hey you! I’m Ellen (she/they) and I make music.
At my core, there’s nothing I love more than making sounds with other humans.
That love spins off into a bunch of cool art-making avenues like albums, musical podcasts, theater, teaching, videos, and performing.
(Joy is a big thing for me. As is glitter. So, fair warning.)
legit industry spots
theatre residencies
Mercury Store, Berkeley Rep Ground Floor, Joe's Pub Working Group, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Barn Arts Retreat, Ars Nova Makers Lab, Drop Forge and Tool
theatre orgs where I’ve made work as a creative collaborator
NYTW, The Public, Joe’s Pub, Ars Nova, Mercury Store, The Tank, Pipeline Theatre Co.
venues i've performed at
NYC: The Sultan Room, Rough Trade, The Knitting Factory, Pianos, Pete’s Candy Store, Ars Nova (ANT Fest, One Night Stand), The Tank, Sofar Sounds, New Songs Now (Rattlestick NY), Freddy’s Brooklyn, Three’s Brewing, Scholes Street Studios, Bowery Poetry Club, Sidewalk Cafe, The Metropolitan Room, Signal Online
You can send me an email directly ([email protected]) or use the handy dandy widget on this here website to book a lil’ time together.
Okay thanks for being here i love you go drink some water!!!
Ellen Winter
Private Music Lessons
As a teaching artist and private music coach, my goal is to center your creative spark while facilitating a space where you can develop your skills and cultivate a consistent, tangible music practice! My pedagogy is joy-based and can be as structured or fluid as makes sense for you. I work remotely or in-person in NYC with vax and a recent negative COVID test required.
My rate starts at $150 for one-off sessions and $95 per hour for lesson packages. I offer a sliding scale on a case-by-case basis. Please reach out to me with your situation and what you’re passionate about. Hit me up at [email protected]. In the email, tell me what is motivating you to dig in to / expand / re-ignite your musical practice.
I offer lessons in the following categories:
- Voice (all voice types and levels welcome!)
- Songwriting
- Musical theater writing (book, lyrics, music)
- Music theory
- Music Production (LogicPro or GarageBand)
I offer packages in single lessons, four lessons, six lessons, and twelve lessons. Email me for more info!
A MASTER CLASS OR CREATIVE CONSULTATION
Do you rep an organization or school looking to facilitate a songwriting workshop with a musical making weirdo? Or are you looking to punch up a project of yours you’ve already written? Email me at [email protected] for my rates!
Greenwich House Music School
For the last two years I’ve taught six-to-twelve year olds contemporary musical theatre. (It’s so friggin' fun, holy cow.) I co-facilitate with local teaching artists and together we curate a curriculum rooted in making musical techniques and structures fun. A normal class focuses on building ensemble through vocal and physical warm ups, theatre games, and learning both traditional and contemporary musical theatre songs and whatever else we think the kiddos are gonna like. It's educational, but fun-u-cational.
The first year I taught a class called Stagestruck. The year after that was a class called Showstoppers. This year ('21) I'm teaching What Makes a Musical once a week at Little Island Park - a manmade park on the water.
If you want to get involved in this - and why wouldn’t you - I would encourage you to check out my educators page on Greenwich House’s website here: https://www.greenwichhouse.org/person/ellen-winter/
The Performing Arts Project (TPAP)
The Performing Arts Project, or TPAP for short, is a summer program dedicated to nurturing young artists on the verge of graduating high school and starting college.
I’ve been teaching with TPAP since 2018. It’s truly a magical place where “failing is encouraged” and “mistakes are mandatory.” I’ve had the joy of facilitating songwriting classes and producing the end-of-program songwriter showcase. The faculty is made up of Broadway and downtown child-at-heart professionals, with a mix of brilliant minds and professors from all over the country.
I’ve had the pleasure of teaching alongside my own idols and meeting some of the most inspiring young artists I’ve ever met. Fun fact: the choruses of “Mantras” (the hit single off Every Feeling I've Ever Felt) were recorded as part of a group project at TPAP. Basically, there’s this thing that we do there called Research and Development. These are three day rehearsal periods which are exploring some kind of artistic idea. During one, I wanted a group of women-identifying individuals to explore what my music might sound like with a fourteen person chorus. Spoiler: it was life-changing.
I had the best group of artists and we had far too much fun. For more information about how to register for TPAP, they have a fantastic website that will walk you through how to audition: https://www.performingartsproject.com/
The New Victory Theatre
In 2012, I joined the New Vic as an Education Apprentice and learned the term “teaching artist” - my life was forever changed!!! I worked with them in a bunch of different capacities over the last decade, and as of last year, I officially came on as a part of the Teaching Artist team!
As a New Vic TA, I get to do a bunch of fun things, but the highlight is going into public schools with a co-teaching artist and facilitating classroom workshops based around New Victory’s theater season. We teach circus, theater, puppetry, music, dance - if it graces the stage, we have a workshop about it! Truly been a dream come true working with these folks and I’m learning so so so very much.
