CLAIRE HELENE Bevan– PIANO
Claire has been a piano instructor for 12+ years. She holds a BM Piano Performance with pedagogy emphasis from the University of Southern Maine, where she studied piano with Dr. Laura Kargul and Dr. Annie Antonacos, and pedagogy with Christine Kissack. The USM faculty awarded her a talent scholarship for the duration of her studies and she received a student achievement teaching recognition award from the Music Teachers National Association. In Camden, she studied with Leitha Christie and Glenn Jenks. While at Principia College in Elsah, IL, she studied with Dr. Marie Jureit-Beamish. She has also been coached by Cheryl Tschanz Newkirk of Waterville, Virginia Eskin of Boston, and George S. Lopez (Bowdoin Beckwith artist-in-residence). She taught in the Portland area and in several schools before moving back to mid-coast Maine in 2016 when she took over The Piano Room in Camden from her Mom, Mary Bevan. As an active church musician since 2016, Claire loves ministering to hearts and minds in a wide variety of styles. She is Music Director at First Universalist in Rockland, where she also enjoys collaborating with other musicians. For over 15 years, she volunteered as a pianist at a spiritual retreat she attended annually in New York City. She also holds a BA in English and Environmental Science from University of Chichester, United Kingdom. A job as a news reporter originally brought her to Maine.
What Drew You to Music and the Piano?
I have such fond memories of lying under my mother's piano, enraptured and sometimes captivated by her feet on the pedals, listening to all the big pieces in the repertoire. My parents were good friends with American concert pianist Malcolm Frager, who would play the Turkish March for me, backstage, after one of his concerts. My childhood was so jam-packed with attending concerts that I apparently demanded lessons from my mother when I was 4. My mother was also a professional vocal soloist, whose regular concerts with a choir and collaborative pianist, we always attended. My experience growing up as a Third Culture Kid in Belgium exposed me to hearing wonderful concerts in big, cold cathedrals, and has given me a wide appreciation of music from different cultures and traditions.
Describe Your Approach to Teaching
I teach piano, yes, but I view myself as an educator. I am highly influenced by the Suzuki philosophy of eliciting character growth through music. Helping students attain deeper levels of consciousness is also a central theme. I am most passionate about the vital link between the cultivation of deeper conscious awareness and happiness, mental health, and finding a sense of wonder. I care about my students as individuals and look for inspired ways to bless and reach each one, in a unique way. It's also important to me that students like the music we select.
I marvel at the transferable life skills students learn from taking lessons besides encountering works in different genres. Let me unpack the substance of what students learn: how to be patient with themselves, how to be in the moment, devotion to a purpose (all art demands it), pattern recognition, problem-solving, analysis, grit, active awareness of their beautiful and expansive minds, depth of focus, relationship between thoughts/goals and outcomes, organization, self-validation, confident internal dialogue, imagination, emotional depth and nuance, strength of character, managing frustration (hard stuff!), overcoming perfectionism, discovering how to listen with mental ears, how to set priorities, self-discipline, accountability, vulnerability, independent thinking, analysis, how to enjoy every note, full-body listening, good posture, breath control, body awareness, etc. Oh yeah, and all the fun music stuff!
I get to watch this happen. What a privilege. My passion for teaching piano only grows.