Zoe currently teaches K-5 general music, 4-5 band and the Westhill High School saxophone section in the Stamford Public School District in CT. At UVM, Zoe participated in many ensemble offerings. Her primary instrument is saxophone, which she studied with Michael Zsoldos. She earned her master's in Music Education from Boston University in 2020.

The first four years of teaching brought her many challenges and restrictions, especially with the restrictions on music-making during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ultimately, the challenges she faced made her more creative, better prepared, and helped her focus on gratitude for the little moments when she sees her students' faces light up in music class.

Her advice for current music education majors? “You have amazing teachers, so ask them questions, take lessons in anything you wouldn't feel comfortable teaching, know your students, and have a blast making music at UVM.”

Becky teaches K-8 General, Choral, and Instrumental Music at Weathersfield Elementary in Ascutney, VT. "It is a lot of work, but never boring!" She also directs a church choir, youth choir, and community choirs in her hometown. She is an active member of her town's community arts board, which has helped to initiate a jazz festival, community folk dances, and community shows. She is a former member of Bella Voce and Cantiamo women's choirs and plays saxophone in the Vermont Wind Ensemble. She recently began graduate work at the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, CT where she completed her Level 1 training in Kodaly. She is looking forward to completing the other levels in the upcoming summers.

Although he graduated with a degree in business, Rob took advantage of opportunities to perform in multiple jazz ensembles each semester. He was the UVM big band bassist for four years and had the chance to perform with Clark Terry, Paquito D'Rivera, and Arturo O'Farrill. Rob performed with many of Vermont's busiest jazz ensembles, including the Red Thread Trio, Dan Silverman Quartet, Big Joe Burrell and Friends, Cam Cross Trio, Justin Purdue Trio, Guagua Latin Jazz, and the Geoff Kim Trio. He also led many groups of his own and started a jam session every Friday night for local jazz musicians.

After graduation, Rob headed off to graduate school in New Orleans. Unfortunately, the Katrina disaster cut short his plans and he soon found himself relocated to the prestigious jazz program at William Paterson University in New Jersey. From there he spent a productive year working as an intern at the Smithsonian Institution under Dr. John Hasse. Currently, Rob is laying down his infectious grooves all over New York City. Check out robduguay.com to find out where he's playing.

Jennifer played flute in concert band and hockey pep band, and bass clarinet in the Vermont Wind Ensemble at UVM. Her graduation gift was a tour of Austria, Switzerland, and Hungary with the USA Winds (playing a baritone sax she borrowed from the school!), led by UVM faculty member Herbert Schultz. She is now an associate director at a community mental health agency, wife, and mother of two teenagers. She plays various instruments in the Bristol Town Band, Middlebury Community Wind Ensemble, Vermont Wind Ensemble, Vermont Symphonic Winds, LC Jazz Band, pit orchestras, and small ensembles.

"I am your average adult community musician. There is so much opportunity to play as much, or as little as you desire post UVM. I really encourage any person entering the school to join one of the ensembles to maintain and grow your skills, enjoy the camaraderie, and keep the joy of making music in your daily life!"

Sandra played clarinet at UVM, then picked up brass instruments and the viola as well. She taught for 39 years in Vermont public school music, retiring in June 2013. She taught in 4 school districts for 11 years, 3 school districts for 4 years after that, and then finished the next 24 years in 2 districts. "I wanted to be a music teacher ever since I was in third grade. I had the best job in the world because I got to sing, dance, and make music every day of my career and share that with children." Sandra is pictured playing cornet with the Green Mountain Brass Band.

Elise is the Booking and Event Production Manager at ArtsRiot, a performance venue, gallery, and cafe in Burlington's South End Arts District. In addition to booking artists, she runs production operations for concerts: setting up performance equipment, seeing to artist hospitality, and communicating with venue staff. A sound technician internship with ArtsRiot during senior year familiarized her with the venue's operations, which came in handy when she took on her full-time position during the pandemic.

Elise studied percussion at UVM and is still an active performer with her bands Father Figuer and Lake Waves. Studying Music Technology and Business helped her break into a career in music without relying on being a full-time musician. Her time with ArtsRiot has led to many valuable connections within the Burlington arts community.

What is your job title?

I am the Booking and Event Production Manager at ArtsRiot.

Describe a typical day/shift at ArtsRiot. (Is there such a thing as a typical day?)

Each day is different! I usually have meetings in the morning and throughout the day with sponsors, other managers at ArtsRiot, and potential performers I am interested in booking. ArtsRiot is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but I tend to work for a few hours on those days so I can stay up to date on emails. I am always actively booking throughout the week, and Thursdays through Sundays I am running production operations for the events! This usually means setting up the stage with equipment the band/performer will need, making sure all equipment is functioning properly, setting up hospitality, and communicating with staff what the schedule for the night is. Sometimes I am running it all – sound, lights, and hospitality for the artists so my nights can be very busy!

What has been the biggest challenge at your job so far? How did you respond?

The biggest challenge has been entering my field of study and working in the entertainment industry during the pandemic. I was lucky enough to be an intern at both ArtsRiot and Higher Ground pre-pandemic, so I knew a bit about how production and sound/lighting operations looked at ArtsRiot beforehand.

The hardest part was entering the industry with not a whole lot of experience, and being responsible for programming a 250 cap venue! As of now, I am the only member of the booking/production team (besides our wonderful sound tech who comes in to run sound when we need him) so I have a lot of responsibility. ArtsRiot was sold to a new owner during the pandemic, and most of the staff there before has now moved on. So for me, this meant I didn't have the person who worked this position before me to train me! Fortunately, mostly everyone at ArtsRiot is new and are very supportive and fun to work with so we are all learning together. I embrace each day as another opportunity to learn and try to get better than I was the day before.

Has your taste in music changed or grown since you began working at ArtsRiot? How?

My music taste has definitely grown! We haven’t had a whole lot of bands coming through recently (we just reopened the venue space September 9th!) but we have been having a bluegrass night on Sundays which I’ve been enjoying! I don’t typically listen to bluegrass so I am happy to be expanding my palate. It's fun music to dance to! My booking predecessor, Paddy, did an awesome job curating music in the space before the pandemic. I am trying to approach it like he would, and bring stuff that is not necessarily the most popular and mainstream, but meaningful, entertaining, and fun nonetheless!

Why did you choose to major in Music Technology and Business (MTB)?

I chose MTB because I knew I wanted to work in the music industry, but I knew I didn’t want to be a performance/composition major. Even though I am an active member of the Burlington music scene with my two bands, Father Figuer[AA1] and Lake Waves, I wanted another way to be involved so that I could have a career in music without relying on being a musician. I honestly didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do, but the MTB major covers so many topics: studio recording, music theory, live sound. It was the best fit for my goal of breaking into the industry. With the knowledge I gained from the MTB major, I felt confident to take a leap and try something new in music and it paid off! Now I am experiencing what it is like to book and produce events, which I never knew I wanted to do until I tried.

You studied abroad – tell us about your experience.

I spent the summer of 2019 studying abroad in Japan! I was there from mid-March until August. I was a Japanese minor and I was really interested in the language and culture. And I know this might come as a surprise, but I’m not interested in anime that much! I really wanted to learn the language and connect with people and experience a different culture than America.

I learned so many things, from taking my first international flights, to how to navigate a foreign country and use their transportation systems, to learning to live and go to school in a new country and community! I also learned that you should never hike in a cotton shirt... I climbed Mt. Fuji during my last week there (Fuji is closed until July because there is still snow at the top until late in the summer!) and I ended up sweating through it as I hiked, and as the sun went down, I got so cold I thought I was going to get frostbite! It is common for people to begin their hike at dusk and trek through the night so that when you get to the summit, you can see the sunrise! It was an amazing experience I will never forget.

I have countless memories from being there. I lived in a very small city called Mishima, about an hour outside Tokyo, and I could see Mt. Fuji from my apartment! I would frequently take walks by the river that went through Mishima. I met some cool people whom I still talk with to this day, and I would love to go back sometime. I highly recommend taking the plunge and studying abroad in a place like Japan where the culture is different than America. I believe that experience made me more confident, independent, and more willing to take risks!

What did you do for your Senior Internship?

My senior semester, I was at ArtsRiot as a sound tech intern. I would go in and shadow the sound engineer throughout the event, learning how to set up mics, wedges, cabling, signal flow, how the board worked, etc. I also was called upon to be event staff sometimes. ArtsRiot hosts events like the Moth and spoken word as well, so the sound tech work is pretty minimal for those shows. I would typically help set up chairs and tables and help with other general production tasks. I learned a ton about the space and about the way the sound and lighting rigs are set up there which really are helpful and applicable to my job there now.

Now, instead of being the intern, I am the person who runs it! My internship was very helpful to my gaining experience in the industry, and I really treated it as another opportunity to make connections with the Burlington art community. I had no plans of leaving Burlington after graduation, so I really wanted to form those relationships that would help my chances of working at a place like ArtsRiot after graduation. And although it wasn’t my senior internship, my time at Higher Ground was also a very valuable experience. I was an intern there my sophomore year because one of my professors invited one of the owners to come speak to our class. I talked to him after the class, expressed my interest in interning there, and made it work!

Did your Music Technology and Business experiences/internship/classes prepare you for this job?

Absolutely! I feel like my studies and internships are the biggest reasons why I got this job. I got the groundwork covered in my studies at UVM and was able to form connections and network with people in the industry locally with my internships. I won’t say that’s all it took and it was a breeze, but I knew that if I kept working hard, I would get where I wanted to go. I didn’t have a clear career vision or path, but I put in effort to try lots of things to see what I liked and was good at.

What advice would you give to new graduates of the MTB program, or someone seeking experience in the field?

My advice would be to be persistent and do the work nobody wants to do! By doing those small tasks, showing interest and being a hard worker, you will be remembered. As a young person entering the field, you have to have a good attitude and be willing to do the small stuff to work your way up to the bigger stuff. I promise, it pays off!

I did not immediately enter my field of study after graduation. In fact, I worked at Burton Snowboards from my sophomore year (2018) all the way until July of 2021! I made connections along the way and paved myself a path, but it is not always as easy as going from A to B. Especially during the pandemic, all jobs in music and entertainment went out the window. I was worried at times I would never get a job in my field, being so young and with no experience.

But I did the work beforehand, and set myself up to be ready when someone needed me. I actually didn’t originally apply for my current position at ArtsRiot, I applied to be the Assistant General Manager! I didn’t get that job, but after talking with the folks at ArtsRiot about my experience at UVM, internships, and student life involvement on campus, I was offered the Booking and Production position! I would have never gotten the job if I hadn’t taken the chance. And even though I didn’t get the job I thought I wanted at the beginning, I got an even better one that fits my interests.

What artists/albums are you listening to right now?

I’ve been very into Glass Beach, The Symposium, Cut Copy, and The Lemon Twigs! I either love everything an artist makes or I don’t listen to them at all. I guess I’ve got a specific type and when I find it, I stick to it!

As a UVM student, I double majored in English and Music and was fortunate enough to study piano with Paul Orgel for four years. I also had the opportunity to intern with the Lane Series, which inspired me to combine my areas of interest into a career in arts administration. I started working as an editor in the Marketing and Creative Services department at Carnegie Hall the summer after I graduated. I edit and project manage a wide range of print and digital materials, from program notes and bios for our daily Playbill programs to curriculum books and marketing materials. I currently specialize in working on projects related to the Weill Music Institute, the music education and social impact programs arm of Carnegie Hall.

Rachel is the founder, owner, and sound engineer of Vermont Sound and Light. She has provided sound and lights for UVM's cappella groups for a decade, as well as the school's annual Convocation ceremony and Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations. She has worked with performers such as Phish, Bill Kreutzmann, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Harry Belafonte, Neko Case, and Jon Stewart. Rachel has played drums for over 25 years and plays with Burlington-based all-female rock band Steady Betty. Her passion for excellence in audio, lighting, and event production for the last twenty-plus years has garnered recognition and high praise from all levels of the entertainment industry