Charisse's Music Studio

I’m so excited to be offering this class starting in January! Browse my website for more info and message me if you want to reserve one of the limited spots for your child!

Montessori Piano by Charisse's Music Studio

Exciting news from Charisse's Music Studio!! Montessori Piano will be coming soon, offered weekly for 3-6 year-olds! Hands-on learning, self-discipline, concentration, and independence will all be nurtured in this unique class as a foundation for a life long appreciation for music and beauty. Space is limited and the class is expected to fill up fast! Message me soon to reserve your spot!

What does Charisse do when you aren’t able to make it to your lesson? Even if a student has to miss their lesson because of a conflict, I am still using that time to prepare and grow as their teacher. This summer I am using extra studio time to play through my music library and re-familiarize myself with all that I have. This helps me make the best music selections for each individual student and know what I need to buy to expand my library in ways that will benefit my students. This is just one way that I strive to make the most out of monthly tuition!

At Charisse’s Music Studio, you can receive specialized instruction on bass clarinet and e-flat clarinet-the two most commonly played auxiliary clarinets. I have performance experience on both. I most recently played bass clarinet with Ballet Wichita’s production of The Nutcracker and played e-flat clarinet with Wichita Grand Opera’s production of Candide. I encourage all clarinetists to gain some experience playing an auxiliary instrument to increase versatility and musicianship. Also, they are just fun to play!

Charisse's Music Studio had a wonderful academic year filled with performances, camaraderie, and goals being met! We kicked off our year with the addition of a beautiful new piano. We all enjoyed coming together in small groups for a couple of masterclasses, several students participated in a Fall Festival, we had our annual studio Christmas recital, and my clarinetists enjoyed such honors as being accepted into district and all-state honor ensembles and superior ratings at regional and state solo contest. I celebrated 5 years of Charisse's Music Studio in Wichita at Air House Music Academy, and was thrilled to perform with the Wichita Grand Opera (including a performance featuring Kelsey Grammer), Ballet Wichita, and the Friends University opera department, as well as collaborating with colleague KC Graham from Wichita Piano Studio on a chamber music recital. And our year is being capped off by several students reaching their goal of learning 40 new pieces in one year, plus one student who even put on her own recital! We will continue learning and loving music over the summer as we prepare for another amazing year to come! I love my students!

I love it when a former student inspires me to continue to try “to do what I thought I couldn’t”. Congratulations to Jordan Voth on his debut as a piano concerto soloist with the Kansas City Ballet and members of the Kansas City Symphony. My husband, Rob, and I had the privilege of being a part of his music education when he was at Hesston High School many years ago and it has been so fun to see all that he has accomplished! Below is his post and some photos of this great accomplishment:

“Still feels like a dream, but yesterday I finished my first run of being a concerto soloist for Kansas City Ballet with members of the Kansas City Symphony playing Stravinsky’s Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra. Even a couple years ago I wouldn’t have thought I would have the courage to handle that amount of pressure but my wonderful boss Ramona Pansegrau, to whom I owe so much, pushed me to do what I thought I couldn’t and convinced me I was capable of such a feat.

I also want to thank everybody at Kansas City Ballet for putting up with my neurosis over the past few months. Jacob Ross Thomas and John Livingston for turning my pages. Robert Weirich and Karen Kushner for their support. My parents and sister Brittany Bartel for traveling to KC for a show. Most of all, I want to thank my wife Jennifer Weiman who put up with my anxiety and doubt for over a year in preparing this piece. Also for her patience in hearing the same two pages played somewhere between 2 and 3 million times. Thank you all!!!”

Congrats to my two clarinet students who performed at state solo and ensemble contest on Saturday!

I had so much fun watching my student, Ava, perform her very own recital this afternoon! Since I wasn’t able to do a spring studio recital this year due to extenuating family circumstances, she (and her mom) took the initiative to put together her own recital featuring some of her favorite pieces she had learned over the past few months. She played beautifully! I love seeing my students sharing their gifts with the world!

5 years ago, my family moved to Wichita, and I started Charisse's Music Studio at Air House Music Academy with three students. Through my collaboration with Air House and David Lord, my studio has grown from three to 30+ students. I have had the privilege of watching students take their first seat at the piano, carefully handle their first clarinet reed, prepare for contests and performances, and discern how to incorporate music into their future lives. I have personally had the opportunity to perform with the Wichita Grand Opera, the Wichita Symphony, Ballet Wichita, and fellow musicians. Teaching and playing music is my passion. It is the arena in which I feel most like myself. I am blessed to have a job that does not feel like work. Rather, I get to watch music come alive over and over again through the progression of each unique student's discovery of it. Thank you to my wonderful students and their families, and to my husband and children who support me in my musical pursuits!

Ava was the first of my students to complete the 40 piece challenge! She worked hard to learn 40 new pieces in a year and is so proud to get to take home a bamboo plant as a reward for her efforts! The bamboo plant mirrors my studio logo and reminds us that, like the bamboo plant, our growth is often progressing in a way that remains hidden from the outside world until it suddenly bursts forth in a more abundant way than we could have ever imagined. Great job, Ava! (and all of my other students who are working diligently toward their goals.)

It's been a privilege to collaborate with KC Graham from Wichita Piano Studio over the past several months on the Saint-Saens clarinet sonata. We will be performing this beautiful work at the Wichita Metropolitan Music Teachers Association's Collaborative Recital on Friday, March 8 at 7pm, Wichita State University, Duerksen Fine Arts Center, C107. You can hear the first movement that we played on KC's studio recital recently in the link below. Come hear the rest on March 8th!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOsaGF_BmV0

It's been a busy couple of weeks for Charisse's Music Studio! We had a pre-recital masterclass so everyone could practice performing their recital pieces. We also had fun playing name that tune at our masterclass and eating Christmas candy! Ms. Charisse played clarinet and bass clarinet for Ballet Wichita's production of The Nutcracker and loved that some of her students were able to come see the ballet and hear her play. Our studio Christmas recital was a wonderful experience for everyone, complete with cookies and punch. Now it's time for one more week of lessons, and then a well-deserved Christmas break!

The younger students in Charisse’s Music Studio enjoy choosing prepared activities from a bookcase near the piano. This allows them to have some much needed movement rather than sitting on a piano bench for 30 solid minutes and reinforces musical concepts in an engaging way. In this photo, Violet is using chopsticks to put pompoms in cups that have different rhythms notated on them-one pom for each beat depicted. She just thinks using the chopsticks is fun-but I know that she is also strengthening her hands, improving her dexterity, reinforcing her knowledge of rhythmic notation, and improving her concentration.

Congratulations to these amazing clarinetists I get to teach!

It was a music-filled Saturday for students and teacher alike! Several of my piano students participated in a Fall Festival, where they performed for and worked with a guest teacher and received a certificate and ribbon. Then I got to play in the pit orchestra for Wichita Grand Opera’s production of La Boheme. The production came together beautifully. It was a joy to play with so many wonderful musicians and under the brilliant direction of Whitney Reader. Congrats to all of the musicians I have the privilege of working with, from beginners to professionals!

Charisse’s Music Studio had a great masterclass this weekend! We held three hour long sessions so small groups of students could perform for each other, work with Miss Charisse, write encouraging compliment cards for each other, play games, and leave with a goody bag of sweet Halloween treats! I was so impressed by the wonderful comments everyone wrote for each other and the discussions we had on various topics like managing performance anxiety, musical styles and forms, and even some music history. I am blessed with a wonderful studio !

I love to teach all ages and levels, but there is always something special about guiding a new student through her first piano lesson. I get to experience the wonder and joy of music through fresh eyes and anticipate all of the fun that is to come. Welcome to the world of music Faith!

Charisse’s Music Studio now has a beautiful new piano for students to enjoy! My students were all so excited to see it, play it, and peer inside it! Thanks to Pianos Unlimited in Hutchinson for their craftsmanship, and a special thanks to David Lord at Air House Music Academy for being so accommodating of his teachers’ needs. I’m looking forward to teaching many more lessons on this wonderful instrument!

Charisse's Music Studio had a busy year of recitals, events, and joyful music making! Of my 35 students, nearly everyone participated in one or more of the following events: Fall Fest which included working with a guest teacher and receiving ribbons and certificates; Christmas studio recital, complete with punch and cookies; A Weekend with Dennis Alexander event, which included meeting world-renowned composer Dennis Alexander and performing in a masterclass and multi-keyboard duet concert with him; a concerto competition; a spring studio recital; District and All-State band auditions; regional and state solo competitions. It was a great year of watching my students grow in their abilities and love of music!

Charisse’s Music Studio Spring Recital was a success! Everyone gave a great performance, followed by cookies, punch, and wonderful camaraderie. I’m so grateful to my students and their families for keeping the love of music thriving and growing!

15 of my piano students participated in A Weekend with Dennis Alexander. Dennis Alexander is one of North America’s most prolific and popular composers of educational piano music for students at all levels. He returned to his native state of Kansas this weekend to give master classes, present some of his latest compositions, and conduct a Monster Concert with several groups of 24 pianists performing some of his duets together! We all had a great time preparing for and participating in this weekend!

Congratulations to all of my amazing students who performed in my studio Christmas recital this past weekend! It was a festive afternoon with lots of great music, fellowship, cookies, and the famous recital punch! Merry Christmas!