Sarah Clay - Vocals & Flute
Sarah Clay enjoyed her childhood at the top of her lungs, singing anywhere and everywhere, in solo, choral, and pop tight-harmony groups. In her first band, she sang with Mike and the Clammer Cowboys, singing as a Clamette. Her first flute gig was playing in a polka band: too young to enjoy the beer the other musicians received as payment, she took her pay in the form of a kielbasa sandwich. (Yum!)
Her formal music education began on flute under the guidance of Frank Weilbacher, principal oboeist and all-around woodwind player of the Radio City Music Hall orchestra. She later studied voice with Marina Koshetz (daughter of opera diva Nina Koshetz) in Los Angeles. She holds a BA in Medieval & Renaissance Studies and Musical Performance Practice from New York University. Clay traces her musical talent to her father who, as a young man in Pittsburgh, played jazz guitar with Erroll Garner, Dodo Marmarosa and André (then known as Andy) Previn.
Currently teaching Jazz and Contemporary Voice at Greenfield Community College, Clay has a strong foundation in classical technique. She has been praised for her clarity of tone, sensitive phrasing and playful rhythms. She admires the vocal technique and phrasing of Ella Fitzgerald, Dianne Reeves, Tony Bennett and Anita O'Day. She is currently accepting a limited number of private voice students. If you would like to learn more about vocal lessons with Sarah Clay, please click the Voice Lessons button.