Mark C.

Mark is an extremely knowledgable multi-instrumentalist, performer, and educator who entered the music world at the age of 9. At that time, he had started playing guitar, and soon began taking lessons with famed tri-state area guitarist Lou Ubriaco, to whom Mark owes much of his guitar technique. At 15, Mark began performing in local and regional bands, and by the age of 18, he was already teaching his own private students.

In 1996, Mark began studying under the expert tutelage of world famous accordion player Carmen Carrozza, who also played piano and violin. Mark gained a vast wealth of knowledge in piano and theory from his lessons with Carmen.

From 2001 to 2006, Mark taught private lessons and toured with a band all over the East Coast, while playing various jazz gigs throughout Westchester County, Connecticut, and New England. During this time, he also wrote his own original music and taught afterschool programs at various elementary and middle schools throughout his local area. He continued his music education at Purchase College in New York, where he completed his Bachelor's degree in Music Composition.

Mark spent some more time performing, and then felt called to take his musical career in a different direction. He decided to return to school and earn his Master's Degree. He began by studying Music Composition with several teachers, where he successfully composed several original pieces for Classical Piano and Violin.

He then moved to Colorado to pursue his dream of obtaining a formal music-teacher license. While there, Mark furthered his Jazz piano skills under the instruction of Justin Adams, a locally famous and wonderfully skilled piano teacher at Metropolitan State University in Denver. He also studied Classical piano with Dr. Tamara Goldstein and Peter Friesen. Mark then went on to complete his K-12 licensure program and now holds a Master's degree in Education from Concordia University.

Mark has performed at a wide variety of venues throughout New York, Colorado, Philadelphia, and Edinburgh, including the Colorado History Museum and the Edinburgh Fringe festival. From 2016 to 2022, he served as organist for the Colorado Avalanche professional hockey team earning a Stanley Cup Ring for his service and time with the team.

While he has impressive experience as a performer, teaching is a major part of his career as well. Mark as been teaching music for nearly 30 years, and his philosophy is that he believes everyone has the ability to learn music. He enjoys helping his students learn to love and appreciate music, and to reach their own individual goals as musicians. As a versatile musician, he is well-versed in almost all genres, including many jazz styles, classical, rock, punk, and ska, and he's happy to incoprotate them into lessons if his students wish.

Mark currently resides in Philadelphia, PA. When he isn't teaching, Mark spends his time working towards obtaining a Suzuki certification, accompanying and music directing plays for Montgomery Community College, writing music, and collaboarting with other artists.