Ishaar G  

4

  4.0 (3)

Instruments: Piano, Guitar, Voice
Styles: Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Blues, Folk, R&B, Musical Theater, Opera, Showtunes

In May of 2016, I graduated from the University of Connecticut holding a bachelor’s degree in Music. At UConn, I took - and currently take private lessons with Metropolitan Opera bass-baritone Rod Nelman. My time at UConn was diversely beneficial, granting me opportunities to perform in operas, musicals, an a capella group, a marching band, and professional-level choirs that have performed at venues such as Carnegie Hall. I spent a semester taking classes with the Neag School of Education, working a teaching clinical in a nearby middle school, and a semester with the School of Business, studying entrepreneurship and managerial/interpersonal behavior. My junior year culminated with a semester in New York City working in an administrative/artistic internship at the Metropolitan Opera. During school, and immediately upon graduating, I was fortunate enough to see my interest in music and theatre education realized in my work opportunities. For the past few summers, I worked at four community arts organizations, as both a teacher and an administrator. I currently work at Hartford Stage company as an education apprentice, where I serve as a teaching artist in a variety of capacities, as well as assisting with general education department logistics. My time at Hartford Stage has brought me to schools all over the Greater Hartford area, teaching theatre to students of all ages, and working with professionals to design theatre curricula of the highest quality. In addition to this, I also was lucky to handle many administrative matters, specifically a benefit performance of A Christmas Carol for the various communities of Hartford.

I cater the lessons towards what the student wants while emphasizing the importance of fundamentals and theory. I incorporate songwriting and improvisation into my lessons, as well as songs the student wants to learn. I believe all students should be encouraged to be creative, while still maintaining a strong emphasis on fundamentals, thus leading to the creation of their unique musical style. I generally tend to split the lessons up into warm up techniques, repertoire, sight reading, listening/dictation, discussing music the student likes/wants to learn, and improvisation and songwriting.