Welcome to our studio album,
Our Tapestry
a tapestry is made of single threads woven together to create something beautiful.
Since September 2021, seventeen of my students and I have been weaving together this collection of musical threads for you.
It has been such a rewarding process learning how to make my own recording studio out of scratch and to watch these musicians bravely step forward to compose their own music. It can be an intimidating thing to do! It was so cool to see students surprised at their abilities; recognizing there is a composer inside of each of us that’s waiting to come out and share their own unique perspective about the world.
If you are moved by this music, please consider donating to Sin Barreras, Shelter for Help and Emergency or Legal Aid DC. Change a life by your contribution!
With love and gratitude,
Katherine
Scroll down to meet the artists!
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Ellen Elias
Ellen loves sunsets! She also likes to ski and rock climb! She is in 7th grade. She was inspired by the song “Spectre” for this composition. The horse picture for the cover art is a picture of her with her mom’s horse, Lorelei. She loves having such a great piano teacher. “Tsakakahi” is a Hidatsa word for “Bird Feather.”
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Anand Freilich
Anand is a 4th grader at St. Anne’s Belfield. He has been playing piano for 3 years. He also likes legos, oculus games, squash, and playing with his dog Snowy.
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Sofia Gingerich
Sofia Gingerich loves rainy days when she can just sit inside and imagine! She also loves listening to music and drawing. Black and White reminds her of a rainy day, a day when she can have free time to herself. Some of her favorite artists are: BLACKPINK, TWICE, and BTS! She grew up in Charlottesville, VA. When she lived in Washington, DC, she went to the zoo often to see all the animals including pandas (which inspired this song!) Then she moved back to Charlottesville and started school at St. Anne’s Belfield. She has been there since 5th grade! She is happy to have such a wonderful piano teacher!
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Sheina Wasser
Sheina likes to play piano and is 7 years old. Sheina is fine with learning any song as long as it is something Sheina likes. She is fascinated with Minecraft and also likes to play Planet Zoo.
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Zoe Jennings
Zoe Jennings is a Sophomore at Tandem Friends school. She has always been interested in music and song writing. From an early age she has been making up songs to sing to her family. She started play piano a little over a year ago and is loving having Katherine as her teacher. She also takes voice lessons with Christina Fleming and plays soccer and volleyball. When she isn’t swamped with school work, she enjoys reading, cooking, and listening to music. Some of her favorite artists are Taylor Swift, BTS, Tomorrow x Together, and Halsey.
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Casey Leone
Casey Leone is a sophomore at Western Albemarle high school and has been playing piano for almost a year. Casey has especially enjoyed exploring jazz piano. “Two Guys Lost in a Cave is my very first composition and I can’t wait to make more in the future!”
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Luke Purcell
Luke is 12 years old and is a seventh grader at The Covenant School. He likes playing basketball, acting, and has been playing piano for 3 years. He loves creating music, singing, all things UVA, the LA Lakers, and spending time with friends and family!
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Elodie Kahrl
Elodie is a panda lover who is in 5th grade at Tandem Friends School. She loves composing her own songs. She has been playing piano for two and a half years. She likes k-pop music and her favorite bands are TWICE, BLACKPINK, and ITZY. She is the founder of The PPS (The Panda Protection Society), which is a charity that helps pandas. She also loves playing Roblox and Just Dance.
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James Drescher
James Drescher is 10 years old. He’s been playing piano since he was 5. His favorite subject in school is math. James likes mountain biking and skiing. He also enjoys building things.
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Arya DeRose
Arya DeRose is 7 years old. She attends forest school and loves being outside in nature, hiking, camping, identifying plants, making beautiful artwork and music. She wants to be some combination of a singer/engineer and naturalist when she grows up. She lives in Charlottesville with her little brother and her parents.
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Emmett Malcolm
Emmett is 10 years old and has been playing piano for 6 months. He likes making and playing songs. Emmett enjoys music that expresses emotion. He also likes creating board games, code and art. You can find his piano coding project on Scratch:
and his latest piano composition:
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Muriel Kahrl
Muriel is a Fifth Grader at Tandem Friends School. Some of her hobbies are reading, doodling, playing Roblox, and writing. She likes pop music, and some of her favorite artists are Ariana Grande and TWICE. Her song, The Bug and The Bûche, is inspired by her puppy Crystal and her adventures. She is on the Ultimate Frisbee team at her school.
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Arden Warrington
Arden is 9 years old. He likes music, jewelry, pets, and video games. He’s known for being a really fast runner!
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Annia Drescher
Annia is nine years old. She loves to play piano. She has been playing piano since she was 5. She loves all subjects in school. She is doing Girls on the Run. She also has 3 pets: 2 dogs and a cat!
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Pope Dalton
Born and raised in Virginia, Pope Dalton is 8 years old. She is in the 3rd grade and her favorite activities are piano and horse back riding. When she is not on the go, you can find Pope reading, writing or training her dog Slick to jump. Pope has 3 older sisters and loves them very much.
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Elia Wasser
Elia Wasser has been playing piano for 7 years. She loves composition and learning classical music. She likes science, listening to audiobooks, spending time with her dog Dream, and playing Planet Zoo and Minecraft.
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Luella Smith
Luella Smith is in 6th grade at Walker Elementary. Some of her hobbies are drawing, playing video games, and doing origami. She hopes you enjoy listening to “The Haunted Wood” because she enjoyed making it very much!
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Many thanks to Charlottesville artist, Courtney Mandryk for designing and illustrating the cover art for our album.