On the cold November night of the 18th, 2011, a day were hail fell from the sky and the wind raked the trees their was warmth in the basement of Dusty Strings where the Dusty Strings Music School was open for a special event.

I was getting ready to host my Student Showcase; a bi-annual show that features the talents of my private students as they share cover songs and originals with a friendly audience of friends and family. Every song won the praise of the audience as they showed their support with a thunderous applause and hoots and hollers.

Now in my 5th year of teaching guitar, voice and songwriting this will be my 7th show I have hosted, including hosting a show for my advance students at Egan’s Ballard Jam house last year.

I have been scheduling the shows since the day 3 years ago when I saw one of my students struggling with stage fright. She had written an amazing song and couldn’t share it with her friends for fear they would make fun of her. I booked a showcase and she was one of the performers and since then has starred in many performances at school and at coffee shops.

For my students these showcases are a testing ground, a chance to deal with stage fright in a caring safe environment. And tonight they ROCKED IT! My students performed better than ever and blew me away. Performers included: Gus Coluccio, Molly Craig, Brody Hunt, Roya Baker, Sterling O’neil, Olivia Rexford, Neve Levingston, Maeve Bell, Julia Quandt, Ellie Andrews, Katie Parker, Suzan Setel, Emmaline Durand


I can not explain the joy I feel as a teacher when I have the chance to watch my students perform for such a caring audience. Its a lot of hard work that goes into performances and all the work I saw came from months worth of practice.

As the night progressed I watched each and everyone of my students take the stage like a professional and perform better than I ever saw in our private lessons together.
I believe that performance is the final step to becoming a musician and it takes a lot of practice to get good at it. You can sing your heart out in your bedroom but when you walk on stage and perform you combine everything you learned in a classroom and put it to use.