WE’RE NOT YOUR AVERAGE MUSIC TEACHERS
Music is not an easy subject, but the best teachers make it much easier. They make sure their students have a strong musical foundation before diving into advanced concepts. And they know how to break those concepts down to match their students' learning style.
The best music teachers have extensive knowledge of the subjects they teach, and have learned from the best music teachers themselves. They have experience with all elements of music: learning, writing, teaching and performing. They know how to listen to and support their students’ goals rather than weigh them down with arbitrary assignments.
The best music teachers have been teaching for many years and are masters of their craft. They know when to challenge their students and when their students have been challenged enough. They know how to balance technique and discipline with joy and fun.
We're not your average music teachers.
We're the best music teachers.
The best music teachers have extensive knowledge of the subjects they teach, and have learned from the best music teachers themselves. They have experience with all elements of music: learning, writing, teaching and performing. They know how to listen to and support their students’ goals rather than weigh them down with arbitrary assignments.
The best music teachers have been teaching for many years and are masters of their craft. They know when to challenge their students and when their students have been challenged enough. They know how to balance technique and discipline with joy and fun.
We're not your average music teachers.
We're the best music teachers.
Beth Wood
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Beth Wood is a modern-day troubadour, poet, and believer in the power of word and song. Beth has been writing, performing, and teaching full-time for twenty-four years — delighting and inspiring audiences with her exceptional musicianship, intelligent writing, powerhouse voice, and warm and commanding stage presence. Texan-raised and Oregon-based, Wood has morphed from a young classically trained, folk-tinged singer-songwriter to a wailing southern rock band leader to a college-circuit acoustic coffeehouse sweetheart to a well-respected nationally-touring poet and troubadour. Through all of these incarnations, Wood has remained true to herself and to her artistry; she has done it her way.
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A home-body with an ever-present wanderlust, an introvert with a passion for performing, a creative free-spirit with enough discipline to rework her dream year after year, Beth’s work has expanded to include teaching and song coaching as well as leading and facilitating workshops, classes, and retreats. In addition to her eleven solo albums, one duo album, and one collaboration live album, Beth has released three books of poetry, Kazoo Symphonies, Ladder To The Light (2019 finalist for the Oregon Book Award Stafford/Hall award for poetry and 2019 Winner of the Oregon Book Award Readers’ Choice Award), and Believe The Bird (Winner of the San Francisco Book Festival Poetry Award), a collection of forthright, shimmering poems that examine the stories we tell ourselves. Beth also released Facepalm, a whimsical collection of stories recounting some of the most awkward conversations she has experienced on the road.
Beth’s skills in the craft of songwriting and poetry have been recognized by the prestigious Kerrville New Folk Award, The Sisters Folk Festival Dave Carter Memorial Songwriting Award, the Billboard World Song Contest, The Oregon Book Awards, and many more. There have been incredible and surreal moments in the spotlight: opening for Steve Winwood, Michael McDonald, Shawn Colvin, Sam Bush, Chris Whitley; being a four-time featured artist on Cayamo, a week-long Caribbean songwriters’ cruise along with most of her living musical heroes; singing the national anthem for 42,000 people at a major league baseball game; discussing guitar tunings with David Crosby backstage at a festival; being featured on “Troubadour, TX”, a nationally syndicated documentary-style singer-songwriter reality television series airing in almost 40 million households and 140 U.S. markets.
Beth is the director of Sisters Songworks, a series of intimate writing retreats in collaboration with the Sisters Folk Festival. During the challenging year of 2020, she co-founded She’s Speaking along with friends and fellow Oregon singer-songwriters Bre Gregg and Kristen Grainger She’s Speaking, a collective that creates forums/spaces for women’s voices and women’s stories to be heard, launched a YouTube channel showcasing over 50 original songs a by women artists about inspirational women. Beth also created a livestream concert series called Joyful Measures and a vibrant and growing community of supporters on Patreon, a membership platform that makes it easy to give direct support to your favorite artists.
Beth says, “It is my dream to make art, live simply, and be of service to my community and to the world. To move something with my art, whether it’s a swirling emotion or a curious mind or tapping feet, is the most glorious feeling, and I can never get enough.” It’s what keeps the songs coming and the words turning. It’s what keeps her dreaming in music at night.
“A woman with the heart of songcraft in her blood and the exceptional musicianship to back it up.” — The Corvallis Advocate
Beth’s skills in the craft of songwriting and poetry have been recognized by the prestigious Kerrville New Folk Award, The Sisters Folk Festival Dave Carter Memorial Songwriting Award, the Billboard World Song Contest, The Oregon Book Awards, and many more. There have been incredible and surreal moments in the spotlight: opening for Steve Winwood, Michael McDonald, Shawn Colvin, Sam Bush, Chris Whitley; being a four-time featured artist on Cayamo, a week-long Caribbean songwriters’ cruise along with most of her living musical heroes; singing the national anthem for 42,000 people at a major league baseball game; discussing guitar tunings with David Crosby backstage at a festival; being featured on “Troubadour, TX”, a nationally syndicated documentary-style singer-songwriter reality television series airing in almost 40 million households and 140 U.S. markets.
Beth is the director of Sisters Songworks, a series of intimate writing retreats in collaboration with the Sisters Folk Festival. During the challenging year of 2020, she co-founded She’s Speaking along with friends and fellow Oregon singer-songwriters Bre Gregg and Kristen Grainger She’s Speaking, a collective that creates forums/spaces for women’s voices and women’s stories to be heard, launched a YouTube channel showcasing over 50 original songs a by women artists about inspirational women. Beth also created a livestream concert series called Joyful Measures and a vibrant and growing community of supporters on Patreon, a membership platform that makes it easy to give direct support to your favorite artists.
Beth says, “It is my dream to make art, live simply, and be of service to my community and to the world. To move something with my art, whether it’s a swirling emotion or a curious mind or tapping feet, is the most glorious feeling, and I can never get enough.” It’s what keeps the songs coming and the words turning. It’s what keeps her dreaming in music at night.
“A woman with the heart of songcraft in her blood and the exceptional musicianship to back it up.” — The Corvallis Advocate
Dr. Daniel Collins
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Baritone Daniel Collins has performed at Carnegie Hall and with the Metropolitan Opera chorus in New York City. He received his Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of North Texas and earned both his Master of Music and Doctor of Music degrees in Vocal Performance from Florida State University. Dr. Collins was a finalist in the Dallas and El Paso Opera Guild Competitions, the NATS Singer of the Year Competition, and the NATSAA National Competition. He has performed in opera, concerts, and recitals throughout the United States and as a soloist at some of the most prestigious churches and synagogues in New York City and Washington, D.C. Dr. Collins was described by Tim Page with the Washington Post as a “funny, exuberant, and enormously likable” Papageno during Summer Opera Theater’s performance of The Magic Flute. The Post also celebrated him in Opera Theater of Northern Virginia’s The Barber of Seville as a “bright and bouncy” Figaro who delivered his lines with “aplomb.” He was a young artist in the studio programs of Portland Opera, Kentucky Opera, and El Paso Opera.
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Dr. Collins has sung the roles of Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, Sid in Albert Herring, Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro and in The Barber of Seville, Papageno in Die Zauberflӧte, Belcore in L’elisir d’amore, Jupiter in Orphée aux enfers, Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus, Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Masetto in Don Giovanni, Schaunard in La Bohème, Clayton McAllister in Cold Sassy Tree, the Clock in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, the Mandarin in Turandot, and Haushofmeister in the world premiere of Dorian Gray. Dr. Collins has had the pleasure of singing in the choruses of the Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, and Fort Worth Opera. He has performed roles with the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Kentucky Opera, El Paso Opera, Summer Opera Theater, Bel Cantanti Opera, Amarillo Opera, Crested Butte Opera, Portland Opera To Go, Opera Southwest, Opera Theater of Northern Virginia, Concert Royal, Ash Lawn Opera, Bay View Music Festival, and Seagle Music Colony.
Dr. Collins maintains a private voice studio at his home in Durham, NC and at the National Opera Center in New York City where he teaches singers of all skill levels including those who perform on Broadway and at the Metropolitan Opera. He has a passion for vocal instruction and is dedicated to the success of each individual student. Dr. Collins keeps an active record of each student’s progress, vocal exercises, repertoire, performances, and personal goals. He is a member of the College Music Society, the American Guild of Musical Artists, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, the Music Teachers National Association, Pi Kappa Lambda, and Opera America.
"No matter what your level or singing ability, he will start with you as an individual and will make you feel like you're his only student." -J. C., student
"My favorite part of each lesson is seeing his genuine excitement when there is improvement or when I hit a note I didn't think I could before." -R. G., student
Dr. Collins maintains a private voice studio at his home in Durham, NC and at the National Opera Center in New York City where he teaches singers of all skill levels including those who perform on Broadway and at the Metropolitan Opera. He has a passion for vocal instruction and is dedicated to the success of each individual student. Dr. Collins keeps an active record of each student’s progress, vocal exercises, repertoire, performances, and personal goals. He is a member of the College Music Society, the American Guild of Musical Artists, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, the Music Teachers National Association, Pi Kappa Lambda, and Opera America.
"No matter what your level or singing ability, he will start with you as an individual and will make you feel like you're his only student." -J. C., student
"My favorite part of each lesson is seeing his genuine excitement when there is improvement or when I hit a note I didn't think I could before." -R. G., student
Sarah Collins
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Sarah’s first experiences with piano involved learning simple classic duets with her Mom like “Chopsticks” and “Heart and Soul.” She began piano and voice lessons as a small child and continued to study, play and sing through college, focusing on musical theater and classical techniques. She simultaneously explored other musical interests by studying cello, guitar and clarinet, taking dance lessons, writing songs and performing in musicals, show choirs, and a variety of other singing groups.
After graduating from Sam Houston State University with a BFA in Musical Theater in 2003 (and a minor in Psychology), Sarah began performing in musicals and with bands professionally in Austin. She also started teaching voice and piano lessons to the kids she was performing with. She quickly discovered a passion for teaching that outweighed anything she’d experienced as a performer and dove into teaching piano and preschool. |
These days Sarah loves infusing all the wonderful teaching ideas she’s learned from preschool, musical theater and classical training into her lessons. “I never lose sight of the student’s enjoyment, and work hard to find music that each student loves to play. And I find consistently that the more my students learn about piano, the more they love it!”
She’s also quite passionate about creating a wonderful site for both students and teachers in Mount Tabor Online Music School, which she founded in 2021 (after running Mount Tabor Music School for three years) and manages full time in addition to teaching.
“Sarah, with her sense of humor, grace and nerves of steel took on our football playing, rough housing, tough guy 9-year-old and taught him to sit down, play piano and love it.” -Eamon, parent
“Sarah is one of those rare people who can connect with a child (and adult) and allow them to open up to learning and creativity.” –David, parent
She’s also quite passionate about creating a wonderful site for both students and teachers in Mount Tabor Online Music School, which she founded in 2021 (after running Mount Tabor Music School for three years) and manages full time in addition to teaching.
“Sarah, with her sense of humor, grace and nerves of steel took on our football playing, rough housing, tough guy 9-year-old and taught him to sit down, play piano and love it.” -Eamon, parent
“Sarah is one of those rare people who can connect with a child (and adult) and allow them to open up to learning and creativity.” –David, parent
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