Music Teaching Resume and CV
Music Teaching Resume and CV

Experience
Personal Assistant/Tour Manager January 2013-present
• Cultivated and maintained exceptional professionalism and service, a visible role model to the Alaska brand, LGBTQIA nightlife and entertainment community as the personal assistant and touring manager of Alaska (RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 2 winner, RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 5 finalist Justin Honard).
• Responsibilities have ranged dynamically from organizing travel itineraries, merchandising and photography at meet & greets; costuming/clothing and wig handling; and general work organization of this popular reality TV personality.
• I have acted as a communications and travel liaison between Alaska/Justin and his management (Producer Entertainment Group) to create smooth and positive travel experiences for the performer during grueling national and international tour dates, devising solutions for performer and venue needs (running errands, making amendments to accommodations, mending costume malfunctions, etc.).
• I have cultivated a deeply trusting relationship to one of my closest long-time friends and primary creative collaborators as an ethically conscious employee who has long been entrusted with his personal/private, professional, and logistical information (financial information, credit cards, passwords, confidential professional projects such as upcoming television and public appearances. I have organized his cross-country relocation, apartment searches, bill and utilities set-ups, and other personal transitions with fortitude, positivity, and compassion.
Epiphany School, Extended Day Assistant, Seattle WA September 2017-April 2018
• I assisted in caretaking and providing and monitoring activities for an independent elementary school and pre-kindergarten.
• I oversaw the Monday-Thursday Homework Club and joined and assisted in playtime activities.
• I saw to the individual and collective needs and growth of young people, finding unique and compassionate ways to connect with young people by making after-school activities meaningful and creative.
Hope Academy of Music and the Arts, East Liberty Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, PA April-July 2017
• I acted as interim Voice Instructor and Performance Coach for Spring 2017 term:
o Under the oversight of program director Linda Addlespurger and director of HAT CO (Hope Academy Theater Company) Meredith Hoppe, their end-of-school year cabaret production, “What Keeps Me Up at Night/What Gets Me Up in the Morning” at City Theater’s Hamburg Theater (------------/event/hat-co-cabaret/).
• I taught a number of middle-school and high-school age persons of various gender orientations and ethnic heritage and cultures vocal technique, sight-reading, and performance coaching with highly effective and positive results in classical, musical theater, and popular music.
• I have further developed my uniquely supportive and inspiring approach to developing voices and performance confidence for young persons of various gender orientations and voice types (trans youth), and I am interested in bringing my unique mentoring and teaching techniques to the young creative community of Pittsburgh.

Music Teacher and After School Teacher, Manchester Academic Charter School/Manchester Youth Development Center (through YMWAHA, Young Men’s and Women’s African Heritage Association) August 2016-January 2017
• I taught General Music for Kindergarten through 5th grade and facilitated middle school students in a more informal Music & Culture classes once a week at the above organizations (MYDC). I nurtured and encouraged students to experiment with singing and instruments while integrating improvisation-based music skills (listening, improvising, and practicing rhythm, melody, and [for the more advanced] harmony).
• As a teacher I put kindness and nurturing of the individuals in my class first. With their knowing that I am a positive force and can be trusted, I helped students feel prepared to engage and enjoy music as an enjoyable and meaningful activity.
• I was responsible for an average of 20 students per class in a dynamic inner-city environment. I am confident in my ability to be both sensitive and a strong disciplinary force as is necessary. I love being able to teach joyfully and with a sense of evolved play with my students, and I look to communities who engage and create that atmosphere with their young ones and students.
Teaching Fellow, Department of Musicology, UCLA 2007-2013
• Provided a high level of interpersonal professionalism as a teacher (Summer 2009, 2010, and 2012) and teaching assistant (academic years 2007-2010, 2011-2013) for an internationally recognized leading academic department and institution.
• Created a highly organized, inspiring, and friendly teaching atmosphere where I engaged honestly and positively with faculty and students.
• Excelled at problem solving both in classroom needs of scheduling, testing and the subjective challenges of grading, paper writing and preparation, student-professor discrepancies, and more general student issues (knowledge acquisition and retention, study strategies, voluntary tutoring, and you-can-do-it inspiration!).
Instructor, Chatham Summer Arts Camp Summer 2003-Summer 2005
• I taught private voice, piano, group piano, and Musical Cultures of the World (comparative musical forms and contexts) to students in grades K-8.
• I encouraged creativity and personal expression, looking for the unique ways my private students could integrate musical ideas and practices, and provided students with enjoyable projects in the Musical Cultures classes to help them appreciate the diversity of Earth’s musical cultures.
Private Piano, Voice, Music Theory, Music Appreciation 2003-present
• I have taught private lessons for over ten years, ages 5-adult at Chatham College Summer Arts Camp and took piano students at TakeL------------.
• I taught voice lessons with the West Virginia University Community Music Program and privately.

Education
C.Phil., M.A., University of California, Los Angeles 2010, 2009
Distinguished work in research and teach assistance; organized and directed the Speaker Series 2007-2008, working with fund-raising, hosting guest professors and speakers, and seeing to the travel and payment logistics; social chair of UCLA’s LAMBDA LGBT Graduate Student group (2008-10); worked for the Ethnomusicology Recording Library (2007)

B.A., University of Pittsburgh 2006
Magna cum Laude; office manager in the Music Department; involved in the LGBT Student Organization; worked as an intern for Opera Theater of Pittsburgh and worked assisting all aspects of a small, burgeoning arts non-profit organization

Skills & Talents
I am known for my positive, engaging, personality; you may ask any reference about my ability to create positive energy in my workplace. I bring inspiration and joy by engaging them according to the highest excellence and joy I sense in them.
Skills: Computer applications such as Microsoft Suite; I am highly organizational and keep excellent records; I am socially graceful and my communications skills as a listener and speaker are advanced
Talents: Category of Comedy: puns and funny faces. Category of Performance: I can sing, play ukulele on a whim, and improvise songs. I love performing and listening to folk music, opera, musicals, and electronic music. Category of Words: I write poetry and create lyrics for my songs. and can speak a little French and an itty-bitty bit of German. Category of Things That Wow Me: I’m interested in Sacred/Qualitative Geometry, I enjoy reading and contemplating Cultural Histories, mystical philosophy. I enjoy practicing mindfulness and enjoy engaging in collective mindfulness activities with both young folks and adults. Category of Natural Phenomena: I collect crystals and pine cones and love go hiking and canoeing. Category of Foodstuffs: I am working on my best gluten-free buckwheat pancakes and muffins!

References
Justin Honard mobile: ------------
Creative collaborator, most recent employer (tour assistant/merchandising) ------------

Jari Graves-Highsmith
Lower Elementary Division Head ------------

Linda Addlespurger
Program Director, Hope Academy of Music and the Arts, Pittsburgh, PA mobile: ------------ x117
HopeAcademyA------------
Meredith Hoppe mobile: ------------
Director, Hope Academy Theater Company (HAT CO), Hope Academy ------------

Mitchell Morris, Professor of Musicology office: ------------ (Department phone)
Graduate Dissertation Advisor, Teaching Mentor ------------

CV
Performance Experience
2019e Alaska & Jeremy: A Very Lilith Fair Christmas, Oasis, San Francisco
2019d Alaska Presents: Justice for Art Pop, featured instrumentalist, 3 Dollar Bill, Brooklyn, NY
2019c Alaska Presents: A Star is Born This Way, featured instrumentalist, 3 Dollar Bill, Brooklyn, NY;
Precinct DTLA, Los Angeles, CA
2019b Alaska & Jeremy: The Amethyst Tour, album tour of U.K., Amsterdam, Ireland, July
2019a Alaska: On Golden Girls, Minneapolis, Minnesota, May
2018-19 The Alaska Show/An Evening with Alaska, cabaret variety show tours (July-August 2018; Australia 2018; U.K., February 2019; Singapore and Philippines, August 2019)
2018 Alaska: On Golden Girls, Rockwell Table & Stage, Los Angeles
2017c Alaska Holiday Show Tour: Chicago (Roscoe’s), San Francisco (Oasis), The Laurie Beechman
Theatre
2017b Alaska: On Golden Girls, The Laurie Beechman Theatre
2017a Poundcake Tour with Alaska: Chicago, Denver, UK Tour (July), Australia Tour (November)
2016e Alaska: Holiday Show, The Laurie Beechman Theatre and Oasis, San Francisco
2016d Live Pop-Up Set, Producer Entertainment Los Angeles Pop-Up Store with Drag Race Stars (Alaska)
2016c Alaska: Cher and Cher Alike, The Laurie Beechman Theatre
2016b ANUS live band tour, São Paulo (The Week) and Rio de Janiero (Raízes da Lapa)
2016a ANUS Unplugged / ANUS live touring with Alaska 5000 – Al and Chuck Cruise Drag Stars at Sea
2015d Alaska: Your Christmas is Terrible, The Laurie Beechman Theatre
2015a Handsome Jeremy at B4BELAND Gallery: Faux Real 3
2015b Alaska: The Gayest Show Ever, The Laurie Beechman Theatre
2015c ANUS Unplugged / ANUS live touring with Alaska 5000 – Al and Chuck Cruise Drag Stars at Sea
2015d (Upcoming Holiday Cabaret at The Laurie Beechman Theatre)
2014a Hay Gurl Hay! A Celebration of Harry Hay, LGBT activist, for his 101st birthday, Spirit Studio, LA
2014b Alaska: Forever Stevie, The Laurie Beechman Theatre/West Bank Café (NYC), June 2014
2014c Alaska: Red For Filth, Carnival Conquest, Al & Chuck Travel’s Drag Stars at Sea Cruise, November
2014d Alaska’s Blue Christmas, The Laurie Beechman Theatre, December
2013b Happy Birthday Jesus: The Alaska Christmas Show, The Laurie Beechman Theatre; Rebel (SF)
2013c Alaska: Red For Filth, The Laurie Beechman Theatre, NYC début, August; Town Danceboutique, Washington, D.C., November
2012a Member of the UCLA Early Music Ensemble (Coach, keyboardist, and choral singer)
2012b “Queer Mysticism: A Musical Redux”, Leslie Lohman Gallery, Pop-Up Museum of Queer History,
New York, NY (Lecture-Performance feat. Alaska and Davina Cohen)
2011 “Queer Perspectives in French Baroque Music”, Quorum Forum, Pop-Up Museum of Queer History 1, Brooklyn, NY (Lecture-Recital)
2010 Chakra Cabaret, feat. Alaska, Brian Barefoot, Jack Waters, Peter Kramer, le Petit Versailles
2009 Salome! Starring Brian Barefoot, Dixon Theater Hot! Festival and the Living Theater
2008-10 Member of UCLA Early Music Ensemble (Choral singer & keyboardist)
2003-06 Cantata Chorister, Bach and the Baroque Ensemble, University of Pittsburgh
1990-2003 Vocal and choral training: Competitive Choral Music festivals 1992-99; High School Choral Music, including Madrigal Dinner performances; High School musicals (Baker, Into the Woods, 1998; Cornelius Hackl, Hello, Dolly!, 1999); WVU Choral Ensembles under Dr. Kathleen Shannon; WVU Opera Studio Productions; Walt Disney World College Program 2001-02

Professional Employment
2017b Extended Day Programs, Epiphany School, Seattle, WA
2017a Hope Academy of Music and the Arts, Pittsburgh, PA
2013-16 Personal/Travel Assistant, Alaska (Justin Honard), Logo TV’s RuPaul’s Drag Race, Season 5 finalist and contestant of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 2
2009- Creative Collaborator for Alaska (see work above)
2011-13 Teaching Fellow, UCLA Department of Musicology: LGBT Perspectives in Popular Music, History of Rock, Getting Medieval; The Beatles, History of Rock, 20th-century Opera
2009-10 Teaching Fellow, UCLA Department of Musicology: LGBT Perspectives in Popular Music, History of Rock, Mozart
2008-09 Teaching Associate, UCLA Department of Musicology: History of Opera (three courses)
2007-08 Teaching Assistant, UCLA Department of Musicology: History of Rock, Writing About Music, Beethoven
2004-06 Internship (Fundraising, Public Relations, Marketing, Vocal Competition),
Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, Jonathan Eaton, General and Musical Director
2003-05 Chatham College Summer Music & Arts Day Camp: Camp Counselor, Piano, Voice, Music Appreciation Instructor