maya keren

Testimonials

"I began working with Maya 6 years ago, as one who was returning to piano decades after childhood lessons, and with very little real knowledge of music. It has been a joyful, enlightening, challenging and extremely fulfilling experience. Maya is an extraordinarily gifted musician and teacher, who has introduced me to the whole fascinating world of music theory, in addition to learning to play increasingly challenging pieces. And, very importantly at this point in my life, it is always a lot of fun. "
- Jean

“Ok so. Maybe you are a person (the person in this case is me) that has been a music lover for all of time (you are now 34) and you’ve always wanted to learn guitar and make your own work but you never quite made time for an actual guitar lesson because competing life experiences made it hard (you’re a creative person but you do lots of other things, work a job, have people in your life you want to show up for…) anyways and on and on the excuses you may be giving yourself can finally end! Enter Maya! A true hero and artist and dedicated teacher. I have enjoyed our lessons so much and learned a lot in such a short period of time. Maya is a no-nonsense and encouraging presence (safe, but holds you accountable) and I have enthusiastically entered a new era of art making in their care. You will want to impress them very quickly (if you are a teacher’s pet guy like me) and you’ll be motivated to stick with it. A rare soul who is ready to challenge you to bravely step into your voice and someone you should immediately, if this has not yet been made abundantly clear by this testimonial, get off the “I’m too afraid” couch and sign up for guitar class today.”
- Amy

“I highly recommend Maya as a music teacher. They guided with structure and concepts to focus on, while also emphasizing embodied experience, deep listening, and building musical intuition. I would leave our sessions feeling like I had something specific I wanted to work on, but also with an understanding of how I wanted to feel when I was playing, and the kind of relationship I wanted to have with my musical practice as a whole.”
- Paul

“Through lessons with Maya, I've been able to explore a range of harmonic and rhythmic ideas that are specific to my interests: breathing, posture, an awareness of my emotional disposition. I was very surprised that this latter topic made the most impact on my playing.”
- Khaled

"Maya goes beyond teaching an instrument and has helped me develop a deeper relationship with the music I listen to and play. They meet me where I am to help me effectively understand ideas and apply them in my musical practice."
- Kaleb

Sample topics of study

• Bach chorales and voice leading
• Learning how to play your favorite song
• Ornette Coleman’s theory of Harmolodics
• Developing a warm-up stretch routine
• Embodying polyrhythms with feet, hands, and voice
• Ear training games
• Pauline Oliveros’s Deep Listening
• Intro to improvising
• Using Koala to write a found-sound song
• Adrienne Lenker lyric analysis
• Breakdown of one of my Logic sessions
• How to teach a band your music
• Loving your voice!