Category Archives: Company News

Teacher Spotlight: Olga Boeva

Olga Boeva is our featured teacher of the month! She heads up the teaching staff at Jordan Kitts Music School in Sterling, located on Route 7 in the Sugarland Crossing shopping center. Olga has been teaching full time with Jordan Kitts Music since 2003, offering both group and private lessons. Her studio operates 7 days a week.

Her musical training at the University of St. Petersburg in Russia helped develop her broad background in music education. She is able to offer lessons in piano, violin, beginning and intermediate guitar, and will tutor children on the recorder. She is our certified Yamaha teaching specialist at the Sterling location, where she offers Junior Music Course, an incomparable foundation for musical study on any instrument. Four and five year old beginners experience singing, music reading and writing, playing piano, ear training and creating music.

Olga has a remarkable ability to communicate with children and engage them in the learning process. When asked what she loves about teaching, she will say the joy lies in building relationships. She takes great pleasure in watching young people grow and blossom in their musical abilities.

Now is the time to enroll in Junior Music Course with Ms. Olga for the spring semester. Class begins in February. Enrollment is on line. Follow the link at www.jordankittsmusic.com/lessons

Community Concert for Benjamin T. Rome School of Music

This was a community concert in our Rockville store last Saturday. Music
Theatre students from Catholic University of America’s Benjamin T. Rome
School of Music Theatre Division performed. These were 4 very talented
Juniors that performed various Broadway (and a few non-Broadway)
selections. I will send you the program separately, as well as some pics
from my cell phone.

Nikita Fitenko organized it for us. He is an international Yamaha
concert artist and on the piano faculty at Catholic. He is a big fan of
Yamaha and Jordan Kitt’s and has organized a community concert series
for us for the second year in a row.

Typically there are six concerts each year as a part of the series and they are held in the Rockville MD store. He is also co-founder of the Washington International Piano Festival (heading into it’s fifth year next year), which is becoming a very well known and well attended festival each year. It attracts participants from all around the world with top notch artists participating. This year that included Alex Kobrin, an internationally
acclaimed Yamaha artist from Columbus, GA.

Yamaha Young Musicians Course

This fall semester is my first time to teach the new Young Musicians Course of the Yamaha Music School since it has been redesigned and available a year ago.  The Young Musicians Course (YMC) is a three-year program for beginners ages 6 to 8.  Through different class activities, students learn the basic musical skills, independence, creativity, and self-expression

The semester started in the second week of September.  It is rewarding to see the repaid growth of students in music in just 8 weeks of classes.  Both students and parents have been enjoying the Yamaha materials and approaches.  The regular class activities includes solfege singing, ear training, piano repertoire, and music theory.  Also in the curriculum, students would be exposed to music arranging, ensemble playing, and improvisation.

The Yamaha Young Musicians Course nurtures children’s love in music and develop their musicianship through a well-designed curriculum.  This eighteen-week program meets fifty minutes.  The spring 2013 registration is available online in November at www.keyboardcenter.com and the class starts in February of 2013.

JKM Music School Welcomes Andrew McKain

Jordan Kitt’s Music School in Beltsville, MD welcomes new Teaching Specialist ANDREW McKAIN. Andrew has a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Business Administration from Morgan State University, Baltimore, Maryland. Andrew has been teaching piano for about 8 years. His speciality is Gospel Music. He has led the music programs at the Apostolic Revival Center in Beltsville, MD, the Truth Tabernacle Church in Baltimore, MD, and the NuVision Kingdom Life Center in District Heights, MD. Andrew has written about 30 gospel songs and has recorded them on 3 albums with his siblings. His latest CD, “My Life….No Strings Attached”, was released in 2011. He enjoys teaching piano, writing music,and working with children of all ages.

Our Labor Day Warehouse Sale 2012!

Come by Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday for an amazing array of discounts and deals at either of our locations. Some of our specials:

  • New Upright Pianos starting at $2,488.
  • Save up to 45% on Player Grands
  • Save up to 50% on Used Uprights
  • Yamaha Digitals starting at $1,488.
  • New Grand Pianos starting at $5,988.
  • Save up to 25% on Hybrid Grand Pianos
  • Save between $600 – $4,800 on our stunning array of Yamaha’s for the home
  • Save thousands on D.C.’s best selection of used Steinway Pianos

But these deals only last until Monday, September 3rd. So come on by!

Beltsville Music School Welcomes Dawn Kwon

Jordan Kitts Music School Beltsville welcomes Dawn Kwon to its teaching staff. Dawn holds a MA degree in Music from Queens College, The City University of New York and a Professional Studies Diploma in Music Composition from the Mannes College of Music, as well as a MM and BM degrees in Music from Kyunghee University in SeoulKorea. Dawn teaches Piano, Music Theory, and Composition. The studio is located on Route 1 in Beltsville just north of the Beltway in the Twin Chimneys Office Park. Visit our website at www.jordankitts.com for more information about our teaching programs.

Introducing Beth Corry, teaching specialist at Sterling and Fairfax

Beth Corry is well known locally as an organist, and choral accompanist. She has also directed musical theater, taught general music and maintained a very successful teaching studio in South Carolina. In the spring of 2012 she joined the Jordan Kitts teaching team, offering private lessons at Sterling and Fairfax.

Beth still has openings in her studio, but don’t expect that to last long! “Beth is the best!” says one of her students.

We are offering a summer lesson special for June and July: 4 lessons for $99. If you can snag a lesson time with Beth while she still has openings it’s a real steal!
Contact us at http://www.jordankitts.com/lesson to reserve a lesson time.

Jordan Kitts provides piano for 2012 Gershwin Prize

For the second time in less than two months, Jordan Kitt’s answered the call to send a piano to the White House.

On Wednesday, May 9, Burt Bacharach and Hal David were honored with the presentation of the 2012 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. The presentation was made to Mr. Bacharach and Mr. David’s wife, Eunice, by President Obama.

A star-studded line-up of international artists performed as part of the event. The roster included Sheryl Crow, Michael Feinstein, Diana Krall, Lyle Lovett, Mike Myers, Rumer, Arturo Sandoval, Sheléa and Stevie Wonder.

Jordan Kitt’s Music was honored and privileged to be asked to provide a Yamaha S6 Mark IV Disklavier Pro for this very special occasion in the musical life of our nation. The picture shows Stevie Wonder playing this piano.

The concert and presentation were filmed by WETA and  will be broadcast on Monday, May 21 on most PBS stations (including WETA) at 9:00pm ET.

Testing the Waters with Group Music Lessons

Have you wondered whether group lessons are right for your child? Will he or she like the class or be able to pay attention in a group?

I always try to reassure parents that young beginners, those aged 3 to 7 years old, actually thrive on a group learning environment. If you consider their world at this age, it is typically very social: learning through play and social interaction in preschool and kindergarten, play dates with friends or perhaps beginning to try out team sports. Why should music lessons be any different?

Piano LessonsHowever, if you still need convincing, summer provides the ideal opportunity to try group lessons with our certified Yamaha instructors for a short time at very low cost: the perfect opportunity to “test the waters” with your child!

Rhythm and Rhyme (4 and 5 year olds) provides a four week introduction to singing, rhythm, the solfege and keyboard skills. Parents and students will also get a “sneak peak” into some activities offered in Yamaha Junior Music Course in September.

45 minute class
4-6 students per class
Parent participation required

Young Musician Primer (6-8 years): A four week introduction to the keyboard and rudiments of music in fun group atmosphere. Students may continue in Yamaha Young Musicians Course in the fall.

45 minute class
4-6 students per class
Parent participation optional

All classes are bargain priced at $99 for 4 weeks. Offered in Fairfax, Rockville and Sterling. Register online at http://www.keyboardcenter.com or call 1-800-968-4807

Pat Keithly,
Teaching Specialist
Yamaha Instructor
Studio Manager

An Event to Remember

On Tuesday, April 17th Jordan Kitt’s Music and Yamaha Corporation of America hosted a special reception and presentation at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Guests from Music Schools, Performance Venues, and Area School Districts around the area were treated to special performances by renowned pianists Frederic Chiu and Gerald Clayton on the award winning Yamaha DCFX Concert Grand Piano.

What made these performances so special that the performers themselves weren’t even present for the event! Both pianist were actually seated at a DCFX Concert Grand Piano located at Yamaha Artist Services in New York. Thanks to Yamaha’s Remote Live Technology, concerts can be broadcast to venues all around the world, opening up wonderful new opportunities for performers everywhere.

The second part of the presentation was a sample lesson given by Frederic Chiu to Sophia Pileggi, a sophomore piano major at Catholic University. Again, Frederic was located in New York, with the student located here. Piano Instructors from local music schools were astounded with the system, and the opportunities this presents for guest lecturers, master classes, and Distance Learning opportunities for their students.

Altogether a very enjoyable evening, and we’re happy to say several performance venues will be presenting special concerts and programs to the public using this technology. Keep watching this blog space for future announcements of concerts and performances.

 

Brad Prentice

Jordan Kitt’s Music
bprentice@jordankitts.com