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Performer, Songwriter, and Master Teaching Artist 

Sue Trainor has a gift for stirring up other folks' enthusiasm and creativity.  As a performing artist, Sue recorded and toured solo and with the vocal trio Hot Soup until 2019. Since the mid-1990s, she has worked as a Teaching Artist in classrooms around the MD-DC-VA area, nationally, and internationally. 

Sue says: “As a young person, I was captivated by the songwriting process. Musical jams with other kids were exuberant experiences. I wrote songs to help me absorb classroom learning and to express my feelings about the world around me.  Creative time  and singing time was focused and playful, challenging and collaborative. Today, we have a new understanding of brain function - we know that musical and creative processes ARE profound for learning, communication, and interpersonal connection. Sharing the foundations of musical collaboration with people of all ages and abilities continues to bring me deep satisfaction and joy.” 

Professional Development for Educators 

  • Through the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts, Sue has offered professional development for educators since 2003. Sue designs classroom residency lessons to meet the needs of individual teachers, and she offers in-service programs for schools as well as workshops and keynotes for education conferences.  Sue's Wolf Trap work has taken her across the U.S. mainland as well as to Hawaii, Hong Kong and Singapore. 
  • Since 2002, Sue has rotated through the staffs of the Maryland Artist/Teacher Institute (MATI) and the various Maryland county ATI programs, most recently, PGATI (Prince George’s County) 2020. 
  • Sue was honored to serve as visiting Arts Integration Specialist for a Harford County, MD Title 1 school from 2013-2015. 

Professional Development for Teaching Artists 

  • From 2008-2018, Sue was the Master Teaching Artist for Music on the staff of Maryland's Teaching Artist Institute (TAI), which offers training for artists interested in becoming classroom teaching artists. 
  • Since 2005, Wolf Trap has invited Sue to train Teaching Artists to deliver professional development to early childhood educators. 
  • Sue served as a Master Teacher on the staff of Maryland's Very Special Arts retreats 2003-2006.   
  • Since retiring from TAI, Sue has continued to coach Teaching Artists on the roster of Young Audiences of Maryland and on her own. 

Awards 

  • Sue was Young Audiences of Maryland’s Artist of the Year in 2014. At that time, in addition to the Early Childhood work, Sue also was busy offering songwriting residencies in in Maryland schools through YAMD. Among her regular visits was the Baer School in Baltimore, which serves children with severe multiple disabilities.  (See Videos and Photos page.)
  • Sue’s children's recordings, “In Our Own Words” and "Under Tables, Out Back Doors," earned multiple local and national awards, and her recordings for adults with her trio HOT SOUP have been played on acoustic music radio shows across North America and abroad. 

Affliations 

  • Sue is Co-Founder and President of Teaching Artists of the Mid-Atlantic (TAMA), an organization created in 2017 to support and empower Teaching Artists in the region.  TeachingArtists.org
  • Arts Education in Maryland Schools (AEMS)
  • Americans for the Arts 
  • NAEYC 

Education

  • Maryland Teaching Artist Institute (TAI) certificate, 2007 
  • Training the Trainers, MD State Dept. of Education, Office of Child Care, 2008 
  • Ongoing professional development training through Wolf Trap, Maryland Artist-Teacher Institute, Maryland Teaching Artist Institute and other teaching artist support organizations and events. 
  • Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin.  B.A. in Anthropology, 1974