About Maureen
From a dream… to a reality
Collaboration. Creativity. Community.
After years of talking about starting my own music and theatre production company, I finally got the courage to actually do it. I have an amazing support system headed up by my husband, and my wonderful friends and family. My music and theatre family is filled with some of the most loving, caring, creative people I have ever known, and for that, I am truly lucky. It is wonderful to be welcomed with all of my quirkiness and uniqueness.
Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick
I have found that some of the best moments of my life center around music, teaching, performing, and theatre. That’s really what I love bringing to my students and the music and theatre community — that sense of family and of appreciation of each other for who we are.
I was fortunate to be sponsored by Rotary International to study at The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at The University of Limerick, Ireland, where I received my Masters in Ethnomusicology.
I wanted to learn more about how music brings us together around the globe. While in Ireland, I was given the opportunity to work with musicians from around the world, and although we didn’t always speak the same language, we communicated such joy and understanding through music.
After Limerick, I came back to the States and became an adjunct professor of Voice and Music History at Bergen Community College. My Ethnomusicology studies inspired me to really listen to the singers with whom I was working. The classical Bel Canto technique I was taught while singing with The Rutgers Opera Company, and the classical piano I had studied since I was five years old, tended to be so serious and rigid. I wanted to hear my students and help them become better in their own time while enjoying the process.
One of my professors at Rutgers once said to me, “there are professors who want their students to make them look good, and there are those professors who want to make their students look good.” I am passionate about helping my students to see their own beauty.
I attended Teachers College, Columbia University, for my Masters in Music Education, with K-12 certification in NJ and NY and have been teaching for a number of years at the high school level while directing productions. 2019 also marked my 10th year working at The Somerset Folk Harp Festival, with its amazing festival director, Kathy DeAngelo, whose support over the years has been constant and inspiring.
I love performing and helping make weddings and special events beautiful. Planning the ceremony music with a couple to make their special day magical gives me great joy.
Whether I am rehearsing with an ensemble, or playing harp at Irish traditional music sessions, or bass in a garage rock band, playing at a wedding, teaching, or directing, I love what I do and how it brings people together.
The inspiration behind the name Moon Over the Trees
My thesis advisor at The University of Limerick’s Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, was an inspiration to me. He imbued a passion for life and people, of the land and language, and of music and communication. When he would walk into a room, he would make sure to see everyone, and take time to really listen and be present with as many people as he could. During one of our many conversations, he reveled at how the campus was situated on the Shannon River. He likened us to ancient Druids becoming one with the land, landscape, sounds and sights of nature.
The image he painted of the Druids on the shores of the Shannon has stuck with me all these years, and was part of the inspiration for naming my business Moon Over the Trees. He would say that The Druids used the ground as their floor, the trees as their walls, and the sky and stars as their roof. And to me, that symbolized a return to listening and an opening up of our senses. I believe that we can communicate on a more intimate level if we create those safe spaces for each other. Imagine how much more we could discover when we are listening and collaborating with one another.
Education and Certifications
K-12 Certification NJ/NY
Music Education