Babak Mahbaei
About
Hello and welcome
I am a concert pianist, jazz guitarist, and composer with more than 10 years of professional experience. I have a diploma from the Komitas State Conservatory and hold a bachelor's degree in music (composition) from EMU International University. When I was a student in Cyprus, I was teaching piano to many kids and many students from 2008. Then I moved to the United States and continued my career there as a piano and guitar teacher. Some of the institutes that I worked with as a piano and guitar teacher were Guitar Center in 2018 and Music from 2018 to 2021. Then I moved to the Bay Area and have taught piano in Golden Key Piano School in Berkeley since 2021. I can say with no doubt that I taught many students from different cultures and countries in person and online worldwide, from 5 years old to 85 years old.
I love helping students discover their own musical voice, whether it's mastering Chopin or improvising over Persian rhythms.
Teaching Style
Classical piano style with a focus on Russian and European piano methods using Czerny books, the Honan book, the John Thomson method, and the Adventure Piano series (more for kids). Because of my history of learning music from Armenia to Cyprus and finally in the U.S., I had a chance to learn different styles and methods. The alphabet of music is theory. With my experience in teaching during these years, I found that the students who are studying music theory have more connection with music, and it's getting easier for them to continue. Also, one of the great lessons that I learned from my jazz teachers was improvisation on different chords that I use in my teaching method to teach students to create.
Teaching electric and acoustic guitar, focusing on chords and improvisation.
All ages and levels are welcome - from complete beginners to advanced players preparing for exams or performances.
I speak fluent English and native Farsi - perfect for Persian families living abroad or anyone
who prefer lessons in Farsi.
Curriculum
If I say that I have experience worldwide with music, I did not lie. When I was in Komitas Conservatory in Armenia in 2003, I met Professor Aghajanian, who taught me the art of creating music by feeling each note individually. Then I moved to North Cyprus to study for my bachelor's degree in music composition and met Professor. Asli Giray and Professor. Marc Heeg. They both were working on my performing piano and composing. However, when I moved to the United States and met David Goldblatt, a jazz pianist, I had a chance to learn jazz harmony and performing jazz-like improvisation, and it was really fun but also hard too.
After I got my degree in music from Eastern Mediterranean University in Cyprus in 2012, I moved to the United States to live, and I met Deborah Celeaver, who had been taught piano by one of the students of the great Dorothy Taubman. She taught me the art of playing piano with understanding the anatomy of the body and how we can use the balance of muscles and tendons of hands to perform piano with knowledge, not only with emotions. For me it was a great approach to the different aspects of music.
Credentials & Affiliations
I had concerts in different venues and festivals from different countries. Like the Spring Festival in Cyprus, as an electric guitar player, the Mahak Society to Support Children with Cancer piano recital, private piano concerts, and cooperation in albums as a pianist and keyboardist.
