About Lizz Anderson, director of MusicalMe Inc.

She has been honored by the Center for Music & Young Children for bringing Music Together into the homes of more than 10,000 families in our community since 1996.

She is a professional opera singer and musical theater performer who has performed locally, in the San Francisco Bay Area, in New York City, and beyond. Almost everything in Lizz's existence is passion. This inner fire gave her the courage to pursue her dreams and make a living at what she likes most, more or less her whole life through. Her story is fascinating.

Buenos Aires, Bogota, Santa Cruz, New York City, the list of Lizz's home towns doesn't end. But she admits: "I really consider myself to be from Santa Cruz, especially in my heart. I absolutely love it here."

The circumstances that governed her musical life go back a long time. With a grandfather earning his living by playing piano for the silent movies, a mother who started preparing an opera career at 14, and an aunt being a prominent Broadway dancer, it comes as no surprise that Lizz "was born with high musical aptitude. And my mother recognized it right away." After taking piano and violin lessons, singing in numerous choirs throughout her childhood and adolescence, and stepping on every stage she could, when time came to choose a career Lizz naturally went for a bachelor of Theater Arts with an acting emphasis, which she obtained from UCSC in the early 80's.

Then came Broadway for five years and the dissatisfaction in front of the reality of things. "I realized that Gee! living my dream wasn't really what I had wanted it to be. So I started looking around for something else to do. And this one friend of a friend heard me sing and said: 'You definitely have an opera voice. You are going to study opera with me; $20 dollars an hour.' " A bargain when singing lessons could reach $100. For Lizz it was instant love. "I finally found my true self and my true voice. I always had a big range and singing opera was... amazing for it required all I had to give. I was thrilled by the physicality of it."

Back to Santa Cruz and San Francisco to study with Blanche Thebom for three-and-a half years and soon the first audition. "It was absolutely horrible! I was wearing heels and my legs were shaking so badly that my ankles were wobbling back and forth. Last time I wore heels to an opera audition (laughs)." But after she acquired some experience Lizz started to get hired and sang with the Berkeley Contemporary Opera. "I also left my job and started to work at Max's Opera Café. By doing this I cut my pay in half but I was so much happier for I was singing!"

Then Lizz's son Daniel was announced and with his arrival her life was to take a completely new turn. Once again Lizz was "a little burnt out with the opera. "I always did it for the joy of it while I found that a lot of people were doing it for the status, the pride, the recognition... and for a lot of lesser things. So I came back home to Santa Cruz."

A couple of years later a friend offered Daniel a tape and a book and "Daniel went wild for it! He loved it! He just responded to it so enthusiastiscally and every song had a movement that went with it. Those were thrilling, thrilling moments!" It was the MUSIC TOGETHER "Jingle Bells" collection.

It wasn't long before Lizz flew back to Manhattan and from there "took the train every day for almost a week out to Princeton, New Jersey where I received a wonderful training at the hands of Ken Guilmartin and Lili Levinowitz, the founders of the program. These people put their heart and soul into it and the more I work with the program the more I realize how well thought out it is, how well incorporated is all this early childhood information that we had. It's just SO rich!"

Within a few months after Lizz started offering MUSIC TOGETHERŽ classes in Santa Cruz she was teaching all day long, all week long. She has had to refuse students in order to keep her classes manageable. Now Lizz is really happy doing music! If you ask her about her life today she says: "I'll tell you this: my life is a very blessed, rich, beautiful life, surrounded by marvelous people, beautiful children... and wonderful music."

Lizz admits that her background comes in handy when she teaches. "In the classroom setting it's wonderful to have the performance background and the improvisation experience. I am really comfortable in front of people and I absolutely adore being with the children who come and sit on my lap, start doing the movements and getting the rhythm, and grow musically." But she emphasizes that "you don't have to be an entertainer to do well at teaching it. When I had the training I observed classes with different teachers and every class was different for each teacher is different, but every class was wonderful."

As a parent, Lizz raves about the program. "If I were not teaching it, I would be there every week. Daniel and I sing MUSIC TOGETHER songs all the time, at home, in the park, we do the rhythm or the tonal patterns,... I absolutely love the program for the difference it's made for me and my son. People are always remarking how musical Daniel is. And he is a joyful, joyful child. I can't say enough about it as a parent."

Has Lizz stopped singing and performing? Certainly not. "I did 'La Traviata' with Santa Cruz Bay City Opera this spring and this fall we're going to do 'The Magic Flute' and... I know I'll always be performing in one way or another."

MUSIC TOGETHER's most important message, according to Lizz, is one of the most comforting and touching statements you can hear: "Everyone is musical. If we feel we are not it's simply that we have not had the opportunities to fully develop our musicality. If your child is not singing in tune don't do her or him the injustice of saying: 'She or he is not musical.' She is simply in one of the stages of primary music development. And if you can help her get past that stage and reach basic music competence, then and only then will she sing in tune and keep a proper beat. Some of us as adults still have not reached basic music competence. They simply need a little bit more time and enrichment to do it. What greater gift can you give your child than the gift of music?" An open door to all hopes...

To check out a side biz of Lizz's, click HERE

About Lizz Anderson, director of MusicalMe Inc.

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