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Valerie Devoy

Hello! My name is Val (and that’s Ellie)

I’m the Skunk Rock teacher, program developer, business owner, administrator, graphic designer, accountant, custodian, etc. I’ve worked hard over the last 3.5 years and feel blessed to finally call this––Skunk Rock––my full-time job; I’ve never been so happy to pour myself into my work.

Seattle in the 90’s

Both my husband and I played in bands in Seattle during the 90’s. I played keyboard and guitar and sang. We performed a lot and wrote and recorded many songs. We were part of the alternative rock/grunge movement happening in Seattle and it was amazing! (Eventually I will post a few audio recordings here!)

Musical Family

I come from a musical family (photo of me and my dad). I started playing piano and guitar at age 6. I remember falling asleep to my dad’s piano, following his melodies into my dreams. Holidays were made by my grandmothers, aunts and uncle’s endless hours of singing and playing fiddles, piano, guitars and tambourines.

Formal Education/ Experience

I earned a Bachelors of Arts at The Evergreen State college in Olympia, Washington and focused on music composition, music technology, performance, poetry and voice. In 2016 I earned a Masters of Communications at the University of San Francisco. As somewhat a jack of all trades, I’ve worked as a sound engineer, graphic designer and executive speech writer. I’ve taught college level public speaking, co-founded a couple other businesses and directed a handful of rookie productions. For more detail visit my Linkedin page.

Skunk Rock was born

Skunk Rock was a COVID brain child, nurtured by the down-time and isolation. By contrast it was an especially hard time to get it off the ground: we were in masks, doubtful and scared of what the future had in store. The resources were limited and the space was small but the idea was big. With a lot of hard work, a little bit of time and with the generous donations and support from the community things started to come together.

NOT your everyday music lesson

Skunk Rock is focused on creating an artistic community for kids where they can express themselves in a safe and loving environment. Skunkers work on playing music together––learning chord progressions and drum beats. They play games and do trivia, make posters and instruments, listen to music and sing karaoke, draw sound waves and talk about the science of sound, experiment with drum machines and 4 track recorders. The list goes on . . . see program philosophy here