Catherine P
Instruments: Piano
Styles: Classical, Pop, Musical Theater, New Age
Catherine P
Instruments: Piano
Styles:
Classical, Pop, Musical Theater, New Age
Where I Teach:
Ages Taught: 5-80
Manhattan School of Music, MM Composition University of Hartford, BM Composition with Piano Concentrat
Kountz Fellowship 2013-14 from University of Hartford
My training in piano started from when I was 5 years old. Since then, I continuously took piano lesson and have had performed on the stage as well. I continued my training in piano at the University of Hartford under David Westfall, Paul Rutman, Susan Cheng and Grace Smith. From Manhattan School of Music, I studied composition/theory with Richard Danielpour and Reiko Fueting, and piano with Lisa Yui. I am currently acting as a co-founder and executive administrator for Sforzando Composers Collective, an association of four composers currently based in New York City created in January 2017. The association is comprised of graduate composition students from the Manhattan School of Music who seek to participate in the organization, production, and collaboration of new multidisciplinary artistic works.
Since 2012 I worked as an ear-training tutor and private piano instructor during my undergraduate years. I used Kodaly method for ear-training tutoring and helped many college students improve and achieve their goal in their classes. I taught age 4 - 12 children piano until 2014. After I moved to the city, I started teaching music theory and piano privately since last summer. I have been creating a great relationship with all of my students and parents through highly individualized teaching approach and bringing fun and challenges together. I love watching my student grow and develop further interest in music because teaching also helps me grow to be a better musician and teacher.
I believe every individual has different ways and styles of learning and I adapt my teaching method/style according to the needs of each and every student. Having been trained in the Kodaly method, I found that it is highly versatile and I have been using this method to teach ear-training and music theory to my students. I have been teaching my students with Suzuki, Alfred, Bastien and other classical methods depending on their needs. I am also teaching some students to prepare for ABRSM exams. Along with proper piano technique, I employ popular songs, Disney tunes, and whatever else that student would want to learn. After finishing couple repertoires, I encourage my students to perform in front of an audience.
I believe playing an instrument "well" requires lots of understanding of details about the instrument and the music. A music score is an instruction on how and which note to play and it's the performer's creativity that embellishes the result(performance). I have been teaching my students piano lesson with music theory to learn how to read the score and understand all the details(rhythm, note, sound, articulations, form, etc.) so that they not only learn how to play the instrument but also learn about general knowledge of music that they can apply to any instrument or other styles of music. I motivate my students to take a step forward after every accomplishment by guiding them to their next realistic goal. In my experience, I found that the most crucial element in inspiring students to grow is having these realistic goals that they can celebrate.
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