KU Community Music School
The KU Community Music School strives to inspire students of all ages to develop and nurture their joy in music. We offer programs in private piano instruction at various intensities with a wide array of performance opportunities. The University of Kansas School of Music provides us with a home for our private lessons, studio classes, master classes, and recitals. Aspiring graduate students from the School of Music provide quality instruction under the guidance of world renowned pedagogue and Cordelia Brown Murphy Professor of Piano Pedagogy, Dr. Scott McBride Smith.
The KU Community Music School offers private piano lessons to students of all ages and interests. Lessons are held once every week, with 30 weeks of lessons in the academic year.
Piano Basics
- This program is for the student who loves to learn and enjoys making music. It includes 30 weekly lessons per year, and students perform on each of the four recitals. The cost is regular tuition. See tuition contract for more details.
Accelerated Program
- Students who love to perform and compete will benefit greatly from this program. In addition to regular lessons and recitals, students have the opportunity to participate in KCMTA events, and KU studio classes and master classes. The cost is regular tuition plus entrance fees, which vary by event. See tuition contract for more details.
Policy and Tuition
Complete Calendar
Newsletter
2013-2014
2012-2013
Christina Liu - Director, Community Music School
Currently pursuing her doctoral degree at the University of Kansas, Christina Liu began her piano studies in kindergarten and has been recognized throughout her career as an accomplished soloist and chamber musician. Her heavy involvement in high school bands and choirs as well as her high school piano teacher inspired her to pursue a Piano Performance degree with an emphasis in Piano Pedagogy at Washington State University with Dr. Gerald Berthiaume, where she maintained a large active piano studio in the Piano Pedagogy Lab School, was the president of the collegiate chapter of Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), and graduated summa cum laude. She obtained the status of Nationally Certified Teacher of Music with MTNA in October 2010 at the start of her studies at the University of Michigan, where she graduated with a masters in both Piano Performance and Chamber Music Performance, and she was an active member of the collegiate MTNA chapter when they were awarded national Chapter of the Year. She continued working with Prof. Christopher Harding upon graduation while teaching full-time for two years in Cincinnati, teaching for the Cincinnati School of Music (CSM) and Piano Lessons In Your Home, Inc (PLIYH). After only one year at CSM, she was nominated for Teacher of the Year. Her students consistently received high marks and recognition at local competitions. Christina believes music is an art form that pervades mos of that we are exposed to daily, and she teaches with the primary purpose of nurturing their appreciation and understanding while also challenging them to reach their personal goals and encourage a life-long love of music in her students.
Scott Cohen
Scott Cohen is a Doctoral Student at the University of Kansas. He also has degrees from Stetson and Tulane University. He was a National Finalist and top seven in the country at MTNA’s piano competition in 2014. He was also a semi-finalist this year. He won first prize at the Orfeo International Competition in 2014 in Italy and Debose National Piano Competition in the US amongst others. He recently performed the 12 Transcendental Etudes by Franz Liszt at Tulane University and will be giving other concerts with this repertoire in the near future. Cohen was a graduate teaching assistant at Tulane University for two years where he taught undergraduate private lessons. He continues being a graduate assistant at the University of Kansas.
Rosy Ge
Exciting, imaginative, genuine, free, risk-taking, and dramatic... these are just some words used to express Rosy Ge’s wonderful playing. Described by many as a pianist with enormous potential, Ms. Ge has won numerous prizes and scholarships both locally and internationally. In the summer of 2005, she played with the Alberta Philharmonic Orchestra in a Gala concert showcasing grand prize winners of the Canadian Music Competitions, and in 2006, Ms. Ge became the only Chinese recipient of the prestigious Developing Artist Grand given by the Raymond Hnatyshyn Foundation. She has gone on to further her musical studies at the University of Alberta with Dr. Patricia Tao and finished her Bachelors of Music degree at Oberlin Conservatory under the tutelage of Angela Cheng. For her graduate studies Ms. Ge was guided by Dr. Karen Shaw at Indiana University. While in Bloomington, she was an Associate Instructor of Piano for the Jacobs School of Music as well as a piano instructor for their Young Pianists Program. Ms. Ge is currently a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Kansas pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree with Dr. Steven Spooner.
Nora Asteria Ramli
Born in Pematangsiantar, North Sumatra in 1992, Nora started learning to play piano when she was seven years old from Junia and Heidi Ho. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Pelita Harapan under Johannes Sebastian Nugroho, Levi Gunardi, and Iswargia R. Sudarno with cumlaude. She won the second prize of KMTA (2015), Indonesia’s Yamaha Scholarship (2014), Highest Distinction Concert for ABRSM and LCM Diploma Distinction (2008). She has given several piano recitals. She is currently pursuing a master degree from the University of Kansas under Dr. Scott McBride Smith, while working as a graduate teaching assistant.
Yuta Sugano
Born in Japan, Yuta Sugano started playing the piano at the age of five and made his debut with an orchestra at eleven. Since moving to the United States, he has graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy, received his bachelor’s degree from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and master’s degree from the University of Michigan on a full scholarship. His teachers and advisers include Arthur Greene, Penelope Crawford, Angela Cheng, Yoshikazu Nagai, Meiko Miyazawa and Kazuko Akiya. At Oberlin, he cultivated a serious interest in piano technology, and earned the distinction of performing his recital on a New York Steinway, which he restored himself. He has appeared as a soloist in numerous countries including Australia, Costa Rica, Germany, Japan, Spain and the United States. He is currently pursuing a doctorate degree from the University of Kansas under the tutelage of Dr. Steven Spooner, while working as a graduate teaching assistant.
