Sabena S
5.0
(17)
Instruments: Piano, Voice
Styles: Classical, Jazz, Pop, Spirituals
Sabena S
5.0
(17)
Instruments: Piano, Voice
Styles:
Classical, Jazz, Pop, Spirituals
Where I Teach:
Ages Taught: 5-80
Trained and Certified in Music Theory and Pianoforte playing grades 1-7 of the Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music. (ABRSM)
Bachelors of Music, Mansfield University, Music Therapy
I am a trained Music Therapist, graduated with a Bachelors of Music in Music Therapy, major instrument Piano with secondary instrument Voice. I enjoy working with young children and also those with special needs especially infants to provide sensory stimulation through music therapy. I use Music in therapy to facilitate language, social, movemen/motor and pre-academic skills. I also work with normal range functioning children ages 5 and up, to provide music lessons and music experience specifically Music Theory, piano lessons with accompanied vocal skills when required. I also have shared my musical skills publicly by playing and singing during church services. Currently, I work with most of my students to prepare them for Music Theory and Pianoforte examinations - ABRSM syllabus (For the past 5-6 years).
I have worked with special needs kids and adults since I graduated, then after a brief period of break due to having my own children, I am back to teaching piano lessons. I have worked in schools and hospitals since my internship before graduating and now teaching in my home studio. I love to work with kids and I believe the younger they are, the better they should experience music early and more formal lessons can be provided as long as they are able to sit, understand how to read and keep rhythm. I like to emphasis more auditory skills than visual skills in learning the piano and encourage a lot of sight reading, composing and finger exercises for building strength. Of course, the most important is that my students are encouraged to practice daily and enjoy playing and learning the piano.
I enjoy working at the begining to intermediate level for children as I get to introduce the earliest piano musical skills and I usually spend thirty minutes on teaching piano practice methods and thirty minutes on music theory skills. Currently, I use books like Dozen a Day, Scales and Hanon to build good finger techniques, John Thompson and John W.Schaum books for songs and theory preparation. For adults, I would use books related to adult beginning stages in piano and music theory.
For those who are interested in doing the exams, I start moving to the syllabus when they are well prepared in the basics and ready to move on to this next step.I love to listen and play music very much, so I try to encourage independence in my students so that they can play what they enjoy and love. I encourage them to listen to how they play by playback recordings, humming to the tunes using their voice even when playing an instrument, so that they can listen and feel their own music. This will encourage them to increase their confidence during performance, lessen their fears and improve their motivation to be a better musicians in the future. Also, because of theory lessons, they are also encouraged to read music on their own and learn songs independently. My lessons are designed from day 1 to include Music Theory because I believe that theory of a subject is very important in comprehension of reading a musical piece and recognizing all the signs, symbols, terms etc in the music while learning to read and play it on the instrument. I provide the Theory worksheets or a theory workbook is purchased and used by the student based on level of study. 30 mins of the lesson is spent on teaching, learning and attempting exercises on worksheets. At times, some exercises are assigned for homework if it was not completed in class during the assigned time. For Piano, I start with warm-ups using simple finger exercises to learn fingering and improve muscles, flexibility and hand dexterity. These are implemented by using the study of scales, varied finger technique exercises from books like Dozen a Day and Hannon and or by rote (demonstrated by teacher and student visually attend and imitate). This typically takes about 10 to 15 mins. The final time is spent on learning songs from song books and assigning practice assignments for the week.
Ruhani
Awesome teacher! Is wonderful and very professional. Our son has progressed a lot since we started. She will go the extra mile to make it work for the child!
Maryann Imperiale
My daughter has been taking lessons with Sabena for over five years. She is a wonderful teacher dedicated to her students. She always keeps me informed on my daughters progress and will go the extra mile to help my daughter improve. She values and cares about her students
Maryann Imperiale
Sabena has been teaching my daughter for over five years. She is kind ,patient and dedicated to her students. Sabena keeps me constantly updated on my daughters progress and she will go the the extra mile to make sure your child reaches their full potential.
KK
Ms Sabena is an excellent teacher. My daughter has been learning piano for more than 5 years from her. She is very sincere and motivates my daughter a lot. After every class she makes sure that she updates me with her progress. She gives equal importance to theory and practical.
LE
I have just started taking lessons from Sabena as an adult, and I really like her style. She is very knowledgeable and very patient at the same time. She makes the whole process very enjoyable for me and I could not be more pleased. I see many years of advancing in my piano playing with her.
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