The Very Best Piano Teacher in Claremore is….

                This guy. ^^^

A lot of kids take piano lessons, but you rarely hear of one who loves to practice. Not because it isn’t fun, but because if it’s something you “have” to do, it becomes a chore. Right? Personally, I begged for piano lessons and loved them, but I didn’t enjoy practicing. It makes no sense, I realize that. I bugged my parents to let me break my daily 30-minute session into two 15-minute ones, and when I tried to shoot for three 10-minute sessions, they knew I was done.

But there’s a young man right here in Claremore who not only loved to play piano as a kid, he still loves it. He writes music. And best of all, he’s great at teaching kids to love music, too.

Claremore local Benjamin Krumwiede is a pianist, composer, and an educator of music. A dream prompted 11-year-old Ben to ask his mother for music lessons. After a few months of learning the basics, his music teacher encouraged him to take piano lessons. In August of 2005, he started studying the art of piano performance with Kathy Kochheiser of Claremore, Oklahoma. One year later he composed his first “real” piece of music and began composition lessons with Claudette Hudelson of Broken-Arrow, Oklahoma. At 15, he was accepted to study piano and composition with the University of Tulsa piano professor Dr. William Roger Price, who is now the head of the piano department. Studies with Dr. Price led to Mr. Krumwiede being named the Parriott Scholar of 2011-2015 at the University of Tulsa – the most prestigious scholarship awarded to a music student. Krumwiede graduated magna cum laude from the University of Tulsa in May of 2015 with a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance.

This is all really impressive, right? He’s passionate about music, and he’s a dedicated composer and performer. He teaches at Justus-Tiawah, and he also offers private lessons. That’s what this is all about.

Claremore mom Jessica Wilbourn started her six-year-old son’s piano lessons with Ben, and she’s over the moon. Not only is Ben professional, yet fun, her son is learning to read music, play the piano….and enjoy it. Little Jackson is already begging for an upgrade from his keyboard to a real piano, because he likes it so much!

Private lessons (30 minutes each) are held at Ben’s home studio in Claremore. Cost is $80 per month, one lesson per week. For more information, please call Ben at 918-884-8055 or visit his website. You can also shoot him an email at benjamin-krumwiede@utulsa.edu.

-by MCM Staffer Ashley,
who doesn’t play the piano. Anymore.