Workshop | Robin Ziari
Everyone Can Compose:
5 Tips for Building a Creativity-Centered Music Studio
Learn how (and why) to prime your students to think of music creation as an easy, fun, and expected part of their music study, whether you think of yourself as a composition teacher or not. Robin will provide several easy and practical ideas that you can use with all your students, even complete beginners! We will also learn how a focus on student composing can boost your studio retention rates and create a higher level of joy and loyalty in your students and their parents. An optional 10-15 minute demo of the free Musescore notation software is included at the end of the presentation.
About Robin Ziari
Robin Ziari is a Portland-area pianist/composer and the founder of ZRE Music Studio - a creativity-based teaching studio with a focus on opening students to the arts of composing, improvising, and arrangement. Robin founded his teaching studio, ZRE Music Studio, in 2017 out of his home before expanding to a multi-teacher brick-and-mortar location in Lloyd Center in June 2024.
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Robin was raised in Hermiston, Oregon and was lucky to find his calling through music lessons, studying both piano (with Phyllis Peterson) and saxophone privately and excelling in every possible school band activity. He earned his Bachelor's degree in Music Copmosition from the Univeristy of Oregon in 2003, studying composition under David Crumb and Robert Kyr. After college, there was an 8-year layover in New York City spent playing in rock bands and working as a web developer, while taking musical commissions for television and theatre on the side. Robin and his wife Rebecca moved back to Oregon and settled in NE Portland in 2011.
As a teacher, Robin's students enjoy the flexible, customized nature of lessons that guide them steadily towards their goals while opening up new ways of thinking about their creative lives. Students are always encouraged to become well-rounded by exploring a variety of musical styles and ideas outside of classical music - such as playing by ear, improvising, songwriting, using lead sheets and chord charts, transcribing, and exploring electronic music. Robin particularly enjoys teaching pop-style piano to adults and teens, and working with students that want to pursue composition and jazz improvisation at a high level.
Robin also volunteers his time as a mentor to young music graduates looking to enter the teaching profession, and is deeply involved with the Oregon Music Teachers Association (OMTA). He is the current chair of the OMTA East Portland District Composition Festival, which provides opportunities for young students to have their work appraised by a professional composer. As a studio owner, Robin is dedicated to constant innovation in the teaching profession, and integrating the newest research and methods that will appeal to the modern-day music student. With an unconventional and varied career that includes studying under David Bowie's pianist, Mike Garson, and teaching the legendary Bo Diddley how to play guitar synth (!) - Robin brings a fresh perspective and a voice of leadership to the already vibrant music teaching community in Portland.
Together with Rebecca, they have 3 wonderful cats and are the legal guardians of Rebecca's brother Matthew, a hard-working guy with Down Syndrome who is an expert at handing out programs at our yearly recitals!
