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Meet Our Musical Family

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Our teachers have over 100 years of combined musical training and hold multiple degrees and certifications in teaching and development. Each teacher is certified in our Whole-Brain Music Method, "SensAPitch"(TM), and continues training in music education, and mentoring and personality types. This is to help us custom tailor each lesson to the individual student's needs. We have curated the most qualified, joyful, caring teachers to join our family, as we believe it takes more than just mastering an instrument to be a teacher.

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From Bonnie:  My life has been dedicated to making music lessons a beautiful experience where musical families can thrive, and where students who have been hurt by harsh teachers can come to heal and grow into the musicians they have always wanted to be.  Part of our success comes from methodical use of music methods that work best for learning, used in the way they were designed. This reduces frustration, encourages balanced growth, and helps students feel successful at every level. I hire teachers by searching high and low for amazing musicians who are also positive and encouraging mentors in their daily lives. I even have students who have become teachers after growing up in my musical family. I care about you and your needs. I want you to reach your musical dreams, whatever they may be for you.

 

I welcome you to learn from our musical family, including our therapy dogs, Quincy and Storm!

Bonnie teVelde, DMA

CEO, Founder, author

Doctorate Level Teacher/

Music Learning Specialist, Sound Healer, Group Classes

Advanced Piano, Voice, Guitar, Ukulele,  16 Other Instruments

Special Needs, Perfect Pitch

Personality Type: ENFP

I believe music should always be taught from a perspective of love and joy, and that students should be taught to trust themselves when they playing. They need to learn how to feel the color vibration of each individual note. This allows playing to become intuitive, and learning will be done with ease. Instead of an old fashioned style of pushing students, forcing hard work,  and rigid lessons, I believe learning music is about teaching students to love playing music. As they build good skills by recognizing and feeling the color sound of each note,  we show them how these notes represent musical notation. When they know the sound, the notation, and the feel of each note, they will play naturally and intuitively... and read music well while also playing by ear.

 

My method has been much more successful at teaching perfect pitch than I ever imagined it would be. 93.7% of our students demonstrate perfect pitch on at least three notes, within three months of starting lessons. They also learn to read traditional music notation much more easily.  This has been proven twice per year, for the last seven years, with the independent adjudication results of over 250 students! I named my  methodology "SensAPitch" because each note is an easily distinguishable vibration color that can be sensed and recognized in the body. This is called "Absolute Pitch" or in layman's terms: "Perfect Pitch", and it is this skill that gives society's true musical geniuses their incredible gifts. Over the past 25 years I have developed a method to teach perfect pitch in a whole "right-brain" way by focusing on all of the senses, and noticing the differences between the notes.  My students are becoming some of the best musicians in our area, and are branching out into the world! Perfect pitch is the key to learning any instrument easily and intuitively. SensAPitch has 5 lesson books, 4 songbooks, and accompanying sound tracks. We also utilize Faber Piano Adventures and Snell Methodologies for learning music.

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After 30 years of running music schools, I can genuinely say that I love teaching one-on-one first and foremost. This can be individually or in groups of up to 35 students. Children, Adults, Seniors, Students with Special Needs... it doesn't matter to me in what form the student comes. I feel my life's purpose when I sit in a teaching room with a student... and I know that comes through in the teachers I hire and train as well.  Each one of them is trained and mentored until they become an experienced encourager of students. I like meeting every new student who comes into our doors to find music in some way. I can't wait to meet you, and I can't wait to welcome you to my school! 

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We are also in the process of starting a genetic study on the origins of musical talent/perfect pitch with Dr. Peter Gregerson, at the Feinstein Medical Research Institute in New York. This study will validate the Efficacy of SensAPitch in teaching perfect pitch, and show us the Genetic trail of the propensity of Perfect Pitch in musical families. We would love to have your family join our study in the future. Please read the page on the signs of musical talent!

Teresa is a lifelong student of piano and has been a credentialed teacher in the Lucia Mar School District for over 20 years. Teresa loves teaching children and adults, and is a calm, patient piano teacher. She became certified to teach SensAPitch, and is passionate about teaching music. She taught her own boys piano when they were little, giving her a special touch with children. She has a gentle and patient personality type, and has been trained to work with preschoolers, children of all ages, and adults. She also specializes in taking our youngest students from preschool level lessons to real piano lessons in a thoughtful and encouraging way.

Teresa Rubin, BA

Piano, SensAPitch

Ages: 3 - Adult

Personality type: INFP

Teresa Rubin.jpg
Photo of Jarrod Hayes

Jarrod Hayes

Acoustic & Electric Guitar, Ukulele, Perfect Pitch (SensAPitch), Special Needs

Teaches School of Rock

Ages: 6-Adult

Personality type: ENFP

Jarrod is a professional guitarist who plays electric and acoustic guitar. He started music lessons at age 2 with Bonnie teVelde, his grandmother. His favorite music is classic rock from the 70's and 80's, and he loves to improvise, write music, and play. He can teach just about any song written for lead or rhythm guitar, and he teaches the theory and reading concepts that are the structure behind the music. He is a gentle teacher with heart who wants his students to LOVE music more than anything else. He is currently in the process of finishing his AA degree in music at Cuesta College, so he is fluent in music theory, jazz, hip hop, R&B, and electronic music styles. He is also studying recording technology. He is a songwriter, and building a band to record hip hop cross with 70-80s styles of music. He listens to his students, and teaches them what they want/need to learn to reach their musical goals.

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