Joelyn Lutz may have the soul of a rocker, but she’s got the nurturing heart of a mother. During her days as a hard-working rocker and part of the all-female band Teaser in the ’80s, the musician—who recently performed at Santa Maria Peace Week—was called Mama Joe because she handled coordination of all the group’s activities and gigs.
Her rock’n’roll image may be gone, but the name still fits these days. Back then, the band was into the sound of Heart, Bonnie Rait, and The Pretenders.
“Let’s just say the Go Gos made us go, ‘Oh, come on,’” she said. “So did Madonna.”
And even now she still prefers the songs of her rocking days and likes to play them when she does perform.
“I still tend to write that way,” she said. “I’m old school.”
But much of her time these days is spent fostering the careers of the next generation of rockers.
Lutz coaches youth and adults in singing, guitar, and saxophone, and has enjoyed the success of several of her students. She teaches the Speech Level technique of singing, which puts emphasis on using the amount of pressure you would when talking and with which her students have achieved notes they never thought they could. She takes personal delight in seeing her students fulfill their potential and win contests.
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And in much the same way, there are times she also feels disappointment.
“That’s the part that’s the hardest: losing my kids,” she said.
Lutz was talking about when students move away or move on to something else, but she was specifically talking about student Klancy Salas, who is moving and taking her special gift for singing with her.
“She’s unbelievable for her age,” Lutz said. “She has this inner soul connection that is surprising for her age. You have to hear her to believe it.”
Many of Lutz’s students are remarkable, but some really stand out. That was what Lutz ran into when she first started teaching in 2003. She said she had dreamed of being a rock’n’roll star and her band Teaser worked for much of the ’80s doing shows and struggling to make the dream happen while she held down a job at the post office. In the early ’90s, the group disbanded, and Lutz later got into teaching. A woman approached her about coaching her 8-year-old and 10-year-old daughters, Tori and Taylor Thompson. The girls were singing everywhere, and she needed someone to help with their singing careers.
Under Lutz’s tutelage, the girls went on to win the American Jr. Idol contest, beating out thousands of other kids, and went on to have some successes with other local contests.
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Lutz said she really tries to encourage all her students to try out for things when she sees their potential talent. She’s started offering a teen idol class through the Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Department, which was met with outstanding participation. She’ll offer classes for teens and adults through the Recreation and Parks Department in January.
Lutz also gets the chance to continue her guitar and saxophone playing by offering lessons in those instruments. And since she still has that performing bug, she plays jazz standards and late ’70s rock songs with a bassist and guitar/saxophonist. They frequently perform on the Central Coast, allowing Lutz to keep her skills sharp.
But teaching is one of the most fulfilling of her activities.
“I get totally ecstatic at seeing people evolve, get better, and come back and tell me they won the Boys and Girls Club Talent Show,” she said. “Or the older student that says ‘I never thought of it that way.’”
She so loves the feeling that she started her nonprofit WonHeart.info. She’s seeking grants to buy instruments and present music lessons to students who wouldn’t otherwise have a chance to take lessons. She said uplifting people in the community is extremely important to her. Overall, it pleases her that she can make a difference in people’s lives and spread her passion for music.
“I love music, so I feel: Why shouldn’t everybody else?” she said.
Arts Editor Shelly Cone loves music. Contact her at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 6-13, 2011.