Carl K  

5

  5.0 (3)

Instruments: Piano, Organ, Accordion, Keyboard
Styles: Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Blues, Folk, R&B, Gospel, Musical Theater, Funk, Showtunes, Spirituals, Latin Jazz, Swing, Bossa Nova, Soul

As a young performer I was under the tutelage of the acclaimed educator Dr. Frank Porto for over 10 years. As my music mentor, Dr. Porto guided me to dozens of wins in many classical and pop music competitions. As I entered my teens I started to gain more interest in jazz and popular music but still retained my love of classical music. I studied jazz with renown jazz educator John Mohegan. By the age of 15 I was playing music professionally. I was in love with music by then and it has been my greatest passion to this day. I was honored to be asked by Dr. Porto to teach for him. With Mr. Porto as my teaching mentor I quickly learned what makes a great teacher. After Mr. Porto died I received another great honor. I was asked to take his place in his music band. I have been successful over the years in learning what excites students musically and using that as a jumping off point to expand their interests. I teach a classical approach to music with an emphasis on classical music, exercises and good note reading skills. But I do not require my students to play classical music if they prefer not to. Because I perform classical, jazz, pop, rock and many other styles of music professionally I can easily teach any style. Some children want to do songs they hear on the radio. And I can include that in our lessons also. Many students have come to me through recommendations because of my success with this approach to teaching.

My basic teaching philosophy is "If a student can't learn the way I teach I will teach the way they learn". It's a personalized approach. For children I typically start with John Thompson's Teaching Little Fingers To Play as a basic piano lesson book. When the student starts progressing to the point where they can play fairly well I try to explore others books and songs that may interest them and keep them motivated. For teens and adults that are just starting I love using Alfred's All In One Piano Course. This book covers piano lesson materials, music theory and technique (exercises). Adults tend to progress pretty quickly and when they do I will give them supplementary music based on what they most love to play. Many adults have had lessons as a child and return to the piano to study with me. And in that case I'll give them a quick refresher course and move them into what they really want to play as quickly as possible.