Brief Biography

Ellen Whitaker began teaching herself to play guitar in 1966 at nine years of age. With the help of various teachers, she narrowed her focus to the study of classical guitar by the age of 12.

Ellen began her formal study of music theory at City College of San Francisco, going on to earn a B.A. degree in Music from Mills College and an M.A. degree in Music Theory from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

In addition to teaching guitar and music theory independently since 1981, Ellen taught undergraduate classes in music fundamentals, advanced music theory and composition while at UCSB.

Ellen maintains her own guitar studio and teaches individual lessons also at the Durham Arts Council. She conducts in-school guitar classes at Voyager Academy.

(919) 530-1417

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Compositions and Arrangements
by Ellen Whitaker

Ellen has written original studies and repertoire pieces for guitar, original music for various chamber ensembles and arrangements of music from various folk traditions for guitar (solos and duets).

Ellen's book, Jewish Traditions for Classical and Fingerstyle Guitar is an anthology of 26 beautiful guitar arrangements of tunes from various Jewish music traditions. The book includes 20 solos and 6 duets, complete with extensive performance notes and annotations. An Appendix (with glossary) discusses in considerable detail the scales often found in traditional Jewish music. A bibliography and a discography are also included.

This book and other offerings, including Christmas music and original repertoire pieces for the guitar are available here.

Organizations
 
Triangle Guitar Society
 
Guitar Foundation of America
 
American Music Center
 
Former Board Member of the Chapel Hill Music Teachers Association

Coalition to UnChain Dogs

Jewish Music Web Center

High Strung Violins & Guitars

Guitar Foundation of America

BryansMusic.com