Tampa Bay Music Academy is pleased to welcome our newest piano faculty member, Ghadeer Abaido, to our team! We know our students and their families will love working with Ghadeer, and we’re looking forward to sharing her expertise with our music community.
Ghadeer received her Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Iowa in 2022. She also holds a Master of Music from the University of South Florida and a Bachelor of Music from the National Music Conservatory in Amman, Jordan.
Before coming to TBMA, Ghadeer worked as a teaching assistant for piano students at the University of Iowa and as a private piano teacher. She served as an adjudicator for the Sharjah World Music Festival Piano Competition in the UAE in 2017, and has served in several other roles including accompanist, music workshop leader, assistant choir director, and musical director for various organizations.
Ghadeer has also composed film scores for short films, songs, and documentaries, with most going to screen at the Dubai International Film Festival, Abu Dhabi International Film Festival, and Manarat al Saadiyat Galleries.
Her performance experience includes many solo and collaborative performances, as well as multimedia performances and recording. You can watch one of her performances at the University of Iowa School of Musichere.
To help our students and their families get to know Ghadeer better, we asked her a few questions about her approach to music and teaching:
TBMA: What is your favorite musical memory (performance, concert, recital, etc.)?
Ghadeer: I would have to say that it was my most recent recital at the University of Iowa where I performed a concert program of music inspired by childhood themes. I prepared a slideshow to accompany my performance of Robert Schumann’s Kinderszenen, which translates to “Scenes from Childhood.”
Each movement of the Kinderszenen has a descriptive title, so I had the idea to collect pictures of my friends and colleagues from when they were children for the slideshow to create “Scenes from our Childhood.” It was a true collaborative effort, and it was great to perform a classical music piece on stage and hear people laugh during the performance.
TBMA: What is your favorite musical work that you have personally performed?
Ghadeer: I have been pretty obsessed with orchestral transcriptions recently, so it’s probably a tie between Ravel’s Tombeau de Couperin and Agosti’s arrangement of Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite.
TBMA: What do you love about teaching?
Ghadeer: I love being a part of someone’s journey towards musical growth. I also love the feeling when my students trust me to guide them, and when I trust them to start making their own musical decisions.
TBMA: How did you know you wanted to teach?
Ghadeer: I think I must have been 7 or 8, and my idea of having fun was to start a “summer school” for my younger siblings. They were not huge fans of the idea, but I learned then that teaching is my passion.
TBMA: What is your favorite teaching method?
Ghadeer: I personally enjoy the Nikolaev method, because it exposes students to standard repertoire from a young age.
TBMA: When do you recommend starting private music lessons?
Ghadeer: I’ve had students as young as 3 years old, and students that started when they were in their sixties. You can start private music lessons at any time!
TBMA: What brought you to TBMA?
I recently moved to Tampa, and my friend and colleague Valeria told me that this was the best place that she has ever worked. I knew that I would love to be a part of the Tampa Bay Music Academy.
TBMA: What do you enjoy doing when you’re not teaching or playing the piano?
Ghadeer: I enjoy cooking, exploring different cities, and being out in nature.
We’re thrilled that Ghadeer has joined our TBMA family, and we know our students will enjoy working with her.
Welcome to TBMA, Ghadeer!
This is a TBMA original article written for our Tampa Bay Music Academy readership by Susan McClure. If you find it to be helpful, we would love for you to re-post it on your blog. Please contact us first for permission. Visit our website home for information on finding a music teacher in Tampa, Odessa, Land O’ Lakes, Citrus Park, Westchase, New Port Richey, Lutz, Trinity, Keystone, or Tarpon Springs Florida who offers private piano lessons, guitar lessons, saxophone lessons, voice lessons, drum lessons, violin lessons, cello lessons, flute lessons, or music lessons in any other instrument proficiency category. TBMA teachers (piano, guitar, voice, flute, cello, violin, woodwinds, brass, strings, drums, percussion) pride themselves in a reputation for an uncompromising commitment to excellence and special care taken for every student. We remain absolutely committed to providing an outstanding enrollment experience beyond any other in the region. Call us today. We look forward to hearing from you!