About
is an active freelance musician, recitalist and flute instructor at the University of Wisconsin-Superior and The College of St. Scholastica and maintains a private studio in Duluth, Minnesota. She is a frequent substitute on both flute and piccolo with the Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra (DSSO), has performed with the United States Marine Corps Bands and numerous festival orchestras, including the Northern Lights Music Festival. She is also the Administrative Director and Concert Orchestra Conductor for the Duluth Superior Symphony Youth Orchestras program and director of the North Wind Flute Choir.
Melanie is a licensed movement specialist in the somatic technique called Body Mapping, developed by the Association for Body Mapping Education (ABME), a non-profit organization committed to saving, securing and enhancing musical careers by providing accurate information about the body in movement. She presents the 6-hour course “What Every Musician Needs to Know about the Body” as well as targeted workshops to university classes, ensembles, and musician associations. Melanie works with musicians to recover from and prevent injury by finding better options for movement in playing, singing and conducting which results in the maximization of performance potential. Along with Berklee School of Music colleague, Doug Johnson, Melanie has published an ABME training manual supplement “Biotensegity and Bodymapping” exploring the paradigm of biotensegrity in relationship to movement principles and assessment.
Her article, “Head Hunting,” helps flutists with the process of finding a new head joint for their instrument and has been published in Fluit (Netherlands), Flote Aktuell (Germany), and Flute Focus. She has lectured on the topic of flute head joints at conventions, festivals and music schools in the Netherlands, Germany, England and the U.S.
She is an active board member of the American Federation of Musicians Local 18, treasurer of ABME, a member of the National Flute Association (NFA), the Upper Midwest Flute Association (UMFA), the Minnesota Music Educators Association and the National Association for Music Education (MENC/MMEA/NAfME), and the Association of American Educators.
Melanie received her Master of Music, summa cum laude, in flute performance and a post-baccalaureate K-12 Instrumental and Classroom teaching licensure from the University of Minnesota-Duluth and a B.A. in history and music from St. Olaf College. She is a licensed K-12 music educator in Minnesota.
Education
- 2010 – Master of Music (M.M.) – Flute Performance, University of Minnesota
- 1986 – Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) – Music and History, St. Olaf College