Piano with Julia K.

I have been studying music and performing professionally since the age of nine in New York City. In 2007 I started teaching voice, guitar and songwriting in Southern California and performing original music with my band. In 2010 I co-founded the Creative Arts Initiative, a literacy-based program for teenage girls in Sierra Leone, West Africa that encourages self-expression and empowerment through creative writing and the arts. As a kid, I performed off-Broadway and took voice and piano lessons. The problem was that I hated practicing! Scales and repetitive playing bored me to no end, and I felt like I wanted to quit many time. But when I started combining my poetry with my own music, and keeping my body engaged in the process, my life was forever changed. I felt a deeper understanding of my own voice and the possibilities that musical instruments offered me. I allowed myself the freedom to pursue my love of music by embracing my own innate abilities and favorite ways to learn. I overcame my €œpracticing problem, and so can you. *** Lesson Details *** As your music mentor I will help you identify your own learning style, review your individual goals, build a sequential, skill-based program and customize each session based upon what you need and want from the music mentoring experience. I will allow you to explore your own innate creativity, to have fun with your instrument and see where it takes you while learning valuable music theory along the way. Let me help you reach your highest potential by pumping enthusiasm into your veins and encourage you to explore your inner artist. *** Specialties *** I specialize in "creative learning". This is where the students are encouraged to create their own music right from the beginning, using whatever little knowledge they have on the instrument, and then we break down what they've created in order to get a deeper understanding of the music (theory, technique, etc.).