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Why would you contact me anyway?

Maybe you would like me to instruct you or your child on piano, guitar or voice

I have a cute bio here with a great picture of me and my first piano teacher, Miss Carol, and a resume available upon request, so I will spare you those details. Right now you are probably thinking something along the lines of, why should I hire this verbose lady with a weird duck collection to hang out with me, or even with my kids?? That is an excellent question.

I should hang out with your kids because I have an almost unlimited amount of patience (my youngest school kids are 3 years old, and I've already been doing this for 10 years) and a great sense of humor. And I'm not talking about the kind of "humoring" like "I will let you learn how to play that stupid song about what the fox says." I mean: I like to laugh, and I like to make my students laugh. I like when kids can have a fun time learning, and I love it if I can get them to the point where their first reaction after making a mistake is not to freak out and worry, but to laugh and quickly get over it. Yes, some mistakes are biggies that are worth the worry, but the majority of them are not, and I like the life lesson hidden inside of that.

I should teach you or your children because I suffered a minor hand injury in my 20s and have been VIGILANT about posture and technique ever since. I have not required pain killers, steroids, wrist braces or any kind of physical therapy because I have become just that disciplined when it comes to how to hold my body in the best way possible when performing. When I originally went to the doctor in 2001, he told me I had a mix of symptoms that sounded like a combination of arthritis, tendonitis and carpel tunnel syndrome, which basically meant it was highly possible that I had all three going on at one time. Good technique and proper care of my hands has kept me from going back to my specialist for over a decade and counting. Having good technique isn't simply something I should do, it's something I require or else I risk losing my career, and I never want my students to have to be in that position.

Once upon a time, there was an episode of House where this special education pre-school teacher actually had some sort of medical problem that made her more tolerant of children. Sometimes I think I have this same "illness" and I will forever be annoyed that House thought this was a problem (then again, for those of you who remember the show, his stance shouldn't be that surprising). I love kids. I love the way they think. I love their curiosity, I love their creativity. It can be absolutely non-linear and downright zany at times, but I think that the more a child can hold onto that, the better off they will be in the long run. We often think of being creative as strictly a quality best left to the artsy fartsy people of the world, but even scientists and engineers need a hefty dose of creativity to look for cures and solve problems. Music is a way that children can develop these qualities as they grow and learn their more traditional subjects in school.

I don't do drugs and I eat all my vegetables. Seriously. I do not judge other people's lifestyles, but in this day and age where it's mainstream to sing about "molly" and being fall down drunk in public means you're probably getting paid to be on a reality tv show, I want kids to see that they can be this awesome (I use the term loosely) and absolutely drug free and responsible about the choices they make.. and also that spinach is pretty delicious. Do I think it's appropriate to be facebook friends with students? No, but I wouldn't be embarassed if they or their parents saw my facebook posts. I try and be responsible and fair, and also awesome, ridiculous and true to myself, at all times. I know a lot of the kids I meet end up thinking I am pretty cool, and I take that title very seriously.

I believe in making myself obsolete. I don't plan on being your child's teacher forever, meaning that I will not teach them in such a way that they will always be dependent on me. I encourage curiousity in music. I encourage students to continue working on pieces even once we are "done" with them in our lesson. I encourage students to go out and find new music they want to learn. When they have reached a certain point (usually after a few years of instruction), I start to give students the "tools" that *I* use in my every day musical life to learn new music or pick up something off the radio. I teach them how to really listen, and how to understand the language of music. Someday you may move, someday they may graduate college, someday a very legitimate reason may come up where they are without a teacher for an indefinite period of time, and during that time, I will have failed them as a teacher if their music practice stagnates.

The bottom line is I believe that music is a lifelong gift. Whether a child ends up as professional player or as a CPA, the ability to pick up a guitar, sing in tune, tickle the ivories or just to be able to think outside the box will absolutely enhance their quality of life.

Maybe you just want to talk about music, or "the biz."

Most everyone knows that I studied music in college, and got to work with the Harry Partch Instrumentarium and the irreplaceable and irreverent Dean Drummond at Montclair State University. I got to meet Howard Shore and premiere his music at NJPAC in Newark. Also, I know a ton about music theory. Now, not a lot of people know this about me, but I also have booked and promoted shows at places like Maxwell's in Hoboken and the Court Tavern in New Brunswick. I have hosted open mic nights for years. I couldn't even begin to count how many people I know that work in bands, recording studios or at venues. I've met promoters, booking agents, lots of bartenders and sound guys (why are there no sound girls??), musicians and fans. If you have a question about any step of the musical process, I can probably help you out somehow.

I've maintained a web presence since approximately 1994 in some form or another, and have always done my own coding. What does that mean? That means that I have been literally putting websites together by hand since I was a teenager. I'm not an expert, by any means, but I designed every inch of this website (including all the graphics), and have created the websites for two businesses. I also manage all of my own social media presences. If you don't know where or how to start, I probably do.

When should you contact me?

THIS IS AN EXCELLENT QUESTION. I have really random working hours. If I am at a legitimate school, I will only pick up my phone on my lunch break, and only if I think you are calling me for emergency reasons, to be perfectly honest (my lunch breaks are short!). If I am travelling house to house for lessons, then there is the possibility that I will be able to answer a call, text or email. There is always the chance that you will catch me during the day when I am somehow not doing anything else, but since my free time schedule seems to be broken up in almost the opposite direction of everyone else I know, it truly is better to email or text me so that you can contact me at your convenience and I can respond at mine. Otherwise, we could be playing phone tag for DAYS.

I've included this schedule below so that you can have an idea of when you might best reach me. Also, please check out what areas my one-woman-travelling-circus-music-teaching brings me to before trying to book a lesson with me - I try to group students together based on location as that works best for everyone involved.

On Sunday mornings, if you aren't going to church anywhere else, I sing with my church choir at our 9:00 Liturgy. Come join us! It's a Ukrainian Byzantine Church, so unless you are actually also Ukrainian, you probably have never heard anything quite like this before! Also, afterwards we have coffee hour, which means a soft roll and a warm cup of coffee for just a dollar, and it's almost always someone's birthday or saint's day or whatever, so there's also very often cookies and cake, too! IF YOU ARE A STUDENT OF MINE and are looking for an extra credit grade, please go to my student page for more info regarding my church!

After teaching at Assumption Catholic School all day, I teach privately in Woodbridge.

Tuesdays (and Fridays) you will find me at Perth Amboy Catholic School, and then I make a mad dash to my private students. Tuesdays (and Thursdays) you can find me teaching at Raritan Music Center in Raritan, NJ..

Wednesdays I teach privately in the Old Bridge and Hazlet area.

Thurdsays (and Tuesdays) you can find me teaching at Raritan Music Center in Raritan, NJ.

IT'S FRIDAY FRIDAY, GOTTA GET DOWN ON FRIDAY! Sorry.. I just couldn't help myself. Fridays (and Tuesdays) I teach at Perth Amboy Catholic School, and afterwards I teach locally in Perth Amboy.

Look guys, Saturday is like, seriously, the only day I truly have off. Every other day I am devoting a minimum of three hours and a maximum of about 10 hours to music, so just, like, let me have this one day, alright? (Don't worry, I'm actually working on something to take up this free time, so I am enjoying my Saturdays while they last!)