The Director
 

Phyllis Sdoia-Satz
 

Phyllis Sdoia-Satz, pianist, composer, educator and author, began piano lessons at the age of two years and eight months. By five, she was playing the piano in the window at Steinway and Sons in New York City on weekends. In her youth, she  won many awards and competitions, at both the national and international level. She was a student of  Dorothea Anderson LaFollette (the first teacher of the late William Kapell) and also studied with the renowned concert pianist, Rudolph Serkin. She graduated from the “Fame” school (LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts) and at sixteen, played a New York debut.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree (summa cum laude) in piano performance from Florida International University and did her graduate work in music composition at the University of Miami. She has appeared in solo recitals on the concert stage, on TV and radio, and has been a guest artist with many of the world’s finest orchestras.

Ms. Sdoia-Satz is the author/composer of  “The Husky Gang”™ series (Warner Bros). Her essays, books, teaching methods, and innovative views on music education have appeared in many publications. Her textbook, "The Art of Teaching Music, A Basic Text” is a 'must-read' for both experienced teachers and those just starting out in the field of education. Her article, “Music Instruction as an Aid to Physical and Emotional Therapy” was even featured in a medical journal.  

Ms. Sdoia-Satz has been teaching for over 40 years and writing music and stories since childhood. Among her many musical compositions are works for piano and other solo instruments, as well as larger works for full orchestra and chorus. She has also written several tone poems and a cantata for four soloists with chorus and orchestra, sung simultaneously in Hebrew and English. "The Life and Times of Sasha, The Sad Ferret," a multi-media children’s work for two pianos and narrator was premiered at the Miami Children's Museum on June 5, 2005. "Sasha" has since been made into a CD and a DVD. Her latest book, "PRACTICING SUCKS...BUT IT DOESN'T HAVE TO!!! Volume 1 - Surviving Music Lessons" with a foreword by Robin Gibb (The Bee Gees) will be in bookstores soon.

Ms. Sdoia-Satz is a frequent guest speaker on television. Her master classes/seminars are widely attended by both professionals and lay people. Even the titles of her lectures are unusual: “Grandma’s Practicing the Piccolo”; “How Young Is Too Young”; “The Sexuality of Music”; "Drugs, Sex and Music Lessons." She is the founder/executive director of the Husky Gang School (Sdoia-Satz Music Institute) in Miami, and the author/composer of all the stories and music in the Husky Gang books and CD’s.

To see Ms. Sdoia-Satz's complete curriculum vitae, click here.