As an entertainer
Janice is not just a performer, she's an entertainer, who engages you and makes you feel included, as she draws you into the story, the song and the musical experience.
Janice Deardorff, a two-time IWMA Top 5 Crescendo Award Nominee, is a singer/songwriter and a native Arizonan, who shares songs that touch the heart and refresh the spirit. Janice fell in love with the west, through the ears of a horse, when she was five years old. Audiences throughout the west are enthralled by Janice's rich low voice and easy listening style: Here's what they have to say about Janice and her music:
~ “Janice is not just a performer, she's an entertainer, who engages you and makes you feel included, as she draws you into the story, the song and the musical experience.”
~ “As a songwriter, Janice's inspiring lyrics are well crafted, not trite or cliché.”
~ “Janice's exquisite guitar playing shows fine mastery of her instrument.”
Janice's songwriting reflects a love for her homeland, her Maker and deep insight into the human condition. Janice's vocal quality and style have been compared to Diana Krall, Karen Carpenter and Anne Murray. Janice plays western americana music and covers of classics many of us know...
Janice has released four well received CDs: three western CDs and one inspirational CD. Janice performs at a wide variety of music venues throughout the west: restaurants, wineries, festivals, concert settings, libraries, cowboy poetry and music gatherings and guest ranches.
As an Educational performer
Janice enjoys combining her skills as an educator and as an entertainer to preserve our western heritage.
Janice Deardorff is a Native Tucsonan who received her Bachelor of Music, with a degree in Music Education, from the U. of A., in 1980. She has forty-four years of teaching experience and has developed curriculum in the public and private sector throughout her educational career. Janice has a passion for keeping our Western Heritage alive, through the arts and other interactive experiences that complement the arts.
Janice is also a singer-songwriter and enjoys sharing songs she's written, plus western classics that tell the stories of the West. She was recently nominated for the Crescendo Award, through the International Western Music Association (IWMA). The IWMA is an organization that encourages and supports the preservation, performance and composition of historic, traditional and contemporary music and poetry of The West.
Janice has taught public middle school and elementary school music in Phoenix and Tucson, AZ. She has also taught and developed curriculum in the homeschool setting for her children and other children in CHET-SE, a Tucson Homeschool Organization.
Janice has been teaching private music lessons for many years and has been active in the music programs at her church, as a worship leader and as a director of the high school youth worship team. She has also done music programs at the Tucson Public Library.
Janice has provided interactive western heritage music & poetry for students from Elgin and Patagonia, AZ, at Empire Ranch, a nonprofit historical foundation in Sonoita, AZ, for the Sierra Vista Boys and Girls Club at the Single Star Ranch in Hereford, AZ, at Hermosa Montessori School in Tucson, AZ and at the Cochise Cowboy Poetry & Music Gathering, in Sierra Vista, AZ. She has also done a music and literary presentation about Rescue Horses at Tucson Hebrew Academy. Janice was Program Coordinator of Arts Arizona, through Arts Express, where she developed a multi-sensory western cultural experience for children.
Janice has performed locally at Tanque Verde Guest Ranch, White Stallion Guest Ranch, Arizona Folklore Preserve and Equine Voices Horse Rescue Ranch. She has traveled extensively, sharing western music in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota and Washington State. Janice enjoys combining her skills as an educator and as an entertainer to preserve our western heritage.