Judy Woodson    Director

Judy is a professional vocalist, guitarist and pianist. Like many of her students, Judy showed an early love for music, appearing on television to sing about Elsie the Cow for a Borden's Milk commercial at the age of eight. She later recorded a commercial singing for Safeway as well. She began her adult career in Kansas City as a folk singer at local popular restaurants and night spots and also appeared as a featured singer/dancer at World's of Fun Theme Park.

Miss Woodson's hotel entertaining took her to Dallas, Texas where she made an appearance on the AM Television Show and later to Los Angeles where she also doubled as an agent for McConkey Artists Agency in Hollywood. She spent ten years performing overseas in some of the leading hotels of the world including The Grand Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden, Brenner's Park Hotel and Spa in Baden-Baden, Germany, The Estrel Residence Resort Hotel in Berlin, Germany Nassauer Hof in Wiesbaden, Germany, The Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay, India and Renaissance Resort Hotels in Okinawa and Tokyo, Japan, to name a few.

Amy Bergener   Teacher

Amy Bergener is a music major at Orange Coast College heading for a career as a music educator. A featured soloist with her choir, she holds a certificate of achievement in private music teaching from the same university and currently teaches music to young children in her church. The second of eight children, Amy comes by her love of and talent for music naturally.  Both her grandmother and her mother sang and played the piano with Amy and her siblings at home as part of their family tradition.

Amy moved to California from North Carolina with her wonderful husband who is a great supporter of her musical career.
Being able to combine both her love of young children as well as her passion for music is the perfect fit for Amy. To use her words, “To me, music is magic. It touches the heart and soul. I look forward to this new experience and being apart of this wonderful program.”
The feeling is mutual!  Amy’s sincerity, her lively sense of fun and beautiful voice, as well as her naturally clear communication skills as a music educator make her a terrific addition to our staff here at South Coast Music Together!

Amy was recently awarded Certification Level 1 for outstanding achievement in musical skills, parent education, and articulation of the Music Together program philosophy.

 

Chelsea Rousselot  Teacher

Chelsea Rousselot, a registered Music Together teacher, is a music composition major at Orange Coast College. She plays both the guitar and piano, has extensive background in tap, ballet, and jazz dancing and has worked as a vocal coach at the Kids Rock Music School in San Marino, California. Chelsea performs regularly as a vocalist at OCC and finds a deep sense of joy in the expression of music. She can't wait to share that joyful expression with our families!
We are proud to have Chelsea as a creative and much-loved member of our team!

 

 

Allegra Jaros   Teacher

Allegra Jaros, a registered Music Together teacher, comes to us from Huntington Beach, California. She is a student at Santa Ana College currently studying early childhood education and music.

Allegra has been active singing in choirs from middle school through college and from the age of eighteen has parlayed her love and talent for singing into providing the beautiful vocals for many performing local bands.

Her appreciation for music began at the earliest stage possible. Her mother, who is a classically trained opera singer, continued to perform all through her pregnancy with Allegra, exposing her to great music from time she was still in the womb! Her grandmother was a talented pianist and guitarist who believed in the old world traditions of spending quality family time making music together in the living room. It was there that Allegra was first taught to sing, dance, and play various musical instruments.
Prior to joining the staff of South Coast Music Together, Allegra worked as a caretaker for young children who struggled with autism and also worked as assistant at a local preschool. It didn’t take her long to realize that this was her right place in life and that she would always want to be working with young children.

Allegra is very happy to be able to marry her love of music and her fascination with the development of the young mind by sharing her gifts as a musician and educator with families in the Music Together tradition.

We are proud to welcome Allegra as a very special and valued member of our team.

 

Kathryn Graham   Teacher/ Co-Administrator

Kathryn Graham is very near and dear to our hearts as she joined South Coast Music Together for our very first semester in March of 1999! As a mom of two beautiful and musical twin girls, we spotted Kathryn immediately for her lovely singing voice and terrific example in musical participation. Kathryn's easy going and kind manner, along with her beautifully clear communication skills are a real asset to us, and were developed during her years as a bilingual teacher with the U.S. Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic.

Upon returning to the U.S., she became an instructor with Santa Ana College where she taught newly arrived immigrants English as a second language. She later served as administrator and CFO as well as ESL instructor for Tri Lingua Language Systems, Inc.

Kathryn earned a Bachelor of Music from California State University and is credentialed to teach basic education and music K-12 in California Public Schools. She performs regularly as a soloist at one of our local churches and also performs for special occasions and events. She joined the staff of South Coast Music Together in the fall of 2003 and is a popular and much loved member of our team. Kathryn is a registered Music Together teacher.

Jennifer Estrada   Teacher

Jennifer Estrada comes to us from La Quinta, California where she served as the director of Family Music and More, an early childhood program. It was there that she became an experienced and terrific Music Together teacher. She also held the position of Preschool Music Teacher and led the Mommy and Me classes for her church for three years.

Jennifer has a Bachelor of Music in Music Therapy, and has studied acting, voice and movement. An accomplished vocalist, she has done solo work in various theatre productions including Sister Act II, No Square Theatre, and Quiet Zone among others. Her extensive teaching experience includes other early childhood programs such as Gymboree Play and The Child Development Lab.

Her most important role to date is that of Mommy to three beautiful children: a toddler, a preschooler and a first grader. Jennifer loves filling their home with song, dance, and theatrics.

She truly takes great joy in sharing her passion for music with all children and tells us that she “loves putting a smile on those little ones’ faces and a song in their heart”.

That’s why we feel especially privileged to welcome Jennifer Estrada, a registered Music Together teacher, to our team!

 

Helen Uy  Teacher

Helen Uy is a registered Music Together teacher who did a beautiful job of passing her training as a program instructor with Lyn Ransom, director of program development for our national organization at Music Together LLC.

We discovered Helen as one of the participants in our classes and noticed her for her poise, her enthusiastic role-modeling, and her generous, giving spirit. She has a background in theatre, piano and voice, and had her love of music passed on to her from her mother, who sang to her as a baby in the car and in the bath. And while she was too young to understand the words, she can remember the melodies and the love in her mom’s voice. Now she is passionate about passing that joy of music along to her own one year old daughter Amanda.

Helen tells us that teaching and being involved with Music Together allow her to do the two things she loves the most; making music, and being with her baby girl.

That’s what our program is all about and we’re delighted to have Helen as a special and valued member of our team!