Music and Performing Arts
Melanie DeMore is in her seventeenth year as Sixth Grade Choir Director. Melanie tours and records as a solo artist and with Grammy-nominated Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir. She is the Artistic Director/Conductor for the Oakland Community Children’s Choir, on the Board of Directors for Destiny Arts Center, conducts vocal workshops, and has been a California Artist in Residence. She is a featured performer and lecturer for Speak Out: The Institute for Social & Cultural Change and teaches a program called Sound Awareness in prisons, schools, and youth organizations in the US, Canada, Cuba, and New Zealand. Melanie’s website is www.melaniedemore.com.
Susan English Fetcho is in her twentieth year as K-2 Performing Arts Teacher (dance, drama, vocal music, K-2 Chorus, and Second Grade Art). She serves as Chapel Musician and Arts Coordinator. She holds a BA from Denver University and attended Kodaly Institute for Music Education at Holy Names College. Susan has extensive training in Modern Dance, Choreography, Mime and Mask Theater, and co-directed her own performance company for fourteen years. She is co-owner of foundlight.tv, an independent video production company. Susan loves shape-note singing, writing, gardening, and her dogs Bebop and Tango.
Michael Margulis, St. Paul’s Music Teacher for twenty-one years, earned his Bachelor of Music from Oberlin College and MM from Manhattan School of Music. He holds an elementary education credential from UC-Berkeley and studied at Holy Names College. Mike served in the Peace Corps in Bolivia, where he played with the National Symphony and taught at the university in La Paz. He also has taught at University of Connecticut and Hartt College of Music at the University of Hartford.
Marianne Miller, Middle School Drama (see Middle School Bios).
Nick Obando is in his second year as Music Intern Teacher. He earned his BA in Visual and Performing Arts Music Track at CSU-San Marcos. As well as being a musician, he also enjoys being a recording engineer. As an alto saxophonist, Nick enjoys playing and listening to all types of jazz, from Big Band to Bop.
Lisa Pollard, Instrumental Music Teacher, is in her tenth year at St. Paul’s. Lisa earned her BA in Music from CSU-Sonoma. She has played with numerous bands and orchestras, including Duke Ellington’s Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony and continues to travel Europe and Japan as a professional musician. Lisa has extensive experience teaching students aged 7 to 70 in private lessons, as well as providing specialized clinics and workshops for Piedmont High School’s music programs and Amoneburg’s Stiftsschule of St. Johann.
Maura Shannon is in her second year as Grades 3 and 4 Music Teacher at St. Paul's. Trained in the Orff-Schulwerk method, she spent 15 years employing and exploring its sensibility with children in the Berkeley Public Schools. Maura is a trained singer with an avid interest in improvisation and World Music. She earned an elementary credential from San Francisco State and a BA in Education and Music from New College of California. She currently practices jazz dance, Afro-Caribbean drumming, and creative writing.
