Luis M
Instruments: Piano
Styles: Classical, Pop, Rock, Blues, Latin, Electronic, New Age, Avant-garde
Luis M
Instruments: Piano
Styles:
Classical, Pop, Rock, Blues, Latin, Electronic, New Age, Avant-garde
Where I Teach:
Ages Taught: 5-80
Bachelor Degree: Manhattanville College, Course Work: Hoff-Barthelson Music School, Course Work: Music Conservatory of Westchester
2016 - Leon Kushner Piano Prize for Outstanding Piano Achievement
2012 - Manhattanville Audition-Based Merit Scholarship
I am a pianist, music copyist, arranger, composer and instructor. Graduated in 2016 with a BA in Music Technology, I started piano at an early age with Yeou-Cheng Ma (sister of Yo-Yo Ma), but it wasn't until early High School that decided I was going to be a composer. I was taken under piano apprenticeship by my mentor, the renowned modernist pianist Edmund Niemann. With him I truly understood what it means to have a great piano teacher. Teaching is humane. It is not simply sharing what you know, it is caring about what you know, caring about your students. Performing in several spaces in Centro Civico Cultural Dominicano in New York City, Pius X of Manhattanville College, Music Conservatory of Westchester, and at the Hoff-Barthelson Music School all of which has given me a great appreciation of the small town wonders and beautiful suburban landscapes.
I have an innate desire to share knowledge. I like to imagine my passion for teaching for my students as a development section in a symphony: Ever expansive! I started teaching piano in the Hoff-Barthelson Music School in the Scarsdale, NY community. Going further I taught and tutored piano and music theory to fellow adults in my alma mater: Manhattanville College. Currently I am the music instructor for the White Plains Youth Bureau STEAM Academy. I have a passion for sharing the love, knowledge, and disciplines that belong to music.
I tend to incline towards George Molineux's premise of imagery and teaching. Constructing my own philosophy of music teaching. For children I tend to start with posture, positioning of the hands, rounded fingers and finger notation. I understand that Molineux's teaching methods are of the 19th centurybut they are still relevant today in how we perceive music. We watch TV with music, we access our smart devices and play music, we play computer games with music. We perceive audio cues with imagery almost like we are living in a new romantic era in the 21st century. Their operas were our video streaming services. So I adapt and arrange melodies from pop culture as "rewards" for learning more studious pieces. For adults that latter step is not under a reward premise but instead an option along with building up a repertoire.
My teaching style is versatile but with distinct steps. The first step is exposition, the second is reason and the third is connection. There is something so rewarding for me but more importantly for the student when their face opens, they say (and realize): "Oh! I get it...." The catharsis of experiencing music, understanding music and connecting with the music. This is the ideal sequence that I hope to achieve with any and all students. Setting goals, acknowledging errors in an appropriate manner and learning from them as you practice. Setting small "chapters" or “levels” for pieces.
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