Michelle K  
Instruments: Flute
Styles: Classical, Pop

I began teaching as a young flutist, but started teaching private flute lessons during my freshmen year of college, and have been teaching both kids and adults since then. I have performed with the Skidmore College Orchestra as the principal flutist as well as the Skidmore Wind Ensemble, Skidmore Chorus, composition recitals, and vocal recitals. In 2018, I won second prize in the Skidmore Concerto Competition and performed Reinecke’s flute concerto with the Skidmore Orchestra in March, 2019. I have performed at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas for TMEA full orchestra in 2011, Hartford Convention Center for 2015 Connecticut All-State Festival, and at the IES Music Center in Vienna, Austria where I studied flute performance with Forough Djafar-Zadeh-Karimi and Ulrike Anton in the spring of 2018. I also studied with Carol Wincenc, whom I performed with at the 2017 Flute Festival at Skidmore, and Tara Helen O'Connor at the Wind and Brass Festival in 2019.

My teaching style requires the students to be consistent with their practice and warm ups, which helps to make lessons more efficient and allow students to see faster improvement. For all of my students, I put a lot of emphasis on the fundamentals of a woodwind player, which focuses on student's posture, embouchure, fingering, and breath support. From studying with Carol Wincenc and Karimi Furugh, I learned how closely linked our voice is to the flute. To help students achieve a rich, full tone, I like to give voice exercises and body exercises to expand their vocal cords and posture to get that beautiful, rich sound. I also like to ask my students to record their own playing to compare how different the recording sounds from what they usually hear, which helps give them a better sense of what they need to improve and trains their ears to adjust to their tone, pitches, and even tempo.