June Spencer

I direct the adult choir at a church in Glen Ridge and have taught voice and piano privately for about twenty years. I trained at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, and I still use the same breathing exercises my first teacher gave me there, just at a gentler pace.

With most students we start by singing, because everybody can do it and it wakes the whole body up. Then we add simple piano chords so you can play along with yourself on a favorite hymn, a show tune or an old Motown song. If you have a piano that has not been played in years, that is fine. Out of tune is still music. Some families also book me for cooking, which came out of my habit of bringing soup to choir rehearsals. My grandmother's recipes from South Carolina are the ones I teach most.

I live in Verona with my teenage son. On summer evenings you can find me at the Verona Park bandshell, usually singing along when I should not be.