with a holistic, healthy, and age appropriate technique based on her studies of vocal pedagogy, years of lessons from master teachers, and her personal experiences as a performer. Through personalized vocal exercises and repertoire assignments, students will learn how to achieve a proper vocal onset, management of air pressure, increase vocal stamina, and maximize vocal freedom through balanced resonance. While Ms. Abrams teaches "classical" technique, her students apply her pedagogy to all styles of singing including, but certainly not limited to: musical theater, jazz, gospel, barber shop, and even rock!

Before opening her own private studio in Connecticut, Ms. Abrams lived in St. Louis, Missouri where she taught throughout the region. While in Missouri, she served as an Adjunct Voice Instructor/Lecture Professor at East Central College and a Private Voice and Music Instructor at St. John's School of the Arts.

In addition to her teaching experience in the Missouri area, Rachel was a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Northern Colorado, where she was an assistant instructor for Music Survey and Music and World Cultures classes.

Ms. Abrams holds a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Northern Colorado and a Bachelor of Music degree from San José State University. She lives in West Hartford with her husband Ben and their anti-social diva cat, Bonnie. She is currently accepting new students!

*** Specialties ***
I teach classical technique, specifically focusing on proper resonance and breath control. This method can be highly useful to broadway, jazz, popular or any other style of singing.