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![]() My Story:A priest told my father that I have a gift that one in a million people have. The next day a piano arrived at my house and the day after that I began piano lessons with Norman Hassinger. I was 5 years old. Since that day I have supported myself from music. I studied with Norman Hassinger until the age of 13. He had 11 sons, and the patience of a saint. I learned all my reading, theory, ear training and how to arrange music from him. I won every talent show that I entered and performed for every musical while I was in school beginning at age 10 until age 18. During that time I also learned how to play the flute in school, the guitar from a friend, the accordion from instructor Danny Marino, and how to sing from my opera star cousin, Paul Salciccia. At age 15 my mother passed away and I dove into my music, studying with J. Paul Dorsa, an excellent musician who plays with many famous people. He taught me how to improvise. During a "Toys for Tots" drive I interviewed a band for the fund raiser. I became the keyboard player for that band, named Cold Sun, and turned pro at age 16. I played with that band until I was 22 years old. We traveled and played through California until I graduated from Los Gatos High School, and then moved to Texas where we toured the Holiday Inn circuit and played in major cities such as Galveston, Dallas, Corpus Christi and Houston. After attending San Jose State University majoring in psychology with a minor in humanities, I moved to Juneau, Alaska, where I would spend the next 5 years doing my most memorable work. I began teaching at a local music store and attended the Wurlitzer School of music seminars where I learned how to teach. Still, I felt something was lacking in the instructional books and I began to write my own teaching method based on the progress and necessary tools that each student required as I discovered that one student learned quite differently from another. That is when I also expanded my teaching skills to include strings, woodwinds, and percussion. I was one of the original founders of the Alaska Panhandler's Society. We published 2 folksingers' songbooks and a triple albums of authentic Tlinget and Haida music as well as original Alaskan folk music. It was in Alaska that I wrote many songs, played many concerts, arranged many other musicians music, recorded, and performed at the local radio stations. I was part of a duo called "Fich and Ramos" (named because some day we wanted to be rich and famous) and we traveled all over Southeast Alaska performing a variety of music in a variety of settings, including the famous Red Dog Saloon where I mastered the art of ragtime. I left Alaska and went back to California where I met and married my husband, and singer and songwriter. We wrote, recorded and performed in Lake Tahoe and Palm Springs, ultimately landing us in Gig Harbor, Washington in 1983. That is when I began teaching in the Gig Harbor Area. I arranged and played for Peninsula High School choirs for 5 years under the direction of Connie Fenton and traveled with the nationally acclaimed "Razz-ma-tazz" jazz choir. During that time a band was formed, again under the direction of Connie Fenton, and we have been playing for engagements, weddings, parties and dinner theaters until the present. I owned and operated a business in Purdy, Washington for over 15 years. The experience was invaluable but I decided to close that business to devote more time for quality music lessons and to complete the publication of my instructional method books. I love teaching music. The other experiences were necessary, but teaching is what I have a passion for. | |
Expressions Music 9301 144th St. Ct. NW Gig Harbor, WA 98329 Map 253-857-3788 mascreate@icloud.com |