As a voice teacher at a college and a professional singer, I look back at my days at Anna Maria College with joy and gratitude. It was there where I began my professional and adult life with the careful guidance of teacher mentors, a supportive community, and a lovely setting to learn and grow.
It was there where I learned how to think, listen, and ask questions. Entering with an undeclared major and a dream and goal in mind, I was able to connect with key people, navigate courses, and take the necessary steps that enabled my dreams to come to fruition. I worked toward and became a music major my sophomore year. Although I have solely made my career in music (music therapist 15 years, professional singer 30 years, and voice teacher 20 years), it is because of my liberal arts education that I was prepared for other professional options. As a freelance artist, I find this skill set necessary for my daily work and a requirement in the increasingly competitive digital world.
At Anna Maria, I learned from upper classmen who guided me through example. We shared family stories, hardships, and thoughts on values, religion, education, and where our futures might lead us. I have fond memories of our team work as we put on productions, supported the women’s field hockey team, and motivated one another to practice and study. We were not just a community but were more like a family. I learned from my mentors, and I too became a leader.
My professors were articulate and well read. They, in turn guided us in how to practice, read with discernment, and find balance. Classes such as philosophy, psychology, and religion enlightened us and allowed us to think more deeply about values, morals, and purpose, as well as understanding humanity with a clearer mind. In the music business, if you don’t work your craft consistently, you will not succeed. I learned important life lessons from teachers and mentors, lessons that are still influencing my daily life.
The liberal art’s education I received at Anna Maria College has affected me throughout my adult life and career in music. It was there that I discovered a passion that I continue to nurture and develop for myself as an artist and for the benefit of my students. While I am a teacher of music, I take great joy when speaking to students and audiences about life lessons, process, remarkable events, and people. My professors and my father (an educator and mathematician) inspired me through asking questions, listening, teaching and sharing specific techniques, telling personal experiences, and making something difficult into something accessible.
My experience at Anna Maria and the lessons learned there can best be summed up in the words of St. Francis: “For it is in giving that we receive.”
Anne Valerie Walsh has been performing and teaching voice for more than two decades. Her teaching method incorporates techniques for all styles of singing, from classical and light opera to jazz and pop.
In the classical genre, Walsh has sung various operatic soubrette roles including Despina and Zerlina in the Mozart operas
Cosi fan tutti and
Don Giovanni. Musical theatre credits include
Mame (Pegeen Ryan—Walsh worked opposite Carol Lawrence and Sally Struthers) with Musical Theatre West;
Sound of Music (Maria),
Man of La Mancha (Antonia),
Camelot (Lady Anne/Gwenevere) with Downey Civic Light Opera;
Music Man (Marion),
Peter Pan (Mrs. Darling), and
Pirates of Penzance (Kate) with Limon Carr Productions; and
She Loves Me (Amalia) at the Whittier Playhouse. Her versatility as a singer and extensive scope of instructional techniques is what sets her apart as a teacher.
Current performances include those at the Long Beach Carpenter Center, Mckinney Theatre, the Terrace Theatre, the Jazz Bakery, and various clubs and national and international tours. Walsh has recorded several album projects including the music of such jazz luminaries as Keith Jarrett, Sergio Mendes, and Don Grolnick. Her most recent albums,
GO and
Pretty World were released in 2011 and 2009, respectively.
Pretty World garnering a Grammy nomination, and both received critical acclaim.
Walsh’s two previous concept recordings were of lullabies (Baby Mine) and sacred music (Be Still My Soul). She received a Parent’s Choice award for
Baby Mine. She has numerous private students working in the industry; she teaches at the American Music and Dramatic Academy in Los Angeles and at her own private studio in Long Beach.
Walsh received her bachelor’s degree in music from Anna Maria College in 1985 and master’s degree in vocal performance from California State University Long Beach in 1995. She has studied under Jane Lahikainen, Marvalee Cariaga, Andy Beonttner (Seth Riggs associate), Elizabeth Hynes, Marge Rivingston, Joann Zajac, and Jon Mack.