Workshops


As a professional musician with a degree in music composition from Cornish College of the Arts (Seattle WA) and a transman with experience educating a diverse range of people on transgender and queer issues, Joe regularly offers workshops for small and large groups at schools, colleges, community centers, and businesses. He is also happy to appear as a guest speaker in college courses and to craft a performance that continues the conversations begun in the workshops and class visits.

Workshops include:

Songwriting 101 and 201: A group class where participants write on-the-spot songs and leave with a recording of their work, jarring loose the notions that songwriting is difficult or inaccessible. This class usually ends up being a lot of fun; students can sing their songs or have someone else sing them, accompany themselves or have another student or the instructor accompany them. No musical training is necessary, just humor and guts. This is a 2-3 hour course depending on class size, with a max of 10 people. The skill level of the class also determines the curriculum; more advanced students can have the opportunity to look deeper into the mechanisms of form, dynamics, and other aspects of songwriting.

Trans 101 and 201: This workshop is part lecture, part discussion group. 101 introduces general terminology, basic science, personal narrative, and human rights issues. 201 focuses on Queer Theory and gender politics, the intersection of race and class, and an expounded discussion of human rights issues. As with most workshops, the attendees can be very diverse and the goal is always to follow and support the group.

He has led workshops for Brown University, Sarah Lawrence College, the University of Wisconsin at LaCrosse, Milwaukee, and Madison, Arizona State University, the University of Omaha, Reed College, and many others.


For more information, please contact  Joe