Juliet Forshaw is proof that following your dreams is not impossible. While working as an assistant professor in the Oswego State  music department by day, she is a musical storyteller by night. 

Her band Avalon, with partner Michael Judge, illustrates a mystical folklore sound, bringing you into the story they are singing about with each listen. 

Forshaw started singing at a young age in church, where she said she was inspired by music with a mystical sound. Seeing operas with her mother gave her even more inspiration to turn that sound into storytelling. 

“I’ve always been excited about using music to convey ideas,” Forshaw said. 

It was not until she met her partner Michael Judge, that she really started to develop her unique musical style and create the band, Avalon. 

“Michael really taught me to deconstruct my classical technique and sing in a more improvisational style,” Forshaw said. “I feel that everything I did before Michael was kind of in preparation for what I’m doing now.”

It all took off when Forshaw, after meeting Judge at a party, attended one of his gigs. After that they decided to perform together at an open mic, where Judge says the partnership began. 

“I think we knew then,” Forshaw said. “We did one of my songs we had rearranged for vocals and a couple of covers. And we started writing together instantly. Just had an affinity for it, and it took right off.”

The music of Avalon transports you into one of those good fairytale or folktale stories. The audience can really get a sense of different elements into the world of make-believe within both albums that Avalon has put out. The song “Fire Night,” in Avalon’s first album, really gives listeners the feeling of sitting around a campfire and hearing the songs of legends. Forshaw and Judge bring out a strong power of creativity and they hope through that, that fans listening to their music will interpret that in any magical way they see fit. 

“I think we all want a little magic in our lives,” Judge said. “And as Avalon, we just use stories to try to invoke that and to bring that to the forefront.”

They chose the title of their band to go with the magic that they hope to invoke in their music. Forshaw explains that they chose the name Avalon after the mythical island because of their love for the story of Merlin and the extraordinary tales it embodies. 

“We loved that entire mythology, and we really chose the name Avalon because it conjures up something long ago, and far away, and magical,” Forshaw said.

Taylor Ricks played bass on four tracks of Avalon’s newest album. Ricks explained that his and Avalon’s similar concept of the art of music is what drew him toward the band, and it stood out to him with both Forshaw and Judge. Ricks said that Forshaw’s open creativity of the world is what brings out the best in her music.

“Juliet has a strong concept of the world around us, and that’s what art should be,” Ricks said.

Forshaw also teaches at Oswego State, where she teaches classes ranging from music literature to heavy metal. With having experience of being in a band and also having a Ph.D. in historical musicology, there is a lot for her students to learn about. Forshaw has explained that she has not put too much of what she has learned, while being in a band, in her classes. But she is starting to slowly input that knowledge along with creating a class favored toward it.

“Since I just started doing this kind of music in the past few years. It took me a long time to get to the point where I have anything to say about it, that would be useful in a classroom setting,” Forshaw said. “I am in the process of putting together a history of songwriting class for next year.” 

Forshaw does believe that the message that she is trying to incorporate through her music. Shows through her teaching as well. 

“I do feel that the storytelling we do in our songs seeps into my classes, because history if you think about it, is just a bunch of stories,” Forshaw said. “You can tell those stories in a lot of different ways. And I try to show my students that they can write their own stories.”

Forshaw has a passion for her music and for her classes. She believes in people following their dreams and doing it in any way they want. Especially if it is going to turn out to create a magical piece of art. Forshaw is inspired by the world, and the only thing she hopes her teaching and music will bring is a bright addition to that beautiful evolving change that the world is creating. 

“I look around at the world, and I see infinite potential,” Forshaw said. “In people and in the natural world. I think our world is on the cusp of very dramatic changes and I see a possibility for a more beautiful world. And I want to help make that world happen.”

Photo provided by Juliet Forshaw