Bio
Melanie is the K-5 Music Teacher for the wonderful children of Northern Light School. She has been a faculty member of Zion Lutheran School, East Bay Center for the Performing Arts and City of Oakland Music and Dance Dept. as well as a music enrichment instructor for various elementary and preschools. In addition to sharing her love of music and performance with students, Ms. Rath performed, toured and recorded with Bobby McFerrin’s acappella group Voicestra and the vocal band SoVoSo’ for eleven years. As a studio musician, Melanie’s voice has been featured on Chrysler, Britta Water and Sprint television and radio commercials, and she was featured on KCSM’s “Best of the Bay” CD for her arrangement/recording of Mongo Santamaria’s jazz anthem “Afro Blue.”
Ms. Rath majored in both music education and vocal performance at Colorado State University and later San Francisco State University. She received her piano pedagogy/teaching certificate from SF State and studied vocal jazz and jazz theory at Jim Grantham’s Jazz School.
“Music elevates the mind, frees the soul, fosters happiness and brings people together. It’s the universal language for a reason! The study of music is very flexible and improvisational which allows for me to take each student and class at their current level, discover their unique talents and grow from there. My mission is to help develop each child into a well rounded young musician who can create music, read music and perform music individually as well as in groups. I want music class to be a very joyful moment in the day for the children, and for those joyful moments to add up to a lifetime of musical creation, appreciation and sharing with the world.”
