Making and teaching music for a living was an accident.
Sure, I was a musical kid. My parents did their part to support my interests in the arts. But I always planned to become a school teacher, because – well, nerd that I am – I liked school.
Nowadays, my (metaphorical) studio is my own little school – for myself, and for my students. I create here. I explore ideas here. I write here. I teach here.
I learn here. I hope you do, too.
Bio (Short)
Avery Hill is a performing artist, songwriter, storyteller, and music teacher. Her singular style of songwriting integrates intricate melodies with insightful, storytelling lyrics. Avery’s voice is at once both wise and curious, direct and searching, telling and investigating. Her latest album is Dreams & Ghosts: A Family Album (2015), featuring the award-winning single Hello & Goodbye. Since 2013, she has been teaching ukulele classes and workshops, leading jams, and instructing at camps and retreats. Whatever the classroom, Avery’s teaching philosophy is encompassed in three goals: 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.
Bio (Full)
Avery Hill is a performing artist, songwriter, storyteller, and teacher of music. She grew up in an informally musical home. Her mother dutifully shlepped her to piano lessons, picked her up from theater rehearsals, bought her a guitar when she was 15, and graciously smiled when Avery held up a Joni Mitchell LP and asked, “Have you heard this woman’s songs?!” Her father made her first mix tape, took her to music festivals every summer, and taught her how to harmonize with The Everly Brothers on the radio.
From a young age, Avery planned to be a school teacher, but as we know, life hardly ever goes to plan. After teaching in classrooms in Germany, Washington, Vermont, and Oregon, she struck out as a singer-songwriter. Her singular style of songwriting integrates intricate melodies with insightful, storytelling lyrics. Combining the musical influences of her youth (Brian Wilson, Carole King, Dar Williams) and her professional adulthood (Anais Mitchell, Gillian Welch, The Wailin’ Jennys), Avery’s voice is at once both wise and curious, direct and searching, telling and investigating. Her latest album is Dreams & Ghosts: A Family Album (2015), featuring the award-winning single Hello & Goodbye.
Once a professional musician, Avery’s relationship with music changed. A problematic disconnect in today’s culture and economy became clear to her: as long as the public experiences music only as a commodity – a performance, a recording, a concert tour t-shirt – they will not recognize themselves as the musicians they already are. Before long, the school teacher within her (and her Master’s Degree in Education) found its rightful place as Avery became a teaching artist. Since 2013, she has been teaching ukulele classes and workshops, leading jams, and instructing at camps and retreats. Whatever the classroom, Avery’s teaching philosophy is encompassed in three goals: 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.
P.S. I’m fairly sure that the idea of educate – elevate – enchant came from E. B. White, but I can’t find any definitive references.
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