About emily bender, Ma
Music is My Passion
My passion is bringing the joy of music and the skills needed for success to people of all ages. As a Kodaly-trained teacher, I use intuitive and fun tools to teach a high level of musicianship to my students, no matter their level of experience. I love helping students achieve their musical goals and develop themselves as performers and musicians. One of my happiest moments as a teacher was seeing the vocal skills of one of my students catch up to her dramatic skills, so she could deliver a fantastic performance.
Born into a choral family, I was attending choir rehearsals as soon as they would let me. I sang in school and church choirs growing up, and sang my first church solo at age 3. At age 10, I started performing in musicals, and continued that throughout high school and college.
For the past 25 years, I have sung and soloed with numerous groups, including: Tanglewood Festival Chorus and Coro Allegro in Boston; San Francisco Bach Choir, Pacific Mozart Ensemble, and Goat Hall Productions. As a member of the Grammy-nominated Pacific Mozart Ensemble, I performed in Carnegie Hall, singing with the ensemble and soloing as part of the celebration of 40 years of Meredith Monk’s music.
I currently sing with the award-winning women's sextet, Solstice. In addition to Solstice’s recordings, you can hear me on AXIOS, a recording of greek hymns.
I am on the faculty of Castilleja School in Palo Alto and Clock Tower Music School in San Carlos. I am a Soprano Soloist, Section leader and Cherub Choir Director for First Congregational Church of Palo Alto.
I hold a BA in French from Oberlin, an MA in Interdisciplinary Art from San Francisco State and a Certificate in Kodály Music Education from Holy Names University.
In 2023, I completed my MA in Vocal Pedagogy through The Voice Study Centre and the University of Wales, Trinity St. David. focusing on social justice pedagogies, decolonizing practices in the voice studio, and transformative research methodologies. My academic inquiry and hands-on research culminated in the development of the Transformative Teaching Model (TTM), a guide and set of tools for students and teachers who want to expand their practice to include new genres in a respectful, non-appropriative way through building relationship, context, skills and creativity.
I presented about my teaching model and related research at the NATS Cal- Western Regional Conference in January 2023, the VASTA 2023 conference in Mexico, IVACON 2024 in Edinburgh, and at the 2024 London Critical conference.
I spoke about both my teaching model and non-linear approaches to voice research at the 2024 International Symposium on Music Education in Helsinki, Finland.
More information is available on my Transformative Teaching Page.
Emily Sings with Award Winning Ensemble Solstice
Bay Area Regional Champions and national third-place winners of the 2007 Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival, Solstice has enthralled audiences with their technically precise and passionate treatment of music for women’s voices since 1996. Each Solstice member brings her own musical tastes and talents to the female vocal ensemble, which creates a diverse, dynamic repertoire. From Bartók to Björk, from Palestrina to Paul Simon, Solstice shares the music they love from around the world and through the ages. They are committed to performing new works for women's voices and regularly compose, commission, and arrange new songs.
Solstice has performed in many Bay Area venues and on KALW's Folk Music and Beyond On-Air Folk Festival. Solstice was a featured performer at the 2001 West Coast A Cappella Summit along with nationally known groups such as the Bobs and M-pact. At the 2007 San Francisco Regional Harmony Sweepstakes, Solstice was awarded 1st Place, and Becca Burrington’s arrangement of Joni Mitchell’s “Blue” won Best Original Arrangement. Solstice ranked 3rd at the 2007 Harmony Sweepstakes National Competition.