AS A Teaching Artist...
recipient of the 2019 Yale School of Music's Distinguished Teaching Artist Award.
Carnegie Hall Musical Connections at Sing Sing Correctional Facility:
Charles has co-led this music workshop project with Matt Moran for almost 10 years.. The focal points of their music community center around performance, instrument-based training, arranging, composition/songwriting and production. Each session allows for the musicians in the community to hone their musical skills who, along with the teaching artists are committed to fostering a healthy and creatively connected community of artists both on the inside and outside.
The New School University (private lessons instructor and adjunct professor):
Charles currently teaches private lessons to vocal students at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. She has also developed/designed two classes called “Jazz and Gender” and "New Narratives: Creating Space for Equity in Music" that she now teaches with Dr. Caroline Davis. This course takes a historical, sociological, research, and personally explorative approach to discussions around the topics of gender, creative spaces/practice, equity and Jazz/Black American Music.
Decoda (songwriting projects in correctional and youth settings):
In 2024, Charles became the first vocalist to join the ensemble Decoda, an artist-led collective, seeking to create a more compassionate and connected world through music. Charles has worked with Decoda on songwriting projects at Lee Correctional Facility in SC, Cheshire Correctional Facility in Cheshire, CT and in Lake City, SC.
Rise2Shine (non-profit early childhood education facility in Fond Parisien, Haiti):
Charles' father is originally from Port-au-Prince, Haiti and in 2013, she began to collaborate to develop an early childhood music education curriculum for the children of Rise2Shine, a nonprofit in Fond Parisien founded by Jit Vaitha after the 2010 earthquake . This town displayed a need for childcare and education for young children to allow for older children to go to school and parents to work. Charles has worked with the teachers to develop a music curriculum utilizing elements both from Haitian culture/music and from Kindermusik teaching techniques.
Charles has co-led this music workshop project with Matt Moran for almost 10 years.. The focal points of their music community center around performance, instrument-based training, arranging, composition/songwriting and production. Each session allows for the musicians in the community to hone their musical skills who, along with the teaching artists are committed to fostering a healthy and creatively connected community of artists both on the inside and outside.
The New School University (private lessons instructor and adjunct professor):
Charles currently teaches private lessons to vocal students at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. She has also developed/designed two classes called “Jazz and Gender” and "New Narratives: Creating Space for Equity in Music" that she now teaches with Dr. Caroline Davis. This course takes a historical, sociological, research, and personally explorative approach to discussions around the topics of gender, creative spaces/practice, equity and Jazz/Black American Music.
Decoda (songwriting projects in correctional and youth settings):
In 2024, Charles became the first vocalist to join the ensemble Decoda, an artist-led collective, seeking to create a more compassionate and connected world through music. Charles has worked with Decoda on songwriting projects at Lee Correctional Facility in SC, Cheshire Correctional Facility in Cheshire, CT and in Lake City, SC.
Rise2Shine (non-profit early childhood education facility in Fond Parisien, Haiti):
Charles' father is originally from Port-au-Prince, Haiti and in 2013, she began to collaborate to develop an early childhood music education curriculum for the children of Rise2Shine, a nonprofit in Fond Parisien founded by Jit Vaitha after the 2010 earthquake . This town displayed a need for childcare and education for young children to allow for older children to go to school and parents to work. Charles has worked with the teachers to develop a music curriculum utilizing elements both from Haitian culture/music and from Kindermusik teaching techniques.