Kari B  
Instruments: Piano, Voice, Music, Keyboard
Styles: Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Folk, Country, R&B, Gospel, Musical Theater, Opera, Latin, Funk, Hip Hop, Electronic, Showtunes, Spirituals, Latin Jazz, Swing, Soul, Avant-garde

I had a wonderful opportunity to start teaching piano at the same place that I took piano throughout high school — KD Music & Arts, about 8 years ago. Since then, I’ve taught piano and voice to students a variety of ages—kids and adults!

I love arranging my younger students’ favorite songs that they hear on the radio so they can play them on the piano, sometimes even playing rhythm video games on my Nintendo 3DS to brush up on their music theory skills :)

I want my students to finish a lesson feeling like the possibilities that they have with music are endless. I always offer a healthy challenge, a dose of hard work with creative play goes a long way!

For my younger students, I often use a balance between classical, pop and jazz music. Faber’s Piano Adventures or any variety of the Faber books with a theory book is often used so that students will have a firm foundation on how music works. They can then apply that knowledge to any piece of music going forward. We skip around in the book as needed for every student’s different learning style. I will then add more performance pieces that they can be proud of performing at recitals, for their friends, etc.

I also play games with younger students like music reading flashcards, rhythm video games, and more.

For adults, I put a lot of importance on whatever the student wants out of the lesson. If they don’t want to learn to read music or want a less “formal” lesson, then that’s okay!