Piano Lessons in Waterbury, CT

Instruments: Piano Guitar Voice Music Keyboard Acoustic Guitar

What musical accomplishments are you most proud of?
I am most proud of my work with the Schubert Club Solo Singers in Ensemble: it was with my colleagues singing in harmony, and working on scenes, that I learned the most and felt the most exalted. The sounds of the various voices blending together filled me with joy, meaning, purpose, and created a rich, textured musical fabric with vitally interconnected threads of melody; musical line; rhythm. I can say the same about my work as a youngster, playing piano trios, quartets and quintets at (Fiorillo LaGuardia) Music & Art H.S., Mannes College and at Blue Hill, in Maine, where the piano, violin(s), viola and cello were each important to the utterance of the musical expression of the compositions.

If you weren't a musician what do you think you'd be doing instead?
I'd be helping others to reach their fitness goals; helping seniors with their needs; helping disadvantaged youth to find meaning and purpose in their lives; healing work with others; perhaps become an LMT and use music to help heal, comfort and bring a sense of well-being. I also work as an advocate for equal access to legal justice -- affordable legal advice for Americans and Canadians from a network of real attorneys with an average of 20 years' experience in bar certified legal practice in respected law firms. I also love animals and would work as a concierge or appointment setter/administrator at a Veterinary Hospital, Shelter or Clinic.

If you have a Music Degree, what is it in (Performance, Education, Musicology, Theory, Composition, etc) and why did you choose that degree?
Music Performance & Composition. I chose those degrees as they seemed like the logical continuations of my previous studies and also, since birth, it was my father's dream for me to become a performing musician. He wanted me to be a concert pianist. While I am a pianist who performs in concerts, I did not become a world famous touring musician the way my father hoped and dreamed I would become. It simply wasn't in my karma and life path.

What is your dream piece to perform and why?
I suppose some day I might play the Liszt Sonata-- why? because it is a tour de force in the pianist's repertoire, it's difficult and virtuosic, and it's a dramatic piece. Other than that, there are so many great, great pieces for the piano, it's difficult to choose! Once I thought I wanted to play Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata, which he said he had written for a 'later time' in history. (I would presume, a time, when people would come to appreciate it more). He was deaf at the time he wrote it. In the voice, I just wish to sing beautifully, expressively and convey the meanings of the particular song I am putting across in such a way as to reach a place in others' hearts that resonates and is moved by the strains they hear emanating from me. Guitar--perhaps, to play a solo cello suite by Bach, arranged for Guitar.

What does a normal practice session look like for you?
a 'normal' practice session looks like the workings out of a short term objective--Let's say I want to create a recording of myself doing a particular piece of music. I play that piece through, discover what needs working on, fix the mistake, then play or sing a part of a measure or phrase before the 'feared' area I just repaired, then play through the repaired section. If the fumble is still there, I slow it down, then speed it up, listening to it in different ways. Then I aim to sing/play it only up to a short spot afterwards, to minimize any 'fear' attached to the memory of my having performed it less well than I had hoped to. And so it goes.

Do you use specific teaching methods or books? (Ex: Alfred, Bastion, Suzuki, Hal Leonard) Why did you choose them if you did?
As stated earlier in my profile, I use a variety of different teaching methods from Suzuki style work (rote; listening; duplicating), to traditional method books like James Bastian's and John Thompson's series, etc. Guitar-- I enjoy Mel Bay's Method books, but I also use Alfred's and the Berkeley Method....There are many pathways to learning an instrument, including the voice. I first stress musicianship. YouTube has become a veritable library of incredible, valuable information which includes all sorts of teaching tutorials. Sometimes I might deploy part of a video and a snippet from other printed matter found online, drawing from recent research and discovery!

What do you think is the hardest thing to master on your instrument?
One of the most difficult things to master is reading notation and playing the right and left hands in different clefs. (Piano) Voice-- one of the most difficult things to master is hearing one's own pitch and finding notes that skip or leap in a song (singing in tune); this requires learning and mastery of how scales work; and of chromatic harmony. Guitar--As a guitar player must 'make' his or her own notes by applying pressure with the left hand fingers on various places on the fretboard, it is most difficult to master awkward positions, wide stretches and adequate pressure to produce a viable sound.

Why did you choose your primary instrument?
I didn't. It was chosen for me.

Have any of your students won awards or been selected for special honors? How have they succeeded?
One of my students was legally blind and I had brought him from beginner to being a leader of his High School jazz band; another boy started with me at age 3 going on 4, was still having temper tantrums, sucking his thumb, and holding on to his teddy bear, but with the help of his parents assisting me at every lesson and practicing with him every day, this student earned gold ratings in the state's Young Musicians Festival under my tutelage. Another young woman voice student of mine landed a lead role in a local Musical and prepared to sing at ball games.

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