About Me
I have been a music educator for over 15 years and a performer my whole life. In 2003, I graduated from Ithaca College with a Bachelors of Music and majored in music education with a focus on the clarinet. That's right, I have been a band geek for a very loooong time. I have been teaching at a little rural school in Northern California for the past 10 years. I started a music program there with 15 ukuleles and progressed to a full arts program adding drama and art. In collaboration with the high school students and their dance teacher, we created a vibrant original musical in 2018 entitled, "Where's Waldorf?" where students take a journey to many mystical realms only to better discover themselves. You can see beautiful pictures of that performance by Full Life Photography. Overall, I have been focusing on musical projects that see the arts as integral to sustaining mental health, bring attention to climate justice, social justice, identity justice, racial justice, healing justice, and are accessible to all no matter race, class, ability, or gender.
Not only am I a performing arts teacher, but I am also a volunteer firefighter and brand new EMT. I also volunteer on the board of our local non-profit, Coastal Headwaters and just started our community's first Fire Safe Council. I also volunteer as a DJ for our local independent radio station KMUD www.kmud.org as DJ Septik, host of Early Morning Anarchy every 1st Saturday of the month from 12am-2am when I play punk, metal, hip hop, and all music that is subversive.
In 2017, through my own fundraising efforts, I produced my first studio album, The Mirror, and raised $1800 for our community center. I created this album to help process vanity and narcissism.
In 2018, I put out a solo folk album, The Moon, to help connect to spirit, earth, and ourselves inspired by the phases of the moon.
In 2020, I digitally released a compilation for Planned Parenthood entitled Subversa: A Compilation for Planned Parenthood, in honor of Vi Subversa from the Poison Girls. (You can check out my journal entry www.herahasaheart.com/journal to learn more.) This compilation is a collaboration of musicians from the west coast containing hard core, punk rock, anarchist rap, and Cascadian folk. The tape recording and tour I had planned have been postponed due to the pandemic.
My latest album, The Madness, contains elements of metal and noise and is focused on mental health for my generation, the first generation to have a shorter life expectancy than the one before it, enduring higher suicide rates and opiate overdoses. This one's for us.
Stream and Download: Subversa: A Compilation for Planned Parenthood: subversaplannedparenthood.bandcamp.com
Stream and Download: herahasaheart.bandcamp.com
Streaming Only: www.soundcloud.com/jessi-lea
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Upcoming EventsWinter 2022
Teaching again! Performing again! Recording Projects: The Madness Subversa: A Compilation for Planned Parenthood You can still support Planned Parenthood and get this awesome compilation from artists all over the west coast! Total raised from digital album= $304.66 and 1,050 plays Tape Cassettes are in and will be released at these festivals before they will be available online. I made 100 tape cassettes and this will benefit the Eureka Planned Parenthood in Northern California. subversaplannedparenthood.bandcamp.com Performances: Litha Cascadia Festival in June http://www.lithacascadia.com/ |
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My Equipment
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I can play all instruments in the orchestra at a beginner level and continue to teach myself any other instrument I come across. Although clarinet is what I concentrated on in college, my voice has continued to remain my strongest instrument. I am currently exploring the world of looping, beat boxing, dance beats,noise, punk rock, choreography, costumes, theater, and projections.
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