Cindy L
Instruments: Piano, Guitar, Voice, Saxophone, Ukulele, Music, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
Styles: Jazz, Pop, R&B, Gospel, Musical Theater, Funk, Hip Hop, Electronic, Showtunes, Swing, Soul
Cindy L
Instruments: Piano, Guitar, Voice, Saxophone, Ukulele, Music, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
Styles:
Jazz, Pop, R&B, Gospel, Musical Theater, Funk, Hip Hop, Electronic, Showtunes, Swing, Soul
Where I Teach:
Ages Taught: 3-80
2018 - Berklee College of Music Songwriting Scholarship
2019 - Berklee College of Music Achievement Award
2019 - original song "In a Year From Now" placed on Spotify Editorial Playlist. Over 500,000 Streams
I am a New York City based songwriter, artist, arranger, producer, and educator, most often occupying the space between R&B and Jazz. My music is influenced by artists ranging from Stevie Wonder to Erykah Badu to John Coltrane. I went to Boston in 2015 to study Musical Theatre at the Boston Conservatory. There, I began songwriting and discovered a new passion leading me to change course in my education and continue my studies at Berklee College of Music in 2017. I graduated in 2019 with a Dual Degree in Songwriting and Contemporary Writing & Production, with a minor in the Theory of Jazz and Popular Styles.
I've been teaching music since I was in high school, starting with voice lessons. In college, many of my friends and friends of friends asked me to tutor them in voice, music theory, writing, and various instruments. Now, I have many private students that I meet with in person and over zoom and teach group classes as well. I think it's important that music students get to work on repertoire that excites them. I love to spend time with my students listening to some of their personal playlists and picking out songs from there for them to work on. Once I understand a student's taste, I love to show them other artists they may like and help expose them to new music. I try to balance the lessons with this type of work and more structured technical skill development. Music should be fun, exciting, and stimulating.
I create my own lesson plans based off of the individual student. For voice students, we usually warm up, do technical exercises working on varying registers and techniques, and then work on repertoire. I often find the passages in a particular song that the student is struggling with and focus in on those, finding exercises to guide the student. For instrumental students, I work on a lot of music theory and reading, for students of all levels and ages. I believe that this is important because even if the student decides to pursue another instrument later on, these skills will be essential and transferrable. Additionally, we will work on technique and exercises to be acquainted with the instrument, and finally, repertoire. As I mentioned, I like the students to have input on the repertoire we work on.
I want my students to enjoy their music lessons, I don't want it to feel like a chore. It can be really fulfilling when I see a student playing or singing something with joy! I pay close attention to what exercises students seem to want to spend the most time on and the ones they get frustrated with. This helps me balance the lesson by breaking things up and putting them in an appropriate order so the student will stay engaged. When they do get frustrated, I remind them of how far they've come and that putting the effort in is great, no matter the outcome. I like to end all the lessons on a good, positive note, doing something I know the student enjoys!
Check out our A+
Rating from the Better Business Bureau
100% Risk-Free Trial Lesson
If you are not satisfied after your trial lesson, you will not be charged and we can match you with another teacher.