Nalora Steele

Professor

Affiliated Departments

Music Education

hearing loss

nsteele@berklee.edu

617-747-8324

For media inquiries, please contact Media Relations

Career Highlights

Publications in Massachusetts Music News
Coauthor with Beverly Shinn of Interactive Videodisc Instruction in Music
Performed over 125 productions with the Opera Company of Boston, the Opera New England, the Cambridge Opera, and the American Opera Company, singing with Beverly Sills, Placido Domingo, Renata Tebaldi, Joan Sutherland, and Marilyn Horne
Former music teacher for the Brookline Public Schools; students included Conan O’Brien, TV host; and Liam Moran, international opera baritone
Producer and performer, The Children’s Hour, KFVS-TV, Missouri
Conductor, Linden Ponds Singers, Hingham, MA; former conductor, Longwood Chorale, Falmouth Men’s Chorus
Coanchor, Live at Linden Ponds, LPTV6

In Their Own Words

"In Music Education, what intrigues me is the whole process of quickly—we hope!—bringing students from studenthood to professionalism. I think we are perhaps the only department where students have to prove they can do the job before they graduate. They have to do that internship and pass it."

"I encourage all my students to look at themselves as future teachers. I'll say, 'I'm doing this one way; think about how you would want to do it, and for what reasons.' The thrust is moving them toward the profession. Seeing students turn into competent teachers: that's the reward."

"About five years ago I took on the task of helping students get through the teacher certification exams. It's become a kind of a mission for me. It's a very intensive, very personal academic relationship. I have eight students going to take the state certification test tomorrow. And I live it with them. I'll get up in the morning, look at my clock, and say, 'Oh, they're on their way!'"

"I talk to students about keeping their personal musicianship going while they're teaching in public school. That's tricky because it takes a huge amount of energy. You can do both, but you have got to have your head in the right place. And you have to have a lot of energy and keep your body very healthy."

"It's important to know what a hard—and tiring—job teaching is, but it's also important to know the joys when you see the kids actually pull it together with discipline, when all of a sudden the lesson gels and those kids are learning and you're passing it on—those are wonderful moments!"