Patti Shaffner and Carolyn Koebel

505 Lincolnway,Valparaiso IN 46383

13 May, 2023

Description

Patti Shaffner performs a wide variety of musical styles including, Folk, Blues, Jazz, Theater and Improvisational Singing with ease. She writes and performs her own music, solo as well as collaboratively. As a seasoned performer, Patti is dynamic and engaging on stage. Her music is thought provoking and reaches out to the heart of our longing for connection with love and hope. She puts her heart and soul into whatever she sings. She has studied improvisational singing with both Bobby McFerrin and Rhiannon and is skilled at leading groups of all ages in the style of spontaneous song known as ‘Circle Singing’. Patti performs solo, with SongSisters: Amy Dixon-Kolar and Sue Fink and with Jazz musicians Leandro Lopez Varady, Scott Pazera, Lannie Turner, Bill Romer, Buddy Pearson and with the Andy Sutton Trio. Joining Patti is percussionist Carolyn Koebel! Carolyn has been exploring rhythm and vibration for the past thirty years. Her early studies are rooted in the Western traditions, while the past 20 years have found her slowly traversing the globe in search of indigenous folk roots and traditional rhythmic materials from Latin & South America, West Africa and the Middle East, and all points in-between. The result is a compelling recombination in a musical palette that compliments a variety of styles and genres in groups from Fonn Mor & An Dro, to Dunuya Drum & Dance, Blue Dahlia, Sacred Waters Kirtan, Rhonda Larson & Ventus, improvisational jazz, and a host of singer-songwriters and traditional musical ensembles throughout the region. She spent seven years in the classical symphony world before ‘retiring’ to do original music where she could create and express her own musical vision. More recently, she has begun to re-focus on her solo materials, encompassing guitar, lyrics & vocals, and world percussion. For the past several years she has immersed herself in the beautiful world of Japanese taiko drumming with Michigan Hiryu Daiko. Carolyn is part dreamer, part-realist…a shape-shifter who believes we really can all live the life we imagine. She divides her time between hospice music therapy, teaching and accompanying at Western Michigan University, K College, and universities around the nation, as well as touring regionally and internationally with a variety of performance ensembles. She holds degrees of distinction in music therapy and percussion studies from Western Michigan University and Michigan State University. Much of her work focuses on rhythm-based music therapy and music for personal transformation and Spiritual connection.