Career
Since 2008, Celia has made her living as a freelance musician and music educator. She runs a teaching studio of over 20 students in her home, contucts the Kettle Moraine Children's Choir through Schauer Arts Center in Hartford, WI and was recently hired as the Music-Coordinator at West Granville Presbyterian Church in Milwaukee. Celia has had the opportunity to perform for the Chick Singer Night showcase and has studied with vocal coach Ellen Winters. As a bandleader and sidewoman, Celia has performed extensively around Southeastern Wisconsin. During the summer of 2011, Celia recorded a new album with the Meisel Music Collective. That album is currently in production and is set to release February 2012.
Celia now rents a teaching and performance space in Milwaukee and has space to hold clinics, concerts, lessons and jam sessions.
Early Life
Celia Faye Meisel, born Celia Faye Whiren, was brought up in a creative family living in the outskirsts of Little Rock, AR. A child of the 80's, her ears were flooded with the sounds of Tina Turner, Madonna, Simon and Garfunkel and "world" Music. Celia was enrolled into summer music programs (early childhood and preschool) and always enouraged her to express herself through music and dance.
Once Celia entered elementary school she began to explore the visual arts and singing. In the 4th grade she decided to try the saxophone and found a natural fit, it was then that her formal musical training began. She studied all through high school, attending summer jazz camps and winning placements into the all-district and all-state bands and attended Essentially Ellington as a participant with her high school jazz ensemble.
Formal Education
Upon High School graduation, Celia went on to study music at the collegiate level where she expanded her horizons as a performer studying classical and jazz styles on piano, flute and saxophone. In 2005 Celia completed her Bachelor of Music Degree at the Unversity of Southern Mississippi.
Celia had always dreamed of leaving the South and expanding her horizons in another part of the country. She knew getting her education was the key to moving forward musically and professionally. Through her mentor Larry Panella (Saxophonist and Dir. of USM Jazz Studies) she was introduced to Steve Duke (NIU professor of Saxophone and Feldenkrais specialist) and given an opportunity to audition for the grad program at NIU. Once accepted, she moved to Dekalb, IL and began the next phase of her musical journey.
Her time at NIU was filled with many challenges and an equal number of rewards. The saxophone program was quite tough, it was filled with many strong players from the Chicago area and the instruction was given with an "academic" approach, quite different from the "organic" methods taught in Mississippi and Alabama. Fortunately, Ron Carter (Dir. of NIU Jazz Studies) took notice of Celia and worked with her in combos and big band. Ron Carter's approach was of the "organic" oral tradition that Celia related to.
Celia spent three years working on her masters degree. She earned an assistantship to study music and taught a 100 person undergraduate Music Appreciation class. Art Davis (trumpet) ran a jazz aural skills class that Celia participated in. During classtime students had to sing for the group, reciting tunes, exercises and often scatting. Celia got so much positive feedback from her classmates and teacher that she decided it was time to sing. She coutinued working at it and began studing with Diane Ragains (soprano) for technical training and also got help from her dear friend Mikki Boyd (jazz vocalist).