- -
- Private Lessons - - -
Experienced with AUTISM,
ASPERGERS,
ANXIETY DISORDERS, PATHOLOGICAL SHYNESS,
SPECIAL NEEDS with or without LABELS
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Private Piano Instruction -
- - - - Therapy - - - -
- A Lifeline to Wholeness -
. . . .
Mary Kay Kapustka brings
40 plus years of hands on experience working
with numerous
unique individuals throughout her adult life. She meets
each
individual where
that individual is and searches for the special set of
keys
that will enable each individual to access the wonderful
World of Music.
She enables each student to explore this
World of Music through the
medium of Private Piano Instruction
Ms. Kapustka learned early on that each student is truly
unique and one
size simply does not fit all. She strives
to develop a truly customized course
of study for each
student. Teaching Materials are chosen to fit the varied
needs of each student, rather than expecting the student
to fit into a
preconceived pace of instruction as laid
out by any particular Method Book.
Ms. Kapustka
now brings her varied and extensive personal and professional
experiences directly to her teaching which results in reaping
huge benefits
for her students. Throughout the twenty adult
years of her own personal
and private study, with three exemplary
teachers, she found that what she
was learning could be put
to immediate use in her teaching.
Not having access to the really fine teaching that met her
needs until
Graduate School, she can relate to the desire
students have at an early
age to learn quality music that
is challenging, fulfilling and rewarding.
Through her extensive
study throughout her adult years, she has learned
how to
break down a piece, at any level, into “bites” the
student can
comprehend and master; “bites” of
a size the student is comfortable with,
even if it is only
a measure or two of a piece that may be several pages
long.
This enables students of any age to play meaningful pieces
with artistry
and excellence, with a minimal, if any, amount
of frustration. Having taken
months and even years, learning
pieces as an adult, she appreciates the toil
that may stretch
out over months, even years, as a student of any age or
level
works toward the
mastery of a goal the student has set for him/herself.
When working with a student too young to know anything
about goals,
much less set one, she relies on her lifetime
of experiences combined with
her “ standard of excellence
rule” which has guided her throughout her life.
Setting, following through, and finishing the goal, while
abiding by high
standards are all important. Goals and
reaching goals make up the
cornerstone of success her teaching
has produced for forty plus years.
However, putting the
health and wellbeing of each
individual student above all
else, must be the single
most important consideration at
all times.
One size does not fit all.
Ms. Kapustka knows firsthand what it is like to have a brain
that “doesn’t
work quite right”. Diagnosed
late in her adult life as bipolar, she realizes she
displayed
signs of bipolar behavior going back to early childhood.
Denial and
ignorance played a key part in enabling her to
function, fooling everyone,
including herself, until psychiatric
intervention became absolutely essential
when she was in
her early fifties. A long, tough trek led to the current
place
of being able to function productively in her “maturing
senior years”.
It was not until reaching her “maturing senior years” that
she was enabled
to use the all important tool of learning
to manage her condition. Along with
the help of medication,
careful monitoring, and a lot of prayer; she has learned
how to turn her condition toward productivity rather than
disability as she
eagerly looks forward to her life after
sixty-five.
Because of this first hand experience with her own brain
activity, she finds
herself able to reach out and into the
minds of her students. She senses
and grasps what it is a
student needs at a given time. She senses the proper
pace of advancement that is right for each individual student.
She allows her
students a lot of flexibility, knowing that
their psyche will be at times unsettled.
Everyone’s
psyche is vulnerable to periods of unrest. She considers
this to be
a “ normal” part of each
encounter with each student; making allowances for
these
variances.
This approach instills perseverance and persistence in students
which results
in deep and lasting gratification, as opposed
to instant gratification, which is
an unfortunate side effect
of the age in which we live. Poise, confidence and
self esteem,
based on tangible achievement; as opposed to mindless heaps
of praise without true accomplishment; produce integrity.
Using “tangible
achievement” combined with her “standard
of excellence rule” along with making
ample room for
variance enables progress: irregardless if the achievement
is a
piece of music eight measures in length or eight pages
and anything and
everything in between and beyond. Perhaps
it is only going to be eight notes.
That is OK!
Private Piano Instruction is a gift for the student that will
last a lifetime. The
joy of playing the piano, loosing oneself
in music, a most ancient of the arts,
a language that all can
and do understand, is beyond measure. A luxury of
music is
its ability to touch and stir the deepest of emotions; the
deepest
reaches of a mind. When we need to forget, music can
soothe, when we
need to remember, music can probe. When we
need peace and gentleness,
music can transport and harmonize
and comfort.
Tastes differ, styles differ, experiences differ, centuries
differ, soundtracks of
various lives differ, however, all
music is a great and glorious gift of God. Music
offers a
person a safe venue of expressing the most private, subtle,
delicate
of emotions as well as the most powerful and combative.
Music frees a person
to communicate from the most private
reaches of his/her soul.
Ms. Kapustka welcomes students with little or no note reading
ability as well
as students who resist reading, as eagerly
as she welcomes fluent readers.
She has discovered many ways
to gently guide the student towards mastery
of the basic
elements of note reading. Students who have had spotty or
no
instruction, but have a strong desire to play and excel,
perhaps learning on
their own, “by ear” are welcome.
There is a place in her Studio for students starting at
the most elementary
level as well as students who are playing
at a very advanced level. A strong
desire to have piano a
part of their life is the highest importance.
There is a wide variance for determining readiness for Private
Piano Instruction.
Age is only one of many factors. Great
care is needed in the interview and
introductory process
to assure that the child has only the most positive of
experiences
from the very beginning.
The bottom line has to be about
putting the health and
wellbeing of each individual student
above all else.
One size does not fit all.
There are no guarantees of success. Ms. Kapustka challenges
the basic
definition of success. What is one person’s
joyous success may very well
be another person’s miserable
failure. Her desire is to share the joy and life
giving therapy
she has found in the World of Music, through piano, with
whoever is willing to adventure with her.
As we grapple with the uncertainty of here and now, perhaps
we can take
comfort in the awareness of timelessness, of
eternity; that the World of
Music can open for us here and
now.
For information please choose one or more of the following:
• call 303 753 0690
• email: lisztdigital@msn.com
• use the CONTACT US form on the website
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