Rachel Panay Raziel

Rachel Panay is a vocalist, pianist, songwriter, arranger, and educator whose work reflects a life immersed in music across performance, recording, and teaching. A graduate of Duke Ellington School of the Arts and Berklee College of Music, she has developed a multifaceted career spanning dance/electronic music and jazz, with influences ranging from pop/R&B; to disco, soulful house, and downtempo. As a recording artist and songwriter, she has five Billboard-charting Dance singles under her belt and has collaborated with producers and DJ/remixers across the U.S. and internationally.

Her career has taken her from clubs and festivals throughout the United States to global stages and industry events including the Billboard Dance Music Summit in New York, the Winter Music Conference in Miami, and the Amsterdam Dance Event. Through songwriting collaborations connected with BMI, her work has extended internationally, including projects in Paris, Milan, Geneva, and Berlin. A significant part of her artistic life has been rooted in LGBTQ+ clubs and Pride events, where she developed a strong and lasting connection with audiences, DJs, and fellow artists.

Alongside her work in electronic and dance music, Rachel has remained deeply connected to jazz and acoustic performance, drawing from both classic standards and reinterpreted jazz versions of pop songs with a distinctly intimate and expressive approach shaped by play, humor, and emotional openness. Today, her work brings these experiences together in both her artistic practice and her teaching in Washington, DC, where she helps students develop skill, confidence, creativity, and a lasting personal connection to music.

Rachel’s teaching style combines creativity, encouragement, humor, and individualized support with an emphasis on strong musical foundations and artistic expression. She works with children, adults, beginners, advanced students, and aspiring professionals, tailoring lessons to each student’s goals, interests, learning style, and pace of development. Her approach helps students build confidence, expressive ability, and a meaningful connection to music.

Drawing from years of experience in private instruction, arts integration, and community arts education, Rachel helps students grow through structured, personalized learning. Lessons include technique, ear training, rhythm exercises, music theory, improvisation, interpretation, performance preparation, and stylistic development across a range of musical genres. Voice students work on healthy vocal production, breath support, diction, phrasing, and expressive communication, while piano students develop technical skills, reading ability, coordination, accompaniment skills, musical expression, and harmonic understanding.

Rachel also works with singer-songwriters, aspiring arrangers, and creative musicians interested in developing original material, vocal arrangements, ensemble writing, and stylistically expressive performances. Drawing from her background in songwriting and commercial arranging, she helps students strengthen their musical ideas while building practical skills in harmony, structure, interpretation, collaboration, and artistic communication. Based in Washington, DC, Rachel maintains a long-running private studio and has worked as a Teaching Artist with the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, collaborating with classroom teachers in public and charter schools through arts integration residencies. She has also taught with Levine Music, Sitar Arts Center, and Music Together, experiences that deepened her commitment to inclusive, student-centered music education. Rachel believes that excellence and enjoyment belong together, and that students grow best when curiosity, creativity, discipline, and joy are all part of the learning process.