My intention as a Teaching Artist is to cultivate students’ gifts, nurture their creative spark, and help them build confidence in their creative abilities. Music has been a passion and means of self-expression throughout my life. I find children and young adults have a lot to say and I love watching them be engaged, motivated, and feel satisfaction in the process of setting their own words to music.
In my artist residency, “Lyrics & Literature: Making the Text Come Alive through Songwriting,” I collaborate with 3rd-12th grade classroom teachers to design an arts integrated program in which students write and perform a song about a shared text from the curriculum. Students work in whole and small groups to learn the basics of songwriting, melody, and rhythm and then write lyrics about the characters. They also create original melodies or put their lyrics to songs or raps they know, then perform it. This residency is designed to help students develop collaborative skills and build a connection to the text in new, exciting ways.
Priscilla Sanders, M.Ed. is a multi-instrumentalist musician and singer/songwriter. She studied classical piano from age 7, lyric writing with a professor from Berklee College of Music in Boston, and songwriting and music theory in Nashville and Los Angeles. In 2004, she released a CD, “Ride a Wave with Me”, and is about to release a new Contemporary Folk CD. Priscilla has performed solo, with bands and in duos on Maui and the mainland. She was a songwriting instructor at Maui Academy of Performing Arts and has taught music and acting to youth. She received her M.Ed. from Vanderbilt University and taught in the public schools. She presently works as a sub for Can Do! Days at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center and performs as a solo artist.
The Artistic Teaching Partners (ATP) Roster is an adjudicated directory of Hawai‘i professional teaching artists qualified to conduct in-depth residencies in educational settings. Each artist or arts organization has a page in the directory with contact information, a short bio, and an artist statement. The State Foundation on Culture and the Arts draws from this roster for arts education programs including Art Bento at the Hawaiʻi State Art Museum and Artists in the Schools.
