TERRI ROBEN

Terri Roben has sung and played guitar at union rallies and picket lines, peace demonstrations and for various other social justice organizations, including an Albany NY Poor People’s Campaign demonstration, where she was arrested with many others for non-violent civil disobedience. 

Terri held a yearlong live-in volunteer position at Mt Carmel House, a shelter for homeless people, modeled after Dorothy Day’s Catholic Worker. She also worked for a few years with severely disabled people in a state institution and helped fight for workers’ rights there, with original songs at the demonstrations her husband organized while he was local CSEA president of the institution. Her work in restaurants and bars eventually led to performing in them for a few years, before moving to coffeehouses, schools, libraries and festivals.  

In 1980 Terri was asked to sing with Peter Seeger, at a state-wide NYS Labor Rally, who in later years, bought copies of her 2 CDs, encouraging her to “keep on writing.”

She worked 10 years with the Scotia Children’s Traveling Museum, bringing and developing music and many programs to schools and libraries in 11 counties.  She performed music programs for Earth Days for K- 6 schools. She also taught pre-school music & movement to families in Saratoga, Clifton Park and Schenectady for a decade. 

Terri worked on the Dance Flurry Committee for 10 years, as well as performing at the Flurry several times.  She has played at Caffe Lena, The Eighth Step, the Tulip Festival and many other venues, and has sung for the annual Kateri Peace Conference for many years.

Terri is a member of the People’s Music Network since 1978 and The Children’s Music Network since the early 1980’s.  Both are dedicated to inspiring, supporting and spreading music that promotes social, environmental justice and peaceful solutions and hold at least one annual conference.

She chaired the 2023 National Children’s Music Network conference in Albany, NY, served on the Children’s Music Network board for 6 years, and chaired National Peoples Music Network Conferences in Albany, NY in 1996 and 2016.  

Terri has 3 recordings  and her two albums can be found online - “Riverwalk and Other Songs” and “The Path We Make”. Her first cassette recording, “Terri & Maria” is a mix of originals and covers and will be digitalized soon.