Isn’t it Time You Made Some Noise?
Put a Little Music in Your Life!
I teach piano in my home studio in South Egremont, Massachusetts, just a few miles from Great Barrington, in South Berkshire County. Even better, I don’t teach alone: my partner, David Hodge, teaches guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin, and, occasionally, some piano. So if you have a family where one member wants to take guitar lessons and the other wants piano lessons, we can accommodate you.
Located next door to the Catamount Ski Area, we are five minutes from the South Egremont Village center, five minutes from Hillsdale, N.Y., and only 7 miles from downtown Great Barrington.
Our music lessons are individually tailored to each student. We offer lessons for all ages, levels, and styles.
- Reasonably Priced.
- Conveniently Located
- Friendly and supportive lessons in a beautiful environment.
- Seminars and group jams also available
You can read my blog on music and music education at Musical Resources.
We are passionate about sharing our joy of music. Let us share it with you and your children.
Some Musical Bits and Pieces about Karen Berger
- Karen holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Northwestern University, where she studied classical piano. Later studies focused on jazz theory and arrangement.
- Karen is the author of the Pocket Idiot’s Guide to Piano Chords, The Complete Idiots Guide to Teaching Music on Your Own, and the Complete Idiot’s Guide to Piano Exercises, all published by Alpha, a divison of Penguin.
- Her performances have included solo recitals, accompanying, ensemble work, and studio recording, as well as jazz and jamming. These days, you can catch her performing in clubs around the Berkshires, and once in a while, on the road.
- Karen teaches both traditional and jazz piano. Her goal is to give students the techniques and understanding they need to tackle and enjoy different styles of music.
- Karen’s prior teaching experience includes being on the faculty of the Berkshire Music School (she gave it up when she had too many students at her home studio) and teaching in the “PianoKids” program, an innovative group piano program for beginners (she likes working one-on-one better).
- Karen was an editor at Clavier Magazine, where she reviewed, edited, and wrote materials on piano pedagogy. She also edited Accent on Music, a magazine for student musicians.
The Andante Mission
“Andante” (“Ahn-Dahn-Tay”) is the name of our home in the Berkshires. (Or you can just call it Karen and David’s.)
Why the fancy name?
“Andante” is a musical term that suits our style and tells you about our teaching philosophy. Andante means:
- At a walking pace (and we all know people walk at different paces).
- A tempo of about 60—80 beats per minute (just like the human heart).
- Slow — or quick — but never rushed.
If you find this confusing, you’re in good company: Andante is a tempo marking whose meaning is not entirely clear — even to musicologists and composers. Meaning, of course, that there are lots of “right” ways to make music!
At Andante we help you learn to make music at your own pace and in your own style. Yes, we teach musicianship, technique, and theory — but most of all, we work to nurture the relationship between our students and their music.
Our mission is to bring music into people’s everyday lives. To do that, we host frequent musical seminars in our home, as well as traditional recitals. In addition to attending scheduled lessons, students are invited to be guests at Andante for jam sessions, where they have the opportunity to play with and learn from other musicians of all levels.
E-mail me at KBergerpiano at Aol dot com. Please excuse the weird e-mail format, but I’m trying to evade the spammers and bots. You know where to put in the @ and the “dot,” right?
