Making and teaching music for a living was not exactly the plan…
I was a musical kid. My parents did their part to support my interests in the arts. I didn’t expect a life in music, but it seems music had a plan for me!
As I kid, I wanted to be a schoolteacher when I grew up. Now, I’ve created a space and community for myself and for my students. I create here. I learn here. I write here. I teach here. Welcome…
Bio Options
Short Bio – Performance
Avery Hill is a singer-songwriter, a storyteller, and a teaching artist known for her thoughtful lyrics, intricate melodies, and warm, engaging presence. Her original songs reflect on everyday humanity, finding remarkable insight in the simplest of stories. On stage, she sings these stories with a voice that is at once both wise and curious, and with a musical style both pleasant and intriguing to the ear. Her latest album, The One Who Remembers (2024), explores the everyday moments and objects that open a portal through time, linking the past, present and future. Whether on stage or in the classroom, Avery brings humor, heart, and insight to her work. Avery also teaches ʻukulele and songwriting in classes, workshops, retreats, and on YouTube. Learn more at www.averyhill.studio.
Short Bio – Teaching
Avery Hill is a staple instructor of the Portland (OR) ‘ukulele community and has instructed at a wide variety of festivals and camps. These include the Menucha Ukulele Band Camp (OR), the Reno Ukulele Festival (NV), the Ashokan Ukulele Weekend (NY), and the Kamloops Ukulele Festival (Canada). More recently, she has maintained a YouTube channel for ukulele tutorials and has begun teaching songwriting, including at the Songwriter Soireé Retreat. Whatever the classroom, Avery strives to educate everyone’s inner musician, to elevate their self-knowledge and confidence, and to enchant them with insight, presence, and a handful of good jokes. Avery is also a performing singer-songwriter, and storyteller. Her latest album, The One Who Remembers (2024), explores the everyday moments and objects that open a portal through time, linking the past, present and future. Learn more at www.averyhill.studio.
Full Bio
Avery Hill is a singer-songwriter, a storyteller, and a teaching artist known for her thoughtful lyrics, intricate melodies, and warm, engaging presence. She was inspired early on by the likes of Joni Mitchell, The Beach Boys, John Denver, and Dar Williams – artists introduced to her by her parents. Later, her songwriting continued to develop under a wider array of influences, from Anaïs Mitchell and Gillian Welch to Billie Holliday and Leadbelly.
Originally planning to become a schoolteacher, Avery turned to music at an unexpected time of transition in her life. With the support of the songwriting community she found in Portland, Oregon, she turned to performing and teaching music full-time in 2013, and has become known to audiences across the country for her thoughtful lyrics, intricate melodies, and warm, engaging presence. Her original songs reflect on everyday humanity, finding remarkable insight in the simplest of stories. On stage, she sings these stories with a voice that is at once both wise and curious, and with a musical style both pleasant and intriguing to the ear.
Her first album, Dreams & Ghosts: A Family Album (2015), ranked in the Top 10 on the Folk DJ charts, and features the award-winning single Hello & Goodbye. Tom May, host of River City Folk, commented: “This emerging singer-songwriter has a memorable, lilting voice and is already penning songs that could someday be classics. She is an extraordinary young talent.” Her latest album, The One Who Remembers (2024), explores the everyday moments and objects that open a portal through time, linking the past, present and future.
As a teaching artist, Avery is a staple instructor of the Portland (OR) ‘ukulele community and has instructed at a wide variety of festivals and camps. These include the Menucha Ukulele Band Camp (OR), the Reno Ukulele Festival (NV), the Ashokan Ukulele Weekend (NY), and the Kamloops Ukulele Festival (Canada). More recently, she has maintained a YouTube channel for ukulele tutorials and has begun teaching songwriting, including at the Songwriter Soireé Retreat.
Avery’s classroom instruction is rooted in the recollection that long before music became a commodity – something we buy – it was a community practice – something we have done together for generations. The experience of learning to make music and play with others is one of the richest, meaningful, and age-old community experiences we share as humans. In the spirit of the oral tradition (and with the help of an M.A. in Education), Avery strives to educate everyone’s inner musician, to elevate their self-knowledge and confidence, and to enchant them with insight, presence, and a handful of good jokes.*
Learn more at www.averyhill.studio.
*I’ve been told the idea of educate – elevate – enchant came from E. B. White, but I can’t find any definitive references.
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