Musician

Counselor

Composer/Arranger

Writer/Poet

Jeffry Steele took up classical guitar as a teen, studying with Jack Pitt, Phillip de Fremery, and David Starobin. In his first career as teacher and performer on guitar in the Boston area, he was reviewed as “a splendid musician” (Boston Globe) who “plays a mean guitar” (Boston Phoenix). He next moved into school music education, teaching K-8 general music and performing a multi-media program titled “50 Ways to Play Guitar” around New England. He obtained a masters in Music Composition from New England Conservatory, and has composed music for public television, choirs, ensembles, and modern dance productions. In 2012 he entered the helping professions, completing a second masters to qualify for his current position as Mental Health Therapist. Through this latest period he has been composing a series of electro-acoustic solo pieces, embellishing the guitar sonority with signal processing and synthesis. In 2018, so that he might render the harp part in the Orcas Choral Society’s performance of the Faure Requiem, he purchased an 8-string guitar. With sonic rewards that outweigh the physical challenges, it has unexpectedly become his instrument of choice.