Joni Derdzinski (Joni Clare) is an eclectic professional in the Northwoods community. She is a mother of two and holding a strong passion for the arts, community and education she is an advisor of Terri’s Treehouse’s Elemental Edu., a program dedicated to experiential learning. She is passionate about striking a balance between all of her endeavors and believes that the constant through all is staying present and in relationship to awareness
She is an AmSat certified Alexander Technique teacher and completed her 1600 hour certification from the Oregon Center for the Alexander Technique in Portland, OR. She is also Certified Level One in Framework for Integration, an extension of Alexander Technique which explores somatic movement and reintegration of daily movement patterns.
She earned her Bachelor’s of Art is Music from UW-Milwaukee in 2015. Her early collegiate training included classical, jazz, musical theater, and gospel repertoires while performing in the University Choir, Women’s Choir, and Jazz Ensemble. She later specialized in extended vocal techniques, experimental improvisation, composition, and vocal pedagogy with performances in the Contemporary Music Ensemble and Experimental Improvisation Ensemble.
She has been professionally performing for 15 years and teaching for 10. additionally, she received her Vibrational Sound Therapy certification in 2023.
Clare’s early singing and performances took place in church, home, and school. She developed a deep meaning for music by singing with her mom and dad in many loving communities that she remains grateful for today. She took every opportunity to sing solos and leads in show choir, musicals, class choir, and Solo and Ensemble competitions. It is very clear that Clare early on carried a strong passion and very little fear to sing, dance, and play instruments, and these qualities are carried through her performances and teaching services today.
In young adulthood, Clare began to plug her voice into Milwaukee’s music scene, back-up singing with local groups like Soup and Fable and the World Flat. Her life was filled with studying classical pieces and the Alexander Technique by day and performing music by Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Grateful Dead by night. Through this dynamic training, she quickly advanced her voice for writing original music and cultivated something eclectic that struck a balance between her collegiate work, reflective writing, and collaborations with other Milwaukee musicians.
Clare has visited the Wormfarm Institute twice as an artist-in-residence and recorded many freely improvised albums, one being The Waking Hour (2015). Her most recent album, Memory Strings (2020), was released with her band, The City Pines, out in Portland, Oregon. It is clear that Clare’s studies, projects, and musical output carry variety, stepping into many types of expressions with people of all backgrounds and artistic drives.