Movement Coaching For Musicians
Move comfortably and confidently with Awareness Through Movement® Classes:
Approach music-making in a holistic way
Enhance awareness of how you move
Partake in an enjoyable, curiosity-driven process
Overcome limitations and increase resiliency
Gain greater ease, efficiency, and competency at your instrument and in life
Develop essential life skills like non-judgment, self-regulation, and introspective awareness
Weekly Online Class
In the weekly Feldenkrais class, students explore gentle movement in a way that is both highly structured, but also completely student driven and flexible. The weekly class currently meets on Zoom on Mondays at 6:30PM. A recording is available to participants following each class, and recordings from the library are available upon request. Private piano students of Katie, enrolled in either weekly or bi-weekly lessons, may attend the class for free. For everyone else, rates are sliding scale, from $5-$25 per class.
Private Movement Coaching
Private coaching is available upon request. In these sessions, we work to shift stubborn habits through a process of mindful movement. Private coaching may include Feldenkrais Structural Integration, a hands-on approach to clarifying movement, as well as Oxygen Advantage Breath Coaching, a science based method of breath training for elite athletes. These sessions aim to shift habits to prevent injury by moving in a healthy way, but are not a replacement for medical care. If you are experiencing injury, please see the article on injury recovery.
For more information about the Feldenkrais Method, click here.
For more information regarding Oxygen Advantage Breath Training, click here.
What Musicians are Saying
Katie’s workshop on learning strategies for musicians has helped me become more in touch with the way my body moves, which has helped me become more aware of my tendencies to tighten while teaching and performing. The movement lessons allowed me to slow down and be present not just during the workshop, but in daily life afterwards. The class is inclusive for musicians of all levels!- Eva Sauve, Piano Instructor at Evergreen Music Academy
Katie’s movement workshops for pianists and violinists at Western Washington University were amazing to say the least! The style and pace are relaxed yet skillfully directed to help all attendees arrive at findings of their own—about their body, achieving relaxation, also getting rid of feeling of tiredness and pain in some muscles or joints, bigger freedom and smoothness of movements. I highly recommend this equally comprehensive and fulfilling experience in-person and on Zoom! -Milica Jelača Jovanović, Professor of Piano at WWU
Katie's teaching brings-together passion for music and composers, an understanding of learning through physiology and neuroscience-informed pedagogy, a frankness and understanding in the difficulty, as well as a desire to better work for the student in-line with what they want. Katie's integration of Feldenkrais teachings, as well as the supplementary courses she offers, can gradually unwind stubborn joints and limbs. Although I signed up strictly to learn music, I am finally able to move my shoulders and neck freely. -Ryan Kelley, Adult Piano Student
I have tried a couple different Awareness Through Movement Classes, and I feel safest, most supported, and most curious in Katie’s class. She’s really effective with non-judgemental guidance, and she emphasizes the playfulness of the Feldenkrais method while acknowledging the profound power that purposeful attention to movement can have. Regular participation in Katie’s class has affected the way I play and teach piano, and I find myself enjoying the movement of playing more than before. -Grace Odell, Piano Instructor at Base Academy of Music
Katie’s movement class taught me to slow down and be mindful about my automatic movements that have been causing pain in my body. As a pianist who suffered from chronic pain, Katie guided me to discover my own unique way of moving my hands, shoulders, and back to make practice more enjoyable. Her music education and background in the Feldenkrais Method have given her a unique understanding of the movement concerns of musicians. Thank you, Katie, for showing me how to breathe into my discomfort, sensing, thinking, and examining ways to increase my movement quality. -Xing Jin, Piano and Dalcroze Eurythmics Instructor
I am a student at Western Washington University who is involved in the Piano Area. I have attended two movement workshops given by Katie, and they were both very beneficial. The material we covered produced a very strong, fluid, mind-body connection in the relatively short amount of time that we spent on them. Regular, consistent participation in these workshops will surely produce large, long-term improvements in mind-body connection. -Justin Ramaglia, College Student
Katie has a wonderful knowledge of the Feldenkrais Method. Her explanation of how our body works is free of jargon and easy to understand. I always feel a sense of lightness, easiness, and freedom of movement after each class with her. It has helped me explore more possibilities in how I move, not just in piano playing, but also in how I live. I highly recommend anyone who is curious about body movement to take classes from Katie and learn from her, it will improve your life! -Michelle Huang, Piano Instructor
