Shawna Miller
Voice Teacher
Shawna Miller is a singer and
songwriter from Northern California. At age fourteen, Shawna began her first
five years of private vocal coaching, followed by her enrollment in the Jazz
department at Sonoma State University in 1998. As a jazz major, she
studied Jazz theory and improvisation, and then went on to study with a
professional opera singer and a Classical Indian singer. After earning her BA
in Music with a concentration on voice, Shawna began teaching private
vocal lessons at Stanroy Music Center in Santa Rosa, CA. From
1998 to 2004, Shawna invested her time and energy into singing backup for
the local Roots Reggae band, Groundation. In those six years of singing with
Groundation, Shawna had the opportunity to perform with artists such as Gregory
Isaacs, Marcia Higgs, Pato Banton, Don Carlos of Black Uhuru, and Apple
Gabriel of Israel Vibrations.
During her nine years of performing on stage professionally,
Shawna has explored the genres of Jazz, Blues, R&B, Funk, Motown, Reggae,
Pop, Bluegrass, Classical, and Chamber music. Her outlook on singing involves
the voice as an equal instrument for improvisation, which stems from her jazz
background. She is currently involved in three projects, including a Motown/Funk
cover band called Cloud Nine, a Jazz Big
Band called the Moonlighters, and
most importantly, her wild and improvisational original group, Plum
Crazy. It is with Plum Crazy that Shawna has had the opportunity to
open for the Mother Hips and sit in with the members of Garaj Mahal.
Shawna's passion for composing music takes her beyond just singing. Her love for
R&B, Drum n' Bass, Reggae, Hip-Hop, and Jazz inevitably finds its way into
her writing style.
