Hi! I’m Grace
If you'd like to write a song, I can help. I've taught songwriting to hundreds of students over the past 17 years in person in Brooklyn neighborhoods of Williamsburg, Dumbo, Gowanus, Boreum Hill, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, Manhattan’s Financial District, The West Village, East Village, Upper East Side and Upper West Side, Texas: North Dallas and The Woodlands, and online lessons to students in NYC (Manhattan and Brooklyn), San Francisco, Seattle, Houston and Florida.
I earned a BM in jazz studies from the acclaimed jazz program at the University of North Texas where I studied vocal jazz, music theory and composition under the late Paris Rutherford and talented improviser and vocalist Rosana Eckert. I previously trained as a classical vocalist from the age of 14 to 21. After graduating college, I continued my vocal studies with UK based CCM vocal coach, session singer and voice rehabilition specialist Kim Chandler, who mentored me in science backed singing technique, as well as the compassionate art of teaching and working 1-1 with clients.
This rigorous musical education, mixed with my lived teaching experience and personal interest in the creative process, Feldenkrais, flow states, neuroscience, play, and experiential learning, is woven throughout my approach.
One of my fundamental beliefs is that value is intrinsic and inherent. I believe this for everyone, especially my students. It does not matter your skill level or merits; you are valuable, worthy, and enough exactly as you are.
My lessons are intuitive and compassionately explore students' organic curiosities, natural strengths and gently expand beyond their musical comfort zones.
I work with songwriters of all ages and skills, from beginner writers to experienced individuals who need help overcoming writer's block or developing a more holistic approach to their creative output.
What is Rose Garden Songwriting?
Rose Garden Songwriting is an independent music studio offering online music lessons customized to each student, including songwriting, voice, piano, guitar, ukulele, production, and the creative process. Lessons are tailored to every student's unique strengths, values, and goals.
Why a Rose Garden?
New York City has a surprising number of roses. My maternal grandparents, Nuyoricans from the Cloisters and the Bronx, have kept rose gardens for as long as I've been alive. I enjoyed Brooklyn's bountiful gardens when I had breaks on sunny days between student lessons. I felt struck by the similarities between investing time and support in a student, the creative process and the climbing vines of flowers blooming.
During my education, I experienced harsh teaching styles in both the jazz and classical world (think Whiplash) that did not serve authentic learning or creative thinking. I resolved to be an encouraging and kind presence in music education, to teach singing and music from a mindset of compassion and healthy boundaries, and to cultivate safe spaces for experiential learning, freedom of choice, self-expression, exploration, and honoring students’ natural gifts and curiosities.
I created Rose Garden Songwriting as a platform and container for private lessons and workshops for the new and innovative ideas I've learned about music education, the creative process and how it relates to neuroscience, nervous system regulation, flow states, somatic practices and honoring the inner authority of all.