Collette St. Claire
Piano Lessons
Collette has taught ALL age levels, literally doing an experiential baby class when her first baby was born and several years of pre-school movement based classes. She has also worked part-time at the University of Colorado Denver, Metropolitan State university, SU, Red Rocks Community College and CU-Boulder. Sometimes working several places at once! Collette has taught private lessons to students ages 5-92! The past 10 years or so she has decreased private students and have taught more at the university level because the perfect time for piano students is after school–exactly the time she has to spend with her kids! Those kids are older now and more independent and she is refocusing efforts on private teaching. Ms. St. Clair has her Masters Degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy (art of teaching) from CU-Boulder (graduated 2003) and have done lots of enrichment courses over the years to improve and expand her teaching methods. Recently, she did a post-graduate intensive summer course at Juilliard in NYC. Her studies have also taken her to London on a grant to study Music, Mind and Movement. There are so many psychological elements in music study, especially with adults; and movement is a necessity in teaching children. Collette really enjoys teaching all different levels of students. She hopes to share music with you soon!
Lessons with Collette are $35.00 for 30 minutes.
Sign up for Piano Lessons with Ms. St. Claire.
Kevin Kelly
Kevin KellyPiano Lessons
Kevin started playing piano on a whim at the age of 8 and soon discovered it was one of his favorite things. He studied classical music for many years before expanding into contemporary genres and adding singing and songwriting to his repertoire. Kevin has a bachelor’s degree in music from University of Colorado Denver with a singer/songwriter emphasis, where he discovered a predilection for writing social commentary songs and an attraction to unusual harmony. Above all, it is Kevin’s philosophy that music should be enjoyable. His students receive firm grounding in music theory and are encouraged to explore their musical interests in depth.
Lessons with Kevin are $30.00 for 30 minutes.
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Natalie Thompson
Natalie ThompsonPiano Lessons
Natalie’s first exposure to music was at six years old with her family’s upright piano. Being the only child of three to give attention to the instrument, her parents signed her up for private piano lessons. She continued to take piano lessons until high school. During the same years of taking lessons, Natalie participated in musicals every summer with her home church.
In high school, Natalie was in choir all four years and band as a percussionist for the last two years. By junior year in high school, Natalie knew that she wanted to pursue music as a career. As a result, she attended MSU Denver, where she received her Bachelor’s in Music Education.
After graduating from MSU Denver, Natalie taught K-8 music at Good Shepherd Catholic School in Denver and private music lessons outside of the classroom.
From 2018-2020, Natalie pursued her Master’s in Vocal Performance at Lamont School of Music. At Lamont, Natalie performed lead roles, like Frugula from Il tabarro, La Ciesca from Gianni Schicchi, and Zwiete Dame from Die Zauberflöte. (Just to name a few.)
Natalie continued to teach private lessons up until Spring of 2022, when she wanted to pursue a career in construction as a project administrator. Natalie soon realized that her love for music and teaching was much stronger than working in construction. As a result, she recently accepted the position as the accompanist for Erie High School’s choir department and is accepting new private piano and voice lesson students in the Denver Metro area.
After returning as a full-time musician, Natalie believes that music is a vital part of her life. Through teaching, she hopes to share her passion and appreciation for music to others.
Lessons with Natalie are $35.00 for 30 minutes.
Sign up for Piano Lessons with Natalie.
Maria Gabriela Garcia
Maria Gabriela GarciaPiano Lessons
Performing Arts Education is the heart of her training from Moore’s School of Music at the
University of Houston to The Aspen Music Festival and School. Ms. Maria offers classes in
Voice and Piano. Music Students will advance in Music Theory and Composition, and she incorporates all modern genres to give a well-rounded curriculum.
After 23 years in Opera, Musical Theatre, Religious Communities and Community Theatre, Ms. Maria has helped develop the beginning student to the professional. Music is a language that everyone speaks on some level, and finding your voice or instrument is a life-long journey.
Lessons with Maria are $30.00 for 30 minutes.
Sign up for Piano Lessons with Ms. Maria.
Pearl Rutherford
Pearl RutherfordPiano Lessons
Pearl is an experienced and highly qualified music instructor and performer. She is excited and eager to share her love of music with her students and has been teaching voice and piano for more than 20 years. Her students come from a variety of ages, singing backgrounds, and music genres, beginner to college level to professional, including classical, musical theatre, contemporary Christian and contemporary commercial (CCM) music styles. She is currently on
the affiliate voice faculty in the School of Music of Colorado Christian University, where she enjoys a robust and busy voice studio. Several of her former students have continued to pursue advanced music degrees, professional performing, voice and choir teaching, or even making music as enthusiastic amateurs.
She has been playing piano from the age of 8, and has been singing for as long as she can
remember, from junior high school and high school choirs, to leading both traditional and
contemporary worship in church, to community choirs, to classical soloist in opera and oratorio.
Her teaching and performing experience spans time spent in Hawaii, Wyoming, Idaho and, currently, Colorado. She is a member of the highly acclaimed vocal group, Kantorei in Denver, is a regular soprano soloist with Denver’s Metropolitan Choral Festival, and has performed as soloist with Denver’s Stratus Chamber Orchestra, with whom she sang Barber’s “Knoxville: Summer of 1915” during their 2017 tour in the Czech Republic.
Pearl is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), has earned a
degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Hawaii, and continues to expand her knowledge of vocal pedagogy by attending NATS conferences and workshops (including the 2019 Cascade CCM Symposium in Oregon, presented by Matt Edwards), continued personal study of voice teaching, as well as continued private vocal study herself.
Lessons with Pearl are $35 for 30 minute lessons.
Sign up for Piano Lessons with Pearl.
