A passion for teaching music

 

Crystal Oddo shares with her students a lifetime devoted to music. She remembers learning to read words and learning to read notes all at the same time! At the age of ten, she announced to her parents that she would grow up to become a pianist. Her goal never wavered, and now she has enjoyed over thirty years of teaching. 

Ms. Oddo earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Piano Performance with High Honors and her Master’s Degree in Piano Teaching with Highest Honors, having received both degrees on full music and academic scholarships. Prior to moving to California, she was on the music faculty at the University of Texas at El Paso, teaching private piano lessons and group piano classes.

 

Among her many performances, Ms. Oddo has played numerous private recitals and parties, performed in the orchestra for an appearance of the Bolshoi Ballet, solo performed Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the UT El Paso Symphony and has even played keyboards in a salsa band with Nino Segarra. She also volunteered decades of service in her church’s music band. Ms. Oddo taught privately in the El Paso, Texas area and then in the Orange County, California area. Now through online technology, she is able to reach students all over the globe.

 

Many students start lessons with Ms. Oddo at the age of six or seven and flourish into accomplished pianists by the time they graduate from high school. In her book, Pathways to Performance, Ms. Oddo describes the journey of a piano student from early intermediate level playing to a college piano music major audition program.