Lauren Passarelli
Encyclopedia
Teaneck, New Jersey
Teaneck is a township in Bergen County, New Jersey, and a suburb in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 39,776, making it the second-most populous among the 70 municipalities in Bergen County....
) is an American musician and educator.
She was the first woman to graduate from Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
as a guitar performance major in 1982, and she became Berklee's first female guitar instructor in 1984. She was promoted to professor in 2009. Passarelli's students include John Ryan, Derek Sivers
Derek Sivers
Derek Sivers is best known for being the founder and former president of CD Baby, an online CD store for independent musicians....
(founder of CD Baby
CD Baby
CD Baby is an online music store specializing in the sale of CDs and digital music downloads from independent musicians to consumers. The company is also a digital aggregator of independent music recordings, distributing content to several online digital music retailers.CD Baby has achieved recent...
), David Rawlings
David Rawlings
David Todd Rawlings is a professional guitarist and singer. He is best known as the longtime musical partner of bluegrass singer-songwriter Gillian Welch.David attended the Berklee College of Music and studied with guitar professor Lauren Passarelli....
(guitarist with Gillian Welch
Gillian Welch
Gillian Welch is an American singer-songwriter. She performs with her musical partner, guitarist David Rawlings. Their sparse and dark musical style, which combines elements of Appalachian music, Bluegrass, and Americana, is described by The New Yorker as "at once innovative and obliquely...
), and Kyle Patrick of Click 5.
Musical education
Passarelli's guitar studies began when she was nine years old. She studied for five years with Lou Sabini while growing up in Paramus, New JerseyParamus, New Jersey
Paramus is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 26,342. A suburb of New York City, Paramus is located between 15–20 miles northwest of Midtown Manhattan and approximately west of Upper Manhattan.Paramus is one of...
, where she attended Paramus High School
Paramus High School
Paramus High School is an American four-year comprehensive public high school, located in Paramus, New Jersey, operating as part of the Paramus Public Schools...
. Sabini told her about Berklee, informing her that even though she was eleven she was using college textbooks: A Modern Method for Guitar by William G. Leavitt.
Beatles tribute band
Passarelli played the role of George HarrisonGeorge Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
in The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
tribute band All Together Now (formerly known as Get Back). She has played with Leni Stern
Leni Stern
Leni Stern is an electric guitarist, and singer. She was interested in music from an early age, beginning piano studies at the age of six and taking on the guitar age of eleven...
.
Some of Passarelli's students believe that her song "My Norwegian Friend", with its collage layered ending, from her CD Shadow Language inspired The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' album Love
Love (The Beatles album)
Love is a Grammy Award-winning soundtrack remix album of music recorded by The Beatles, released in November 2006. It features music compiled and remixed as a mashup for the Cirque du Soleil show of the same name...
because Passarelli handed Giles Martin
Giles Martin
Giles Martin is an English record producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He is the son of Sir George Martin, famed producer of almost all of The Beatles' records.- Biography :...
a cassette demo of "My Norwegian Friend" in the late 90s.
Other activities
Passarelli fronts for the progressive pop group Two Tru, which also features keyboardist Cindy Brown. She is a co-founder of Feather Records where she is responsible for engineering and production. Two Tru releases their music on Feather Records.Lauren Passarelli hosts the monthly Songwriter Circle Workshop at the Harvest Cafe in Hudson, Massachusetts
Hudson, Massachusetts
Hudson is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 19,063 at the 2010 census. The town is located in central Massachusetts, about a 40-minute drive, or about , west of Boston, and about a 20-minute drive, or about , northeast of Worcester.Before its...
.
Lauren Passarelli/Two Tru
- Among The Ruins
- Shadow Language
- Back To The Bone
- Bellabye
- Time To Groove
- All The Words
- Hold On
- Sweetest Thing
- The Secret Quantum Song Thank You
- The Secret Quantum Song Enjoy
- Great Day To Land/Happy Birthday
- Low Tide
- Mainly Distance
- Playing With The Pieces
- Two Years Deep
Other
- Sarah Burrill * Stained Glass
- Jane Miller * The Other Room
- Thaddeus Hogarth * When The Sun Goes Down
- We Are All Connected
- Crave * Garden Party
- October Rose at the Manse