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Beautiful singing results from a three-pronged approach: proper breath support, pure vowel formation and release of all tension. Vocal exercises individually designed to teach these skills form an integral part of my teaching. Just as important is positive encouragement and identification of vocal strengths, developed through the building of a strong teacher/student relationship. This consistent relationship helps the student “find her voice” and begin to connect the breath with the voice. What an exciting event to witness! Repertoire is customized to meet the educational needs as well as individual interests and goals of students and include arias in Italian, Latin, and other languages, Broadway show tunes, folk songs and occasional pop songs. I believe that singing to live accompaniment is important (as opposed to a capella or along to recordings) so I provide individual piano accompaniment tracks emailed to each student. Being a music director myself for multiple musicals, I specialize in preparing students for musical auditions, juries, IMEA and other special occasions. Younger students have fun learning good vocal habits and technique while singing quality folk and theatre music written for children's voices, as well as being encouraged to sing in a quality children's choir.
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"She creates an atmosphere of joy so that you can have a good experience learning tough music. No doubt my favorite voice teacher." - Max Kim, Class of 2014 |
| Learning to play the piano has come a long way since the lessons in our childhood, and thank goodness! While good technique, theory and classical repertoire are still highly valued, the methods to teach them are more often games and phone apps than boring drills and paper/pencil exercises. Adding back beats make playing scales fun and take the place of maddening metronomes and monthly composing assignments teach musical structure and creative ownership. My preferred lesson book is the Faber and Faber Piano Adventure Series, supplemented with whatever kind of music the student is most interested in - from Taylor Swift to the Beatles and anything in between! I am always happy to learn new music that young people bring to me. Teens are taught the lead sheet method, using the melody/chords/improvisation technique, to quickly master the music they want to play.. All students are introduced to real composer's music (as opposed to lesson-book music) as soon as possible in the learning process.. All piano students are invited and encouraged to play publicly, Local juries and competitions are also available to encourage goal setting and motivate progress.
In addition to the traditional student, many adults - from stay-at-home moms to retirees - are deciding to pick up where they left off many years ago, and sign-up for piano lessons again! However, this time, piano serves as a respite from busyness and commitments and as an opportunity for self-expression and relaxation. My philosophy with adults centers around serving their musical goals and helping them to attain them as quickly and easily as possible. Adults often do not have as much leisure time for practicing, so I stress techniques which allow for mastery in a short time, while still helping to avoid bad habits, build lasting skills and knowledge so as to transfer to many other songs and styles of music. Whatever your goals - entertaining friends at parties, learning that one special song you love, or just being able to sit down to play for relaxation, it is never too late to learn the piano!
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