"Arcadia Student Balances Classes and Music Career"

Amanda Penecale '09M
by Simone Oliver '09

You may not have noticed Amanda Penecale '09M brushing by you in Taylor Hall where she spends three days a week working for Assistant Professor of Education Dr. Julia Plummer. In passing, she appears to be just like any other Arcadia student, but there is something special about her that you wouldn't discover until you got to know her. Penecale is in her second year of the graduate Art Education K-12 program.
"I started here after Christmas last spring semester, so I'll be student teaching this coming spring. This is my third semester," says Penecale. "With my degree I hope to be teaching high school, but I am willing to do whatever the job market brings my way. I'd like to teach photography if possible, but I think I'd be happy with any teaching job."

Regardless of what she ends up doing after graduation, one thing will always remain a constant in her life: music. At a young age, she held a special affinity for the arts, teaching herself to play the piano at just 5 years of age. Once she started high school, she began to teach herself the guitar, and the rest is history.
"I played with some people in high school," says Penecale. "We had a folk band and we played in Starbucks and coffee beaneries and that kind of thing. It was just for fun."
After completing her B.F.A. in Illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design, she moved to Nantucket where she student taught and worked as a photographer's assistant.
"I didn't have a T.V. or a car, so I had a lot of time to work on my music. I wrote so much during that time."
During this time, Penecale would get permits that allowed her to play her music on the streets of Nantucket. She says she would often go out on nights when she had nothing else to do and play for fun. "It's called busking," she explains. "That's what I did in Nantucket. I didn't make too much money, but I made some good friends through it."
After spending the summer in Nantucket, Penecale spent a short a period of time teaching art to children in Maine, but returned to Pennsylvania, around Christmastime to be closer to her family.
"While I was away I had started applying to grad schools back home," she says. "It seemed like education was the direction I wanted to take, so I applied to Arcadia."
 
Once she moved back to Pennsylvania, she found a recording studio through MySpace and contacted some of the artists who recorded there. After doing some research, she decided on Cambridge Sound Studios in Newtown, Pa.
 
"I've been writing a lot, and getting bigger shows," says Penecale about her rising success. "I just had my CD release party, which had a huge turnout and sold out the room. I'm opening for Justin Townes Earle, a really good songwriter who is on a national tour." She got the gig opening for Earle after a booking agent from JC Dobbs on South Street heard her music on her record producer's MySpace.
"He really liked my sound so he booked me. I also just got booked yesterday for a place in Trenton."
With work study, classes, and a budding music career all on her plate, Penecale doesn't have very much free time, but she says she likes it that way. "It's always difficult but I'm one of those people who would rather have a 100 things to do and get them all done than to have one thing to do and the entire day to do it," says Penecale. Preview her music at www.myspace.com/amandapenecale and www.amandapenecale.com. Her EP Middle Ground is available on www.cdbaby.com.


http://gargoyle.arcadia.edu/bulletin/08/0930.htm

09/02/2008
Amanda Penecale holds CD release party at Puck Live
By: David W. Wannop - Correspondent

I first met Amanda Penecale at a Catherine Tuttle concert a couple of years ago. The interesting aspect about this is that Penecale learned her craft in a meticulous manner, transposing songs to a new instrument, the guitar, improving her lyrics, creating many demos so she could find the strengths and weaknesses in her music, and integrating her music into her other art endeavors. A recent graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, she has approached music with determination, but with out the brash rashness of some of her developing-in-public contemporaries, many of whom became good after they had already burned the clubs with empty seats and subpar performances. Penecale is offering quality straight out of the box, ready to go, batteries included. She muses, "Art has been a part of my life since my first winning contest entry in preschool. Through grade school I placed five years in a row in the Archdiocesan Art Contest. I began to play piano at the age of 5 and began to study it seriously by the age of 9. I continued with the piano up through high school, but I became interested in the ability to play out with friends. "I found that most places we were playing did not have a piano. I wanted to be more than just a vocalist and some of my friends played guitar. My Aunt Sally picked up an old classical guitar from a yard sale and I began to teach myself. I found that it was easier for me to tell my stories with a guitar, and it also allowed me to move in a different direction than my classical roots. I formed a folk group with my cousin and some friends in high school and took my guitar with me to college."

Penecale is also a visual artist and photographer. "Art all comes from the same core. Some thoughts translate better as a visual piece while others become a piece of music."
About the essence of creativity, she relates, "For me there is no one place that I can be creative. It's sort of like the rain; it begins suddenly and then it ends. Ideas often ruminate for a while and then come into existence at the least likely moment. Often I come to a conclusion or realize the direction of a piece while driving or going for a swim."
Penecale is happy to be having her release party near home, where she tried out a new Martin guitar last winter. Percussionist Erik Hischmann has been added on various hand drums. She has also been featured at the prestigious Tin Angel in Philadelphia. Trained in theater and dance, she appears confident in a way that escapes other songwriters in the area. Penecale spent some time after college landscaping and busking in Nantucket, teaching art to children in Maine, and recording the EP in Bucks County.
She said, "I found the studio through MySpace and contacted a few artists who had done recording there. After some research I decided upon Cambridge Sound Studios in Newtown. Pa., and working with Jim Salamone was awesome. It was a fairly straightforward operation. We came in, played some songs, lit some candles and some lava lamps. The studio and staff were great and super helpful in taking our project to the next level. I hope that this first EP will allow me to share my music with those around me and find its way to people who haven't heard me before. "The world of Internet and digital sharing is so huge right now, it will be a great way for me to get my music to a larger audience. The process of making the EP was also a learning process, which I believe will help me when I am able to put together my first full-length album."

Penecale's style has elements of folk and rock with a contemplative, but not self-absorbed lyrical quality. Indeed, her lyrics are not quite purely reflective, but they are not quite topical story verbiage either. Her voice has a richness that is lacking among many of the current waifs of whining who have recently afflicted local stages. Statuesque and polite, Penecale has the wherewithal to make a serious and thoughtful effort in show biz.

Amanda Penecale,
With the Underhills &
Godinez Brothers,
will perform
at Puck Live,
Printers Alley,
Doylestown, PA 18901,
Saturday, Sept. 6, 8:30 p.m.
Tickets: $8.
Info: 215-348-9000 or
www.pucklive.com or
www.myspace.com/amandapenecale.


©Montgomery Newspapers 2009

PRESS RELEASE

Thursday June 5, Ardmore, PA

The Philadelphia Songwriters Project Announces the Semi-FInalists for their 2008 Songwriting Contest. The Grand Prize Winners of the "Rising Stars In Bethlehem" contest will get a performance opportunity at the Prestigious 2008 Bethlehem Muisik Fest.

Winners will be chosen at the Finals Showcase on June 22, 2008 at MilkBoy Coffee, Ardmore, Pa.

Similar to American Idol, the audience and 3 guest judges ( including Tommy Joyner, Record Producer & Owner MilkBoy Coffee & Stu Shames, Songwriter, co-founder Philadelphia Songwriters Project) will decide the winners in an exciting and fun packed showcase.

The contest attracted songwriters from Canada to Nashville to Miami and hundreds of submissions were reviewed before choosing the 12 Semi-finalists.

"We wanted to showcase new and upcoming talent in this contest, and have been delighted at the caliber of the submissions. It was a very competitive race" says Dena Marchiony, Executive Director of The Philadelphia Songwriters Project "MilkBoy Coffee is a great all- ages location, the sound and eats are awesome, and we're looking forward to a great show".

recap:
The Philadelphia Songwriters Project
2008 Contest Final Showcase
MilkBoy Coffee
2 E. Lancaster Ave
Ardmore, Pa 19003

Sunday June 22

4pm

$10

Semi-Finalist List:

Dawn Iulg, Phila
Forest Glen, Phila
Aly Cat, Phila
Eric Paul, IL.
Richard Jarboe, NJ
Susan Greenbaum, VA
Karen & Amy Jones, Phila
JD Malone, Phila
Tim Laborie, Phila
Amanda Penecale, Phila
Dan Rendine, Phila.
Mark Kuchner, Md.

I have made it through my midterms and I am already sensing the excitement that comes with writing and playing music outside. I can not wait to begin to plant seeds in the earth and become alive with the fresh air. I feel very fortunate to be supported musically and artistically, and I hope that you will come to hear me and meet me in person. I am saving money to make a real record in the future, hopefully sooner rather than later :)

Says local music aficionado David Wannop in the Montgomery Co. Ticket:

"Every year I predict that someone will get noticed out of nowhere. Amanda Penecale is a pianist, guitarist and lyricist based in Doylestown who will be attending graduate school at the University of the Arts. She trained as a photographer at the Rhode Island School of Design and played open mics in Providence. For one year, she played the beaches of Nantucket. Currently recording demos, she looks like she is poised for attention after years of finding her sound. Dec. 27 will be her debut at the legendary acoustic room the Tin Angel in Old City Philadelphia."

I am feeling blessed to be noticed among the likes of Amos Lee, Carsie Blanton, Melody Gardot, and many other amazing local artists. One minor detail has changed, I will actually be attending Arcadia University instead to pursue my graduate work.