Teacher Profile: Eleanor Howe
About Eleanor Howe
Eleanor is a pianist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and most importantly, an experienced music teacher who draws upon an incredible background spanning a wide variety of genres, from classical to jazz to indie to electronic music. She currently offers lessons in piano, clarinet, voice, and songwriting. Her passion for music has taken her all over the world as a student, performer, composer, and a recording artist. Eleanor's fascination with music and sound has been a central focus in her life, for as long as she can remember. She believes in the transformative, cathartic, and connecting powers of music, and seeks to instill in her students a lifelong love of both learning and listening to music.
Eleanor grew up in the Seattle area, steeped in the rich music scene at Eckstein Middle School, Roosevelt High School, and the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras. She went on to study classical music composition and founded a 14-piece all-female a cappella group at Willamette University, where she studied voice with Allison Swensen, clarinet with Cindy Bartels, and won the Willamette University Outstanding Musicianship award. Eleanor subsequently received her BFA in Music Performance from The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City, where she studied with Richard Harper, Reggie Workman, Kirk Nurock, Robert Sadin, and many others, and she also performed as a member of KHORIKOS vocal ensemble and the LoftOpera orchestra. She worked in NYC for many years as a composer of advertising, TV, and film music, and fairly recently moved back to the west coast to teach college music courses and private lessons at Portland State University for several years, before returning to her hometown of Seattle.
Eleanor has been teaching private lessons for over 15 years, and welcomes students of all ages and skills levels. She has a strong foundational understanding of both ear training and music theory, which she weaves seamlessly into her teaching repertoire in order to foster not only strong instrumental proficiency, but also a trained ear and comprehension of the harmonic building blocks that serve to deepen students’ understanding and appreciation of music, no matter what their primary instrument may be. Due to her experience composing music for film and advertising, Eleanor has a deep understanding of the emotional arc, impact, and intent behind music, and helps students to hone their playing not only through impressive technical execution, but also through a strong connection to music on the emotional level, as well as an ability to transmit to their audience the spirit behind the music in their own unique way.