Lauren Musick Canna
Hello! I'm Lauren
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I am a voice teacher and a choir conductor. As you read my resume, you might sense that I keep a full and active calendar. I have worked very hard to build a career in my field, to diversify my experience, and to try new things.
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I have taught in many settings, from pre-K to a college lecture hall of 100+ students (one semester this was even in the same day!). I have taught beginners on their first day of lessons to professionals in the recording studio and onstage - and I've taken a few students from their first lessons all the way through to their first professional experiences. I have been taught and mentored by extraordinary teachers with care, rigor, and sometimes with tough love when I needed it.
I have public school teaching experience and also community college teaching and conducting experience. I ran an active summer theater program for kids K-12 and have taught private voice and piano. I am the owner of a growing music school with a staff of 12 wonderful teachers. I conducted the Garden State Girlchoir, a branch of the well-known Commonwealth Youth Choir system in Philadelphia. I am also the former Director of Music Ministry at a Unitarian Universalist Church and an active church musician.
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Lauren Canna
Teacher, Conductor, Singer
Holds New Jersey Department of Education Standard Teacher Certificate
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Email:
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Address:
Pitman, NJ, 08071
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Affiliations:
AfterSchool Music, Director, Teacher
Sparrow Women's Chorale, Conductor
Garden State Girlchoir, Director
Rowan College of South Jersey, Cumberland, Chorus Director and Professor
Unitarian Universalist Church in Cherry Hill, Director of Music Ministry
Buena Regional High School
Ocean City High School
Cape May Technical High School
Pitman Rec Theater, Program Director
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EXPERIENCE
2002-present
Director, Teacher
AFTERSCHOOL MUSIC
I began teaching voice over 25 years ago, and I am still fascinated by the anatomic and acoustic properties of the voice. I enjoy pairing that with my love of literature, storytelling, and language. I converted my private studio into a storefront music school in 2002 and have hired teachers to expand the business's offerings. We currently have a dozen teachers, over 150 students, eight studios and three locations.
SPARROW WOMEN'S CHORALE
With an ill-timed launch date of February 2020, the SWC made it through the pandemic and is now a robust feminist-leaning Women's Chorale with over 50 members. These extraordinary women are leaders in their respective fields and live full lives of passion and dedication - and we get to sing about it!
2020-present
Director
2016-2019
Director
GARDEN STATE GIRLCHOIR
With the financial and administrative support of the Commonwealth Youth Choir program, The Garden State Girlchoir was launched in 2015 and I was proud to help them get established in South Jersey. With the pandemic, the organization folded.
2013-2018
Director of Music Ministry
UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH
I was very interested in the musical challenge of working within the UU church. Unitarian Universalists value diversity in thought and religion. I researched and planned for Christian music at times, but also Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Celtic/Pagan and secular music in a ways that required thought, care, and sensitivity. I continue to remain active in UU churches around the country, which gives me an opportunity to travel and to expand my spiritual and religious thinking.
2005-2015
Adjunct Professor, Music History, Voice Conductor of the CCC Choir
CUMBERLAND COUNTY COLLEGE
For five years I taught music history courses to students who were often the first in their family to attend college. Teaching them to be successful students was as important as teaching the material. I am extremely proud for them in their accomplishments. I also conducted the wonderful choir at CCC for ten years and taught voice to the students working towards an Associate's degree. My students had a 100% acceptance rate at the universities they auditioned for (the same can be said for my private voice students).
2013-2014
Teacher of Music (temporary position)
BUENA REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
I was fortunate enough to work at Buena RHS during the year they experienced a temporary suspension of their secondary choral teacher. I was able to advance their choir's musicality and reading-ability considerably. I was given the green light to develop the curriculum of a class that had been used as an arts elective "catch-all" of little substantive value into a robust digital music composition program using some outdated laptops they'd locked away. Two students from that class have gone on to major in music production and one of them is now a staff teacher at my music school! I also used some "connections" to arrange for the choir to sing with Kenny Rogers for his Christmas concert in Atlantic City.
2009-2013
Teacher of Music
CAPE MAY TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL
Cape Tech was an extraordinary school with outstanding programs in advanced technologies and a world-class entertainment arts program. I was hired to develop a music program that could play to their students' strengths: technology-based education in a classroom setting with an online component. There was no choir, no band, no instruments. I absolutely loved teaching there, but it was part-time and an hour away, so once the program was up and running, I left it in great hands.
2002-2013
Program Director
PITMAN RECREATIONAL THEATER
As a student, I worked in theater camps for ten years and learned so much. Later, as a working adult, I was approached by the students who originated the Pitman Recreation Summer Theater program, many of whom were my voice students, and was asked to lead their program as their founders stepped back. I was proud to give back. I spent ten happy summers building the program to include three shows for kids K-12, a staff of extraordinary college students, and a few adult arts educators. We began with 25 kids and grew the program to over 130 in my final year. I was glad to leave the program in our assistant teacher's capable hands and spend my summers learning and traveling. Running that program enhanced every administrative and organizational skill I have. It made me a better teacher/mentor and a sounder judge of people. It gave me a toolbox of language to help communicate with parents - theater parents! And, most importantly, it helped develop the careers of so many future musicians, actors, technical theater professionals, conductors, and teachers, that I now have an extraordinary group of young, working professionals to collaborate with, network with, draw resources from, and call my colleagues.
Additional Positions of Note
Saint Mary of the Lakes School, K-8 Music, 2002-2004
Burlington County College, Adjunct Professor, 2003-2005
New Jersey School of Music, Medford, 2002-2006
Christ Episcopal Church, Woodbury, Soloist 2008-2013
Lutheran Church, Haddonfield, Dir. of Music, 2002-2008
EDUCATION
Master's Degree
2001
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY
I was honored to be accepted into the Master's in Choral Conducting program, a nationally-recognized program with some of the best conductors and teachers of music in the country (and that's not hyperbole - Temple faculty have been leaders in music education for over 50 years; they literally wrote the book!). Earning a Masters from Temple was a challenge and a joy that began for me a career in which I value lifelong learning.
Bachelor's Degree
1998
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY, NEW BRUNSWICK
I transferred into the exceptionally rigorous Voice Performance program after 3 years at Rowan University. I found the academic standards were challenging and appreciated the opportunity to take graduate classes and independent study in Early Music and American Music through the American Studies department.
Undergraduate Study in Voice and
Music Education
ROWAN UNIVERSITY
I began my undergraduate studies in Voice Performance and Music Education. I completed 3 years of study and chose to transfer to a university that featured a conservatory setting. My experience at Rowan was extremely valuable in that it laid a strong foundation for my later studies.
Coursework in Education
2010-2012
ROWAN UNIVERSITY
I completed the 18-month intensive Provisional Teacher Program. The coursework strictly followed the curriculum of the undergraduate education program at Rowan.
Coursework in Education
2009-2010
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY, CAMDEN
While pursuing a teaching certification through the alternate route, I looked for an opportunity to study with the outstanding Dr. Becker. I found courses with her to be instrumental to my success as a classroom teacher.
Continuing Education in Conducting
WESTMINSTER CHOIR COLLEGE
Having completed conducting classes at Rowan and while a student at Rutgers, I sought advanced conducting training in preparation for entering a Master's program. WCC accepted me as a "special student" and I was allowed to study with their world-class conducting faculty.
TESTIMONIALS
Professional Memberships
South Jersey Choral
Directors' Association
American Choral
Directors Association
National Association for
Music Education
New Jersey Association of
Women Business Owners
EXPERTISE
I VALUE APPLIED SKILLS
I place a high priority on music reading skills. All students are taught using Kodaly and Orff methodology. I employ diction tools as laid out by Madeline Marshall. I teach using the bel canto technique for classical choral music. For popular and contemporary music I use the Berklee method. Beginning students use phonetic spellings; advanced students use IPA. All students who take my classes should feel comfortable in a college, community, or church choir as adults. Students in my advanced choirs should feel ready to minor in music in college or sing in a regional music theater company or a cappella group. Any student preparing to major in music should find themselves well-prepared to succeed.
I VALUE CREATIVE THINKING
I place a high priority on encouraging my students to use original, independent, creative thought. Example: a student was assigned by her drama teacher to sing a very dramatic love song with words to the effect of "Nothing in my life had meaning before I met you and now you loving me has given me everything"-- very heavy for a 15 year-old who had never even had a boyfriend! Challenge: How can we re-frame this text so that it is meaningful to you? Solution, after some work: The character in the song is now a teenager who has lived in the foster system her whole life, and now her foster parents have decided to adopt her.
This allowed the student to develop an interpretation that was meaningful to her. Her drama teacher loved it, and she began to see other songs as tools for the expression of her own ideas - a crucial aspect of artistic development.
I VALUE ORGANIZATION
When you have a few part-time jobs, organization has to be a high priority! Organization is a skill that needs to be taught for students to be successful. Teaching students how to be responsible and organized requires deliberation. I've found that anticipating the way they work and the technologies they will use helps me create a plan that will work with their process rather than against it. It's not just about creating class websites and using audio and video files; it's about teaching the students how to use those platforms to enhance their productive thinking.