Mariana Preda

Hello! My name is Mariana Preda and I am a panflute player. I’ve graduated from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with a Master Degree in Classical panflute. I felt in love with the sound of this instrument at an early age, the panflute being well known in the Romanian folk music and not only. It is a unique instrument and rare to be found in the western music, therefore my biggest dream is to show the possibilities and beautiful sounds that this instrument can make as well as the variety of the repertoire that can be played on it.

I am offering beginners/intermediate courses consisting in learning the techniques of  the instrument as well as beginners/intermediate famous classical/folk pieces. We will combine learning by ear with reading music notes. I am teaching for more than 4 years and I have experience within all age categories.  For the trial lesson we will be discussing the wishes of the students, what they expect and want to learn (repertoire wise) and the options in choosing the right instrument. I have a spare instrument that the student can experiment with in the first lesson and to practice/play during the lessons till he/she will get the their own instrument.

Music Theory

When it comes to reading scores and learning music fast, the theoretical part of music plays a huge role as well as solfege, rhythm and harmony. In my courses, we will be learning as well the theoretical part in order to become a better musician and to express the best when it comes to the interpretation part of the music.

Singing lessons

I am offering singing lessons for all ages and levels. I grew up with the music of Diana Krall, Etta James, Amy Winehouse, Beth Hart and Frank Sinatra and their music still inspires me.

For the singing lessons, we will be covering the technique aspects as well as your wishes regarding the songs you’d like to learn.

Teaching style

My style is based on demonstration, involving the student in the process of understanding the techniques of the instrument as well as the reasons behind certain musical styles in order to help them achieve confidence and a better interpretation.

I use most of the time the brainstorming strategy to help students generate questions and ideas and get creative like in improvising, writing their own melodies, etc. In matters of musical interpretation, I encourage experimenting with phrases, musical colors, rhythms, musical direction, and music analysis.

My method is based on personalized learning, combining the existing material that I have, such as pan flute methods, pieces, exercises, and the needs that the student has.

In this way, the learning process becomes much faster and clearer since I focus on the struggles that the student has in regards to the instrument technique and work with specific exercises only on those.

In my classes, I combine the learning of the techniques (personalized exercises) with the repertoire that the student wants to approach. In this way, the technique matters consolidate while approaching the repertoire.

At the beginning of each class, I do ear training exercises to stimulate the student’s attention using game-based learning.

The books I usually recommend are ‘Complete Pan Flute Book by Costel Puscoiu’ and my personal method I wrote for my Master’s thesis which will be soon published.