About Michelle Saacks
Whether performing or teaching, Michelle's joy, knowledge and passion for music make being a part of her musical world a fun and nurturing place to be.
Her music is an amalgam of toe tapping grooves and joyfulness of being encompassing bits from Brazilian Samba and Bossa, Cuban, Blues, Latin and Jazz grooves, slow and sultry Ballads to R&B, Motown and Pop reinventions depending on the energy of the audience and the immediacy of the moment.
"One of the most brilliant aspects for me of performance is being able to connect with the audience; moments when I can feel the energy of the audience responding in the moment to music I am creating for them are truly magical."
I work with my students to become thinking, joyful and independent musicians able to create their own musical path wherever it might lead visiting whatever genre of music that resounds with them and using this as a vehicle to become a well rounded musician. Student led teaching is always interesting and it is an extraordinary privilege being a part of each of my students' totally very individual musical journeys.
Online teaching is fascinating, with good teaching software one can switch between the overhead keyboard cam to the music score and zero in to make the lesson so clear for the student as we go. We can create "just right" arrangements for the music that resounds with the student, are fun to play with just enough of a challenge. I am quite in awe of how powerful online teaching can be and it's such fun.
Musical instruments & styles
Instruments
Piano, Keyboards, Music Director, Composer, Arranger, Theory, Voice
Styles
Ambient, Big Band, Blues, Classical, Contemporary, Dance, Folk, Gospel, Improvised, Indie, Jazz, Latin, Middle of the road, Music hall, Music writer, Pop, Ragtime, Reggae, Rock, Rock'n'Roll, Rock/Pop covers, Rock/Pop original, Soul, Swing, World