Bethany Neese has a Master’s Degree in Music/Vocal Performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Upon completion of the Master's Program she moved to Sonoma County/San Francisco Bay Area with her husband. She now has 2 small children. In her last year of graduate school at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music studying vocal performance (and aspiring to be a performer) she was offered a choir “job” that turned out to be a pivotal point in her musical career. She conducted and accompanied three choirs at a reputable arts high school close to where she lives, managing over 150 students. This high school teaching position made her realize that while she loves to perform, her true calling is to teach. And so, for the past ten years, she has thrived in being a music educator in Sonoma County, California where she teaches choir at Ursuline High School.

She has also taught at the Santa Rosa Junior College where she was an adjunct professor of Vocal Performance. She currently teaches vocal classes as well as private instruction in both piano and voice. She is also involved with the Santa Rosa Community Theatre.

To keep abreast with the most updated teaching methods in singing, she joined NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) and has been a pro-active member for 2 years. She also has found it extremely inspiring to take weekly voice lessons with the founder of our chapter, Thelma Ahner. She feels that not only is she able to keep her own voice in vocal shape, but am able to pass on the much valued knowledge she gains weekly to her students, always learning and moving forward in new views, theories and ideas. In addition, she has recently joined MTAC (Music Teacher's Association of California).

In addition to all of the above, she has also been the soloist at Hannah Boys Center in Sonoma, California, which is an accredited high school for impoverished/neglected boys. She guides the boys’ choir at mass each Sunday morning. As you might imagine, these commitments have been both rewarding and inspiring!