Sonora Lee

Sonora Lee is a highly experienced music teacher who has worked in Texas and Australia for the past 20 years with all ages and skill levels. Sonora teaches voice and teaches piano in Austin TX.

Graduating from the Conservatory of Music at the University of MO, in Kansas City, MO ---Sonora received:

• Bachelor of Music Education
• Masters in Music Therapy, Registered Music Therapist
• Diploma in Voice Performance
• Minors in Piano and Theatre

All ages can learn to sing and place the piano - elementary, mid and high school, college, adults and seniors, EVERYBODY! Welcome.

Skill Acquisition includes - musical composition, ear training, music theory and recording techniques.

Styles - classical, jazz, pop, folk, new age, etc.

Piano and Voice Classes available Monday through Saturday
various day and evening openings call for appointment 512-736-6159

Digital Recording Studio available for student and lesson use.

Individually designed instruction plan for voice and piano. Sonora will work with the student (and family) to evaluate the best approach for learning that is goal oriented as well as inspiring/fun! Also versed in Susuki, Kodaly teaching methods.

Private Studio for all classes. Located next to my home on two wooded acres just off 290W.

Affordable! ---$85/month for half hour weekly lessons. $170/month for one hour weekly lessons. An initial registration fee of $50 per student includes items necessary for a bright! beginning along with the fee for your first lesson should we decide to commit to monthly lessons.

How to Contact Sonora Lee for Piano and Voice Lessons in Austin TX

For your first interview lesson call me at 512-736-6159 or . I promise to call you back during week days within 24 hours. Please leave a message and give me your name, phone, and best times to call you.

Remember, learning music at any time in one’s life can be a rich celebration of self-expression!

“When you were seven, you had this incredible piano teacher. She wanted you to like piano, so she didn’t make you play little kids’ songs or just the classical stuff. First she said, ‘What do you like to listen to?’ You told her you like rock and folk music. So she got you a ‘Fake Book’ and you started with Little Feat’s “Time Loves a Hero.” She told you that your parents would like that just as much as “Moonlight Sonata” if you played it really well. Maybe more."

..... Berklee College of Music

More About Sonora Lee - Piano and Voice Instructor in Austin TX

You’ll want to spend time with Sonora! Creative, light-hearted, and highly conversant in the world of sound and music, she works side-by-side with a client to artistically direct a production. A licensed music therapist, a performer, and an educator (where do we fit that triple Leo?), Sonora combines education, years of experience, and the most recent digital technology to brighten the waves with color and sound.

Born to a mix of Cherokee and Irish lineage, she remembers those weekly Sunday dinners (midday, mind you) with aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents. “We were making music with spoons, harmonicas, guitars, voices, harmonies.” Starting formal lessons at age 5, Sonora lived music in rural Missouri where she followed the natural process via Sunday church, State Fair winnings, and on to the University of Missouri-Kansas City, receiving awards for Most Promising Education Student, Outstanding Vocal Performer and, at her first Conservatory piano jury as a Freshman, was promoted to the Junior year level.

As a student, Sonora arranged and directed professional radio jingles, rehearsed ensembles for Kansas City churches, managed bands (rock ‘n roll and jazz), and coordinated rehearsal space for University students, including an 80-piece Accordion Orchestra. You thought finding a place for that new drum set was hard!

Psychology of Music became another favorite focus and ultimately led Sonora to San Antonio, Texas, where she became the Director of Music Therapy at the San Antonio State School. Working with the residents, designing curriculums, coordinating staff and Music Therapy interns was rewarding work. The years to follow included marriage to an Australian, living and teaching in Australia, having children, and moving to Austin.

Moving next door to the Austin Waldorf School where eventually all four children would go to school, Sonora began a registered family childcare business. During the summers, she held children’s camps that focused on creating artistic projects; some of those included crafting water fountains, leather and bead works, impromptu plays, organic food preparation. “EAT YOUR CRUST CAMP?!” one might ask. Briefly told, a very young child was trimming the crust from his bread one day and Ms. Sonora said to him, “Didn’t your mamma tell you that this is the Eat Your Crust Camp?” This was funny to the older children; the name remained.

Sonora presently works at her Blue Frog Studios where she teaches piano and voice, arranges, and records. Her students have won awards locally and nationally in piano, voice, and composition. Most recently Sonora has begun the creative collaboration of Eat Your Crust Camp with Kirsten Carter’s The Living Tarot to create a unique children’s summer camp. “We are so excited to be working together!”