Crystal S.

General Info

• Certified Music Teacher

  Certified Music Teacher

  Our rigorous hiring process requires a completed application; an interview with our professional recruiting specialists; personal and professional reference checks; and annual criminal background checks for the duration of each teacher's employment with us.

  
• Background Check Complete

  Criminal Background Check

  In order to ensure the safety of our students, all teachers undergo a thorough criminal background check, which includes: Social Security number trace, multi-state criminal search and a nationwide sex offender registry search.

  
• Levels: Beginner to Advanced

• In-Home Lessons: Yes
• In-Studio Lessons: Yes
• Ages: 5 & up

Subjects Taught

Piano, Singing, Music Performance, Music Theory, Songwriting, Speaking Voice, Theatrical Broadway Singing

Education

The Boston Conservatory of Music - Music, theater - 1991-1993
The Central School of Speech and Drama - Theater, music - 1993-1996 (Bachelor's degree received)

Lesson Details

Lesson structure varies depending on the student's instrument, age, level of experience and musical style. However, all lessons focus on:

Technique
Music theory
Performance style

After 3 or 6 months of consistent lesson attendance and practice, students will have a clear understanding of how their instrument works and how to care for it. They will be able to read basic music notation. They will be working toward clearly defined musical goals and they will have at least three performance ... pieces learned.

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About

Crystal brings a lifetime’s experience of professional musicianship to each of her lessons. Born into a family of musicians, she sang her first solo at age 2. She also benefits her students with an extraordinarily diverse musical background, having worked as a vocalist in gospel, country, musical theater, jazz, classical, rock, pop and soul styles. Her performing career has taken her from L.A. church meetings to London’s Houses of Parliament.

Crystal hails originally from Los Angeles, CA ... - where her musical parents gave her a head start by including her in the family business the moment she was able to contribute. She went on to study classical voice, piano and music theory at The Boston Conservatory of Music. After concluding her studies in London, she returned home and began working regularly as a theater performer, appearing in twenty world premiers and re-imagined classics - most notably she played the lead role of Keely Smith in the big band jazz musical “Louis and Keely: Live At The Sahara” during its eight-month run at Westwood’s Geffen Playhouse. She also formed her own rock band, The Honeysuckle Jones Revival, with whom she performed her own songs all over Los Angeles. And she began working as a studio session vocalist, providing demo vocals for other songwriters, as well as arranging and performing back-up vocals for original artists, including Laura Roppe (currently in the Top Ten on Billboard’s Uncharted list of emerging artists,) both of whose albums feature Crystal’s back-ups. Crystal’s current project is the new opera “How To Survive The Apocalypse,” for which she is providing vocals and vocal arrangements, as well as playing piano and bass.

Crystal believes that music is serious business but that it should be fun. She encourages her students to play music they love, as well as expanding their musical knowledge. She is a firm believer in basics first and emphasizes theory and technique as the tools to support creativity and provide freedom, power and control. She believes effort beats talent every time and the student who practices consistently will see results, whatever their level of ability. Most of all, she believes we were all born to make music.

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Crystal's Photos

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