Biography
Michelle S. Bailey is a college musician and composer living in Denver, Colorado. She is a candidate for a Bachelor’s Degree in Music at Regis University with plans for graduate study in jazz, composition, pedagogy, or a combination thereof. Her study of music began with childhood piano lessons and singing of church hymns, and has extended into musical theater, band and choir performance, and community involvement.
Aural learning has always been Michelle’s strength. To the dismay of many a childhood piano teacher, she struggled with reading sheet music and relied on memorization and listening in her piano lessons. Combined with a weekly practice of singing Catholic hymns, all learned by ear, Michelle internalized music to the point of being able to hear a finished composition with all instruments in her imagination. As an adolescent she learned guitar and began writing songs. Until beginning her studies at Regis University, however, she had no knowledge of music theory whatsoever. Simply relying on her hearing, in her mind and in reality, she composed an entire repertoire of heartfelt folk songs before graduating from high school.
During her high school days at St. Mary’s in Colorado Springs, Michelle found the only available music outlet on campus: musical theater. In this group she learned to work in an artistic team along with the fundamentals of acting. She joined the chorus in Thoroughly Modern Millie, sang the Queen of Hearts in a community production of Alice in Wonderland, played a Doo-Wop in Little Shop of Horrors, and worked tech for The Phantom of the Opera. At Regis she had the chance to play Potiphar’s wife in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
A college education has also supplied Michelle the access to formal musical ensemble performance. As a member of John Hubert’s Concert Choir, Michelle sings alto and sometimes tenor in a repertoire ranging from Baroque to World music, acapella and in foreign languages. With Regis’ jazz ensemble, the Jazzuits, she plays piano for jazz standards and original compositions under the direction of Marc Sabatella, her piano teacher and mentor. Playing jazz piano has become one of Michelle’s most fulfilling experiences. Her love and fascination for jazz led her to write her senior thesis, Aural Fixation. She argues in favor of a more aurally focused jazz curriculum, designed to give the student the aptitude to confidently improvise with his or her thoughts on expression rather than theory. Further research is on the horizon for Michelle as she hopes to attend the University of Denver, University of Miami, or the Vermont College of Fine Arts to name a few.
In pursuit of making a positive impact in her community, Michelle shares her musical talents outside of Regis University. She performs solo as Pretty. Loud., playing a repertoire of honest and irreverent poetry-songs. Connecting to her love of ska and punk music, she plays and sings for Kult of Skaro, a popular new group of nine. Performing in her community allows Michelle to apply her education and challenge herself, but she is also an active mentor as well. Michelle looks forward to volunteering with Girls Rock Denver, a rock band camp for girls ages 8 to 18. She supports these young women with instrument lessons, songwriting facilitation, encouragement and a positive role model attitude. She hopes that in the near future she will be able to teach piano and voice lessons as well, with the goal of sharing her music and furthering her pedagogical research.
Aural learning has always been Michelle’s strength. To the dismay of many a childhood piano teacher, she struggled with reading sheet music and relied on memorization and listening in her piano lessons. Combined with a weekly practice of singing Catholic hymns, all learned by ear, Michelle internalized music to the point of being able to hear a finished composition with all instruments in her imagination. As an adolescent she learned guitar and began writing songs. Until beginning her studies at Regis University, however, she had no knowledge of music theory whatsoever. Simply relying on her hearing, in her mind and in reality, she composed an entire repertoire of heartfelt folk songs before graduating from high school.
During her high school days at St. Mary’s in Colorado Springs, Michelle found the only available music outlet on campus: musical theater. In this group she learned to work in an artistic team along with the fundamentals of acting. She joined the chorus in Thoroughly Modern Millie, sang the Queen of Hearts in a community production of Alice in Wonderland, played a Doo-Wop in Little Shop of Horrors, and worked tech for The Phantom of the Opera. At Regis she had the chance to play Potiphar’s wife in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
A college education has also supplied Michelle the access to formal musical ensemble performance. As a member of John Hubert’s Concert Choir, Michelle sings alto and sometimes tenor in a repertoire ranging from Baroque to World music, acapella and in foreign languages. With Regis’ jazz ensemble, the Jazzuits, she plays piano for jazz standards and original compositions under the direction of Marc Sabatella, her piano teacher and mentor. Playing jazz piano has become one of Michelle’s most fulfilling experiences. Her love and fascination for jazz led her to write her senior thesis, Aural Fixation. She argues in favor of a more aurally focused jazz curriculum, designed to give the student the aptitude to confidently improvise with his or her thoughts on expression rather than theory. Further research is on the horizon for Michelle as she hopes to attend the University of Denver, University of Miami, or the Vermont College of Fine Arts to name a few.
In pursuit of making a positive impact in her community, Michelle shares her musical talents outside of Regis University. She performs solo as Pretty. Loud., playing a repertoire of honest and irreverent poetry-songs. Connecting to her love of ska and punk music, she plays and sings for Kult of Skaro, a popular new group of nine. Performing in her community allows Michelle to apply her education and challenge herself, but she is also an active mentor as well. Michelle looks forward to volunteering with Girls Rock Denver, a rock band camp for girls ages 8 to 18. She supports these young women with instrument lessons, songwriting facilitation, encouragement and a positive role model attitude. She hopes that in the near future she will be able to teach piano and voice lessons as well, with the goal of sharing her music and furthering her pedagogical research.