Felicias School Of Piano And Music

The Teacher Whose Students Actually Want to Practice

Among the most telling signs of an effective music teacher is what happens between lessons. Multiple families who reviewed Felicia's School of Piano and Music in Matawan, NJ independently describe the same shift: children who once resisted practicing started asking to play on their own. That pattern — repeated across households in Marlboro, Manalapan, and Colts Neck — points to something methodical happening in the studio, not just a personality fit.

Felicia has been teaching piano privately in Monmouth County since 1991, giving her over three decades of one-on-one instruction with students ranging from age 5 through adult. Her approach is rooted in classical training — she studied piano for 23 years under her father, who was a music director in Italy before teaching privately in New York City — but she deliberately broadens the repertoire to include jazz, pop, and standards. That flexibility appears central to how she keeps students engaged long-term: one family's daughters stopped crying over practice once Felicia introduced jazz pieces; another family's boys locked in on classical repertoire after switching to her studio.

Her educational background bridges both sides of the teaching equation. She holds a degree in Education from Baruch College in New York with a minor in music, and her father's teaching method — originally developed to train her brother for international classical accordion competition — forms the foundation of her own approach. She adapts it based on each student's aptitude and musical interests rather than applying a single fixed curriculum. Every lesson incorporates music theory alongside performance, covering note recognition, chord structures, key signatures, tempo, and improvisation.

Felicia is an Associate Member of the New Jersey Music Teachers Association (MTNA) and is affiliated with the Royal Academy of Music. Through those affiliations, she offers students access to competitive performance opportunities, regional and national recitals, and formal theory examinations — giving families an external, objective measure of progress beyond the studio. She also holds her own recitals in both classical and jazz formats, giving students regular performance experience across genres.

The reviews span families with multiple children enrolled simultaneously — two sets of parents each have two children studying with her, and at least two reviewers mention their kids outpacing peers who study elsewhere. One parent noted her daughter, who started at age five, has been with Felicia for over three years and is noticeably more advanced than children with comparable years of study under other teachers. An adult student in the same household as two enrolled children mentioned working through Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata — a detail that underscores that her studio genuinely serves all ages and levels, not just beginners preparing for a first recital.

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