Artistic Piano & Vocal Music Teacher & Coach

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. First, go by "word of mouth" recommendations. Also, look for business cards at music stores. Then in your online searches, look for key words like: music, music teacher, children, piano, keyboard, composition, music theory, MYC (Music for Young Children), etc. Do your research in several ways. Sometimes teachers are also listed in phone books or Christian Business Catalogues/Directories, newspapers, church bulletins, school or township or public library programs, or the like. Sometimes the school music teacher will have a list of teachers that they could recommend in their area.

Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?

A. It is a researched fact that learning to play the piano engages both sides of the brain, and therefore involves both the logical as well as the artistic brain hemispheres. It is also proven that those who study the piano at a younger age will have higher SAT scores in school! Also, many people in the medical profession have studied the piano or continue their piano study as a hobby or source of pleasure or release after a long day of work. It not only releases synapses in the brain to make you smarter, but can also release the aesthetic side of a person for genuine satisfaction and pleasure! :)

Q. What questions should a consumer ask to hire the right service professional?

A. May I come to see you studio where you teach and meet you personally? That will give me a chance to look at the curriculum to see if it is right for my child.

Q. What important information should buyers have thought through before seeking you out?

A. This is a time (practice) and financial commitment over a long period of time. It takes more than a few months to learn to play the piano or to learn to sing! It is a good way to teach your children about COMMITMENT! Parents should take the initiative in encouraging their children to continue for at least a year before stopping lessons.

It is normal for a child to not want to practice after the "novelty" of starting lessons has worn off. There is a "Plateau of Learning'" that occurs over a longer period of time that is not even touched upon when lessons are stopped too soon. Here is how it works: First, it is exciting to learn a new skill! Then when new skills are introduced, the learning curve becomes more difficult. But once that skill is practiced enough in the correct way, it is mastered, and there is another sense of satisfaction. The first plateau has been mastered, and the next plateau is started - another uphill climb, until the next level of skills is mastered. And so on.

So many times the parents are so sensitive to their children not enjoying the hard climb up to a new skill level, that they just allow the student to stop lessons because they do not want to practice anymore. This defeats the very important lesson of stick-to-it-tiveness that matures a child in their learning!

A very good analogy is to relate it to sports: If your child is having a hard time making baskets, or dribbling the ball, do you take him or her off the team because they are not enjoying it anymore? Of course it will be frustrating until they master the skill! But once they get it, they've GOT it!! And what a joy it is to have gotten it!! And then you go on to the next skill level! And more joy is had in having stuck it out!

Allow your child the priviledge of learning to stick to a commitment, even when it is hard for them, just to prove to themselves that they CAN DO IT! It is a life lesson that will bolster them in other hard times in their lives!! They can look back and realize that maybe they CAN do something they thought was too hard for them!

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. I take the whole student into consideration:
Body, mind, and soul. I not only take into consideration the learning styles of the student (e.g.: Visual, Aural, Kinetic), but try to teach them according to their own style of learning. Besides that, I pray for my students. It is a way that I can care for my students and their families. I also like to commit whatever I do to the Lord, for His glory. I have grown very close to several families as a result of this involvement.

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. What I like most about my job is that I have the freedom to teach each person according to their learning style, and can be as creative as I wish with that! I can use visual, aural, and kinetic applications to the concepts I am teaching. That could include puppets, Musical story books, Solfege Hand Signals (Do, Re, Mi), white board illustrations, Magnetic "tin sheets" ( magnetic staves and keyboards with magnets for notes), posters, CDs, DVDs, Sound Banks from my keyboards, hands on ensemble experience on the acoustic piano, electronic keyboards, Bells, Metallophones, Step Resonator Bells, Floor keyboard, and several Drums and Rhythm Instruments, as well as movement to music and "note"book activities!

Q. Do you have a favorite story from your work?

A. I actually recently had someone bring their DOG to me to learn how to play a simple tune on the Floor piano for their Advanced Obedience Dog Training! The dog was learning by putting her nose on sticky notes that her owner would point to and say," Touch!" We also tried her on my 'touch' hand bells! At one point she picked one up in her mouth, so perhaps she could learn that way as well! There was only one session, but we had a lot of fun with it!! Of course, I sterilized the instruments afterwards! :)

Q. What do you wish customers knew about you or your profession?

A. I was nominated for "The Woman of the Year" for The National Association of Professional Women for the year 2011-2012!

Also, I love to take my students to nursing homes to have them perform for the residents there. I feel it is important for them to share their "gifts" with those who are hurting or lonely. It not only teaches them respect for the elderly, but gives them a feeling of satisfaction for having made someone genuinely happy. It also helps them to feel more comfortable in learning to talk to someone in a wheelchair or that has some other handicap. This is part of the beauty of sharing your gifts. It goes way beyond just playing your music for them! They also learn to introduce themselves and their song and composer and arranger, and take a professional bow at the end. They learn to smile, no matter how it went for them, too! :)

Q. How did you decide to get in your line of work?

A. I love working with people, and I love teaching music! I made up my mind when I was in seventh grade in school. I started piano lessons and singing in the church choir when I was in third grade. The next year I started drama lessons with a local teacher. I started playing the french horn in fifth grade, and the upright string bass in the Jr. High jazz band. I was in the concert band, the marching band, chorus, Varsity Singers, District, Regional and State chorus, and was a student conductor in high school. I was one of four in the music major class. No matter what I did in music, I thouroughly enjoyed it! It was FUN! Then I attended a Band Camp at Indiana University of Pa, and the Fred Waring Choral Workshop at Shawnee on the Delaware. In the summer between college semesters I started ballet classes, and then continued with modern dance in college as my physical education requirement. Then I became the student choreographer for the Opera Theater. ( I just took a ballet course again this past summer! :) ) I had so much fun that I decided this is what I wanted to do for my career!

Q. Tell us about a recent job you did that you are particularly proud of.

A. This past summer I ran a Beginner Piano Camp through Lower Providence Township Parks and Recreation Department for students with little or no knowledge of music or piano. You will find pictures of it included here at www.Thumbtack.com under "Artistic Piano/Voice Teacher/Coach." I held it in my "Awesome Airwaves!" Music Studio, and we were able to have fun times of learning both indoors and outdoors. We did everything from feeling the Steady beat of music with a parachute to composing their own songs using Hop Scotch as the vehicle for sketching it out. They learned the note names and the geography of the keyboard in order to write out and learn to play their own songs on the keyboard or piano. They also composed words to their songs and learned to sing them while playing. They all took their songs home not only in their brains and fingers, but also on music paper! A fun time was had by all, including this teacher! :)

Q. Do you do any sort of continuing education to stay up on the latest developments in your field?

A. I was certified by Music for Young Children on August 30, 2011 for completing their Webinar Fast Trak 10-10 program on digital marketing! :) It took place over 10 months of the year, and each month covered a different facet of digital marketing, such as using Facebook, Blogs, Twitter, and a Web page. As a result I have a blog on Facebook, called,"What is Artistic Teaching?" . I have also added to my Web page. You will find my lesson policies, etc. on those pages, as well as my lesson schedule and details of my teaching style. It was a great feeling of accomplishment to follow through with that! :)

Q. If you were advising someone who wanted to get into your profession, what would you suggest?

A. LOVE what you do!! You will be spending a good part of your life in this profession, and if you do not love what you do, you will no doubt get tired of it fast! Also, when you can share what you love to do with another person (student or collegue), both lives become enriched. They can catch that excitement that drives you, and be enriched themselves just from your own energy that you expend! When you love doing something, you will continue to want to learn about it, and become increasingly proficient at it. The thirst for that becomes almost insatiable! There is really something extra - almost spiritual - about loving what you do and sharing it with others just because you love to do it! There is great joy in passing it forward! :)

Q. What are you currently working on improving?

A. I am currently working on a number of things to improve my professionalism in my teaching. First, I am still studying voice with an excellent teacher on the "Main Line." Her method of teaching is different than most, and I feel as though she has helped me, and continues to help me improve in my own singing and performance. I am able to pass on my new knowledge to my own students, and then see the results in their performance as well! This is most satisfying to me to know that I am purposefully making an effort to improve my own skills in both teaching and performing. Also, when you are a student yourself, you can really appreciate what you are asking your own students to accomplish!

Q. Write your own question and answer it.

A. What is one of the most enjoyable things to you about your job?

I LOVE seeing the "lightbulb" go on! Sometimes it takes longer for one than another student for that to happen, but it is SO worth the while to see that happen!! To see the light in their eyes and the smile on their face is everything to me in my teaching!! Part of that is when they can articulate back to me what I've been trying to get through to them. When they can do that, I know they understand. Even moreso, when they can demonstrate it in their playing, it's just the icing on the cake!! I guess one of my goals in teaching my students is to get them to the point where they will no longer need me for a teacher, but can figure the music out for themselves, and know that they are being artistic at the same time! I've actually had students who have gone on to be music teachers themselves, are winning competitions, or are performing on the "curcuit." This is most rewarding to me as their teacher!! :)