Zavoral Music Studios

I had the privilege of leading our amazing children's choir of 31 children at church recently! We sang at a special devotional with two other choirs and got to do several songs with all 100 singers together! It was such an uplifting event focused on building faith and community as we prepare for the rededication of the San Diego Temple. ❤️

Our studio created a Disney Music Cafe for our big annual recital this year and it was magical! Families came in festive Disney clothes, brought Disney treats, and enjoyed hearing songs on the piano, drums, and singing!

Due to our record enrollment of 42 students, we split the recital into two acts to help reduce the wait-time for everyone to perform. We also had students helping lead every music game!
Highlights included:
- 3rd grader accompanying the entire audience in a sing-along to "It's a Small World."
- 6th grader leading the game "Talking Piano," where she played different patterns that signal the audience to stand up, sit down, walk, tip-toe and stomp around the room!
- students playing solos while the audience draws the music they hear. Such a relaxing activity for everyone!
- 7 year old student playing "Step in Time" from Mary Poppins while everyone danced with partners

During intermission, students continued to provide live music while families ate treats, mingled and made a Disney craft. This allowed students to experience multiple ways of sharing their music.

This recital also marked some neat milestones in my career: 6th year teaching in San Diego, 10th year teaching privately, 24th year teaching children.

My heart is full of gratitude for everyone who helped with donating the church space, set-up, take-down, food, etc. It's been amazing to recieve so much support from parents and families in our music community. I'm especially grateful to my husband and two boys who all performed at this recital and who do so much to help with my wild ideas as I grow this music school.

I had a wonderful time leading a musical exploration with the students at The Treehouse Academy !

Their school focus for session 4 was Life Skills. So we explored a variety of musical life skills:
- listening criticallly to music and painting what we hear
- keeping a steady beat to help us with daily tasks, in this case shaking heavy whipping cream in jars to the beat so that I will turn it into delicious butter!
- developing social-emotional skills through a music story
- experimenting with digital music making on our laptops
- working as a team to move a parachute to the music
- making our own instruments out of household objects

It was such a fun and rewarding day to be with the Treehouse kids! 🎶❤️

I got to see dozens of my current and former music students shining on stage at their school play called Big Bad Musical!

For many of them, this was their 5th grade capstone performance. I've been honored to be a small part of their learning journey since they were in TK, K and 1st grade, teaching them various music classes, choirs, theatre camps and private lessons. It is really special to see all their years of growth and hard work represented in a special performance like this.

Special shout out to Jennifer Berry who did an amazing job directing the show, bringing her theatre expertise to the students on a volunteer basis in order to keep the theatre program thriving under limited budgets. Everything was magical and the kids did a fantastic job!!

Congratulations to my 2nd-6th grade students at The Treehouse Academy! They did such a great job performing in our original play called "Arrow to the Sun." Based on the book by Jerald McDermott, students enetertained us with acting, singing and dancing!

As part of our musical theatre unit, they created all of their own costumes, inspired by the art in McDermott's book. They also designed the programs, made and sold the tickets, and created most of the dance choreography, sound effects, and backdrops for the play.

I'm especially proud of this group because they had an added challenge during rehearsals: a series of really bad illnesses that cycled through the school (probably the worst cases of cold and flu I've ever seen take over a school). This meant that we had to rehearse with handfuls of the cast absent during our final 8 rehearsals, making our performance day the first time we had everyone together in weeks! Like our main character in the play, they remained calm and kept believing in themselves, overcoming many challenges and making the show a great success!

Thank you to EVERYONE who came to support my two sons in the musical Frozen Jr at San Diego Junior Theatre ! Tanner played Sven the reindeer and Dallin tried his hand at doing stage crew.

This was Tanner's first singing/acting gig where I was not his director or teacher! He did amazing. I had so much fun being a bonefide audience member watching him shine on stage.

I'm also super proud of my 3 past students from McKinley Elementary who starred in the show, and one of my current students who worked as a theatre usher! I could go on and on about how amazing the cast, crew, staff, directors and educators all were, too! It's been so neat to have my kids participate in SDJT.

I was really excited to see 22 of my students from the studio, church choir, and/or the Treehouse Academy come see the show during the two week run, simply to support my own kids!

The show was also attended by some of my favorite colleagues, including Pauline, Deb Ganderton, and Bristyl, who have all been longtime supporters of my efforts to provide joyful music and arts education.

If that wasn't enough, we also had teachers and friends from Tanner and Dallin's schools and from church attend the show, as well as neighbors, fellow athletes, and family friends. Best of all is that all four grandparents and our favorite Auntie Desha were all able to fly into town to see the show!

I've always loved how Musical Theatre has the magic to connect performers and crew from all walks of life as we put on a great performance together. The past two weeks were a unique opportunity for me to see how much that magic also reaches and connects the audience.

Unlike anything I've seen before, this show literally brought people from every corner of my life and my children's lives all together in one place. We all shared and connected through music, story, laughter, and poignant messages that my kids and students taught everyone, and they did it so beautifully and wholeheartedly at all 10 performances.

My heart is so incredibly full.
❤️😍🥰❤️

The children's choir that I direct at church visited and sang for the seniors at a local Senior Living Center. The kids brought hand-made cards, sang Christmas carols and folk hymns, and then played music games with the audience. It was a special time for everyone. One senior said, "we've had kids perform for us before, but nothing quite this special." ❤️

Students did a SUPER job at our mini-recitals in the studio!! Over the course of a week, we had 31 of my students perform in small groups for their families, hence the word "mini" recital. This is a simple, low-pressure way to practice performing and sharing our music with others. It also allows each student to play multiple songs without worrying about time constraints. I'm so proud of all the music everyone learned and shared during this fall term!

That feeling when you're vibing in perfect sync with your fellow musicians. It's the best!! ❤️

Our vocal students went on a field trip to see the musical Annie at our local junior theatre!

In class, we've been learning several of the Annie songs and exploring ways to use different vocal registers to get healthy Broadway sounds. For some of my students, this field trip was their first time seeing a live Broadway show! We toured the lobby, observed the orchestra pit, and enjoyed all the magic on stage.

As soon as the curtain call ended, one of my students turned around and boldly announced to me, "I want to do that!!" and another said, "Can we have a bonus lesson at your studio RIGHT NOW? I want to sing those songs again because that was AWESOME!"

We've got a few more kids who caught the Broadway bug!! 😍

It was also super fun to see my own son try stage crew for his first time, and his first performance at this theatre. I also got to see a handful of my former students shining on stage and backstage, finding their love in the performing arts. Congratulations to all of the Annie cast and crew! You did a phenomenal job!!