Sounds of Encouragement

Celeste Watson (MM, MS, NCTM) helps musicians achieve artistry through well-coordinated use of the body. She holds credentials in performing arts medicine, piano performance, and music education and coordinates return-to-play mentorships for keyboard musicians who have experienced injury. She owns a conservatory-model studio for pre-collegiate students in Winston-Salem, North Carolina (www.watson-music.com).For more information about the Lister-Sink Institute and teachings, visit https:/...

David Lane is an award-winning composer and arranger for film, concert, and musical theatre. He is the host of two podcasts: LIFE IN THE PIT (which is devoted to telling the stories of instrumentalists who play for musical theatre) and THE MUSICIAN TOOLKIT (which challenges musicians of all levels to develop a wide range of skills to become the most well-rounded musician they can be). He is coming up on 25 years as a private teacher for piano, composition, and music theory, and has rece...

ANDREA GRODY is an Olivier and Drama Desk Award-nominated music director, arranger, and composer with a focus on developing new work. She is the Music Director & Music Supervisor of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical SUFFS. Andrea was also the Music Director and Additional Arranger for THE BAND'S VISIT (Best Musical Tony Award, 2018) and the Music Director and Vocal & Incidental Arranger for TOOTSIE (Best Musical Tony nom, 2019). Other recent projects include the world premieres ...

Artist Gurm was born in India, grew up in China and currently resides in Thailand. Having grown up and been schooled in an international environment, immersed throughout in a multi-cultural atmosphere, she has always been fascinated with the unique cultural elements and stories from all over the world. After following art as a passion since her middle school days, she honed her skills by doing a Masters in Visual Arts (Studio Art) in Hong Kong. She works in the medium of drawing, painting and...

Lauren Best lives where the Pottawatomi River meets Georgian Bay, on the territory of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation (now known as Owen Sound, Ontario). She is an interdisciplinary creative with a multifaceted community arts practice interweaving her work as a poet, musician, and composer/creator.Lauren left her small Ontario town as a young singer-songwriter keyboardist and returned to become Poet Laureate Emeritus (Owen Sound, 2017-2019). Lauren is included alongside other Poets Laureate Emerit...