Lauren Passarelli

Lauren "L. Pass." Passarelli (born February 1, 1960 in Teaneck, New Jersey) is an American musician and educator. She was the first woman to graduate from Berklee College of Music as a guitar performance major in 1982, and she became Berklee's first female guitar instructor in 1984.[1] She was promoted to professor in 2009.[2] Passarelli's students include John Ryan, Derek Sivers (founder of CD Baby), David Rawlings (guitarist with Gillian Welch), and Kyle Patrick of Click 5.

Contents

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 Jersey, where she attended Paramus High School.[3] 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.[4]

Beatles tribute band

Passarelli played the role of George Harrison in The Beatles tribute band All Together Now (formerly known as Get Back).[4] She has played with Leni Stern.[5]

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' album Love because Passarelli handed Giles Martin a cassette demo of "My Norwegian Friend" in the late 90s.[6][7]

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.[4]

Lauren Passarelli hosts the monthly Songwriter Circle Workshop at the Harvest Cafe in Hudson, Massachusetts.[8]

Discography

Lauren Passarelli/Two Tru

Other

References

  1. ^ Small, Mark. Facutly (sic) Profile: Lauren Passarelli: Fab Guitar
  2. ^ Wassel, Bryan. For Fab Four fan, it gets better all the time in Town News, May 4, 2011.
  3. ^ Wassel, Bryan. "Berklee professor, former Paramus resident credits Beatles as musical inspiration", Town News, May 4, 2011. Accessed September 13, 2011. "A former Paramus resident has accomplished a series of firsts at Berklee College in Boston: becoming the first woman to graduate the guitar performance program in 1982, the first female faculty member of the guitar department in 1984 and the first female to be promoted to full professor in the department in 2009. Lauren Passarelli, who was born in Teaneck and grew up in Paramus, developed her interest in guitar at an early age, citing the Beatles as one of her biggest influences.... Passarelli's musical talent goes beyond just the guitar, and while attending Paramus High School she played flute in the school's marching and concert bands, as well as guitar for the stage band."
  4. ^ a b c Milano, Brett. Meet the Beatle in Berklee News, November 14, 2002.
  5. ^ Spring Visiting Artists in Berklee Today, Summer 1996.
  6. ^ [1]
  7. ^ [2]
  8. ^ Harvest Cafe - Hudson, MA

External links