My name is Søren Pedersen and I have been studying piano with Professor Martin for roughly 6 years now. I started taking lessons from her in high school and have continued to take lessons with her throughout my college career. At every point in my growth as a person and as a musician Professor Martin has known how best to work with me to improve my technique and to help me achieve my musical goals. Professor Martin has a unique style of teaching where she uses mental images to convey the sensations behind certain techniques; this style of teaching has been incredibly helpful to me. Moreover, Professor Martin is very kind, patient, and understanding to each of her students. She always understood when I couldn't practice as much as I wanted to during a certain week and was still able to use our lesson time effectively in those instances. All this to say, Professor Martin is an outstanding piano teacher and I would recommend her to anyone.
- Søren Pedersen, Current College Student
Over the past several years, Brenda and I have been exchanging jazz and classical lessons with each other. Although I am primarily a jazz musician, I have always had a passion for classical music and I love working on classical piano repertoire. Having had the opportunity to study with Brenda, I have nothing but wonderful things to say about her. First off, Brenda is an incredible pianist who has a deep knowledge of the music that she plays, as well a beautiful feel for the music. She loves playing music, sharing music with others, and helping other pianists on their journey. As a teacher, Brenda is fully present. As I'm playing a piece for her, she's moving around, watching what I'm doing from different angles, and writing down ideas to discuss with me. She always finds creative ways to help me practice challenging sections of the music, and even for the easier parts, she finds ways to help me play with more ease and more expression. Oftentimes when Brenda has me try one of her suggestions, she'll ask me, "Did that feel better for you?" I love this, because rather than Brenda just trying to impose an idea that might work for her, she's always checking in to see what's resonating with me. If something she suggests is not helpful, she always has other ways to approach the challenge. Brenda is extremely encouraging to her students and an all around wonderful person to study with. I cannot recommend her highly enough!
- Danny Green, Professional Jazz Pianist/Composer and Recording Artist
Brenda Martin is an exceptionally dedicated teacher whose love for each student is enhanced by her beautiful and intelligent playing as a classical pianist, as well as her diverse experience as a collaborator, composer, arranger, and jazz musician. Those are privileged who know her as a teacher, colleague or friend.
- Dr. George Fee, Piano Teacher, Colleague, Mentor, and Friend
Professor Martin is an amazing piano teacher who has helped me tremendously with my playing. She has been instrumental in teaching me to become a better pianist and fostering my love for the piano again. I had many good piano teachers in the past but none of them taught me in the way that Professor Martin teaches. She has taught me techniques to relax my body while playing which has helped me avoid injury and improve my musicality.
- Deanna Yun, College Grad and Former Student
Beginning in 2016, I had the privilege of being one of Professor Brenda Martin’s piano students at Point Loma Nazarene University. I came to college freshman year with about seven years of lessons and with much room to grow in technicality and musical expression. Throughout my four years of studying piano with her, Professor Martin exposed me to various genres and composers that I had never played or even heard of before. She also challenged me with pieces that grew my musicality and sharpened my technique. As a professor who has taught both individual and class lessons, she has much patience and flexibility and adapts to each student’s learning style. Whenever I had trouble with developing a technique or making part of a piece expressive, Professor Martin would find another trick or method to help me master the skill. In my last semester of college, I also had the privilege of learning some jazz, in which Professor Martin also has great expertise. Over my four years in college, my experiences learning from and playing with Professor Martin are some of my favorites. As I plan to teach piano lessons in the future, I can only hope to be half as great of a mentor as Professor Martin. I would recommend taking piano lessons with her to anyone, no matter the skill level.
- Alysa Garcia, College Grad and Former Student