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25 Years
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Here are just a few of the many teachers offering Piano lessons in Shawnee . Whether you are looking for beginner guitar lessons for your kids, or are an adult wanting to improve your skills, the instructors in our network are ready to help you now!
Instruments: Piano Guitar Voice Saxophone Flute Drums Bass Guitar Ukulele Mandolin Music Keyboard Electric Guitar Classical Guitar Acoustic Guitar
Hey there, I'm Sky! I play a lot of instruments, compose scores for TV and games, make beats, produce other people's stuff - if music is involved, I tend to be involved. I've studied with a number of phenomenal teachers in the classical, jazz, and eclectic performance and producing world and my students regularly excel in competitions, ensembles, auditions, and creating/producing their own music! Somewhere along the line, it became obvious that my life is only complete when Im making music. Read More
Instruments: Piano Violin
I was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia. I picked out melodies on the piano when I was two and a half years old, and was soon taking piano lessons. When I was enrolled in music school at six years old, all of the piano openings were taken and only violin openings remained, so that became my instrument. I spent twenty years in music schools, including the Rimsky-Korsakov Music College and the St. Read More
Instruments: Piano Flute Piccolo
My main priority while teaching is to encourage and uplift my students. I never want to tear any of them down. To me, nothing is more rewarding than seeing your students face light up when they nail what they have been practicing. Each student will progress at their own pace and that is perfectly okay. I want each student to set a goal and we will work hard until that goal is accomplished. Read More
Instruments: Piano Voice
For piano students just starting out, I like Alfred’s basic piano library, and the Bastien piano basics. There are several other piano courses I’m excited to try as well. For both piano and voice students, I like to include a book of tunes with which the student is familiar: movie tunes, Disney songs, etc. For older students, I will focus a little more on the different time periods of music and help them to gain an appreciation for each. Read More
Instruments: Piano Voice Synthesizer Keyboard
One of the most important things that I stress is consistency in practice as well as correct practice. Both my piano lessons and vocal coaching emphasize technique but my main goal is to build confidence in performance. Confidence can only come from correct practice, but correct practice can only come if you're motivated and you're having fun! For my younger students I make sure to change things up to avoid boredom while teaching new angles of a certain skill. Read More
Instruments: Piano Violin Fiddle
My teaching does not only focus on students' violin playing skills, but also their aural skills and musicianship. I strongly believe that ear training benefits a student's overall musical development. My lessons typically involve listening and singing on top of regular violin playing. I also love playing simple duets with my students during lessons, so that they feel comfortable collaborating with other musicians. For beginners, I typically start with Hal Leonard's Essential Elements for Strings. Read More
Instruments: Trumpet Trombone Euphonium
What advice do you have about practicing effectively?
Make sure to warm up low, slow, and soft first so that you don't get tired before practicing. Then make sure that you sing the melody and clap the rhythms before you pick of the trumpet because you'll be able to save your lips to play it properly. When I was young I would always wear myself out before I could play the things I needed to practice correctly. Always rest as much as you play to give your lips a break. High notes and fast fingers come with patience. Everything must be played low and slow first.
What do you think is the hardest thing to master on your instrument?
Good tone throughout the entire range of the instrument and endurance are the hardest skills to achieve. Playing the trumpet is like trying to force all the air in your lungs into a tiny little straw and to get a beautiful tone and play like that for an entire concert takes years and years of training. Brass instruments are traditionally thought of as loud and brash probably because it is very easy to play that way. To play beautifully in every register for more than fifteen minutes is something to be very proud
What does a normal practice session look like for you?
I always start playing low, soft, and slow. I start with long tones starting at the bottom of my range and then slowly go all the way to the top. Then I do some air flow exercises, Clark exercises, and scales. Then I take 10 minute break after that 20 minute warm up. After the break, I sight read some lyrical etudes and try to make a beautiful tone as possible and play as musically as possible. Then I practice some orchestral excerpts and solo pieces. Then another 20 minute break. Lastly I practice ensemble or gig music and then I take at least 20 minutes to listen to professional trumpet players to strive for a better sound. In all, I play for about an hour and a half.
If you weren't a musician what do you think you'd be doing instead?
I am actually a science educator during the day and a musician by night. My college degree is in ecology and evolutionary biology where I was an undergraduate researcher in California estuaries and kelp forests but at night I gigged and played in music ensembles 4 nights a week. I currently teach science at various institutions around the San Francisco Bay Area and I am an avid SCUBA diver with five SCUBA certifications. I love science, nature, and the ocean so if I did not play music I would probably be a full time scientist/educator.
If you play more than one instrument, how did you decide to start playing the second? (Or 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc)!
I played trumpet first but then I started to play other brass instruments because they seemed fun. My friends also played other brass instruments so I would try them out just for fun. Then in high school, during my service learning project, the middle school band teacher I worked for ask me to coach full brass sectionals. So I had to learn euphonium, trombone, tuba, and french horn in about a week to be able to coach these middle school students. I learned trombone and euphonium so well that I actually subbed for others in concerts in high school and college.
25 Years
Since We Started
41,456+
Happy Customers
10,769
Cities with Students
3,123
Teachers in Network
Trusted as the industry leader, for over 21 years the teachers in our network have been providing Piano lessons in Shawnee to students of all ages and abilities.
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