I believe that enjoyment opens the door to learning.
kiley's Sweet twinkle twinkle little star
cole rockin' the final countdown
Learning music theory WHILE playing musically creates a joy and discovery of music that lasts a lifetime.
abby practicing beethoven's fur Elise
the humphrey family christmas trio
kelton learns accompaniment with yasmine
We learn to talk before we begin to read. We should learn to play before studying musical notation.
Learning musical notation is crucial to a student’s musicianship. But waiting to sound musical until you’ve played piano for 5 years and learned all your notes correctly isn’t exactly all that fun either.
I use a combination of rote learning (I show a student rather than have them try to read something) and the actual reading of the music.
Students love playing the piano because they can sound good right away! And that enjoyment creates motivation which results in music for a lifetime!
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Testimonials
It is an honor and a privilege to have worked with these many families over the years. I have watched my students grow and discover who they are, both as musicians and individuals. Where there was once fear, there is now confidence. Where there was once perfectionism, there is now a healthy striving for excellence in their musicianship. It is my passion to invest in the lives of my students, and I consider myself blessed to have been given permission to speak into their lives and impact their future.
Parent: Carissa W.
Brooke poured into Keeley as a super shy 6-year old who wouldn’t even talk at lessons. She loved her, encouraged her, laughed with her, helped her with talent show pieces for school, helped her compose a song and they even made a music video of it! She emphasized music theory over the years so much that Keeley is so good at music - she can read music, she knows rules and tempos and all the other music stuff… and now she’s even singing and leading worship in chapels and devotions! I can truly and honestly say that Keeley would not be who she is today without Brooke’s years of teaching, love, and support. Brooke was her teacher and mentor for 8 years and awakened the love and gift of music that was inside her. Her love and passion for music and people comes out in all she does… The foundation Brooke gave her, along with all her genuine love and encouragement has brought Keeley to this place. She wants to pursue music in college in Nashville and I couldn’t be happier!
Student: Leah, Age 9
I like having Brooke as a teacher because she is good at teaching. I like her because she has interesting ideas for themes. She is very fun. I also like her hair.
Parent: Barb F.
Brooke Baker taught our 4 children piano lessons for 11 years. But she didn’t just teach them piano…she fostered a lifelong love of music while encouraging them to be the unique and special people they were created to be. Each week they looked forward to seeing “Miss Brooke” at lessons because they knew she cared about them as individuals. When she would give them a challenging piece of music to learn, she was their greatest cheerleader and adapted her teaching methods, pushing them to a point of difficulty, but not so difficult that it wasn’t fun anymore. She went above and beyond to provide unique performance opportunities and experiences for her students. As an example, Brooke got one of our kids started with playing in the pit band for several youth drama company shows. They all participated in providing music for either church services or summer Vacation Bible School as well. She not only taught students individually but showed them how to work together in pairs or groups to create memorable music. We have so much respect for Brooke as a music instructor, and we are proud to call her not just our piano teacher, but our dear friend. She is amazing!
Graduate: Daniel, student of 9 years
Lessons with Brooke provided an excellent foundation for my future endeavors as both a musician and a person. A key aspect of her teaching style is her flexible, well-rounded approach. Many teachers focus strongly on a specific genre, most often classical music. This produces results, but limits kids’ understanding of music to the genre that they learned. With Brooke, once I learned the basics, my lessons were more self-guided. I played some classical music, but I also learned how to read a lead sheet, improved my sight-reading and ear-training skills, and developed a solid base of theory knowledge. This paid dividends in my future music education… I went to college for commercial music and found myself in a unique situation with my classmates. I studied with people with strong backgrounds in both classical and commercial music, and I found myself right in the middle. I was one of the best sight-readers in my class, I was better at playing classical music than the commercial majors, and I was better at improvising and utilizing chord structures than the classical majors… Overall, Brooke’s approach to teaching is inclusive, intuitive, and well-rounded. Starting my musical study with her enabled me to be the complete, well-rounded musician I am today.
“Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.”
