Manduca Music Studios
Music lessons are available for piano and keyboard, trumpet, trombone, euphonium, theory and composition. We teach students of all ages, level and abilities with a well-rounded, step-by-step curriculum which focuses on strong basics of musicianship. We work with students to develop their potential whether they intend to major in music at the collegiate level, compete in local, regional, and national competitions and festivals, or simply play for their own enjoyment. We teach the student how to set and achieve their musical goals. We encourage them to play in a variety of styles from classical to jazz, folk and rock music. Many of our former students are performing with orchestras throughout the world; performing in rock and jazz ensembles; serving as conductors of theater, opera and band programs; playing for choirs; and working as composers and arrangers.
Mark (brass, theory and composition), and Liz (piano, theory and composition) have thoroughly enjoyed teaching music at all levels of education for over 30 years.
Elizabeth Manduca
Elizabeth Manduca is the owner of Manduca Music Publications and Manduca Music Studios in Portland, Maine. She received a BS in Music Education from the University of Maine; graduate piano pedagogy study at Westminster Choir College and Laval University in Quebec; and she received a Master of Arts in Music History and Performance Practice from the University of New Hampshire. She received a fellowship at UNH to study and catalog twentieth-century piano literature. Her teachers were Kathryn Ann Foley, William Harms (Manhattanville College), Johanna Harris, Richard Roberts, and Ruth S. Edwards. She taught class piano in the Cape Elizabeth school system, music history and applied lessons at Westbrook College/University of New England, piano and composition at Manduca Music Studios, and class piano at the University of Southern Maine.
Liz has been a guest clinician in the areas of music history, piano pedagogy, performance practice, music and movement, composition for numerous conventions, festivals, summer camps, and colleges including MTNA, MENC, Longy School in Boston, Wheaton College, Dartmouth, University of Maryland, Plymouth State College, University of Maine and New Hampshire. She is a frequent adjudicator for festivals and competitions. She has written articles and reviewed new music for Clavier Magazine, The Piano Quarterly, American Music Teacher Magazine and Keyboard Companion.
Her students have won numerous prizes including chamber music, solo piano, jazz piano, concerto competitions and composition competitions including the BMI prize.
As a performer, Liz has appeared as a soloist, chamber music player, symphony orchestra member, and choral accompanist. She has premiered numerous new solo and ensemble works for piano, and has given lecture recitals on new music.
She is a certified member of Music Teachers National Association and has served as a state president, Eastern Division President, Baldwin Piano Competition Chair, Certification Chairman, and she has contributed to numerous MTNA publications on Zoning, Studio Management, Marketing, and Communications. She represented MTNA in a series of lectures on Independent Studio Teaching. She is also a member of BMI.
In 1994 she began The Piano Teachers Press and soon bought up other publication companies specializing in brass music, combining all of these into Manduca Music Publications. She is the co-author of Successful Studio Teaching and the author of Necessary Theory and Harmonization for the Piano Student; the composer and/or arranger of numerous piano ensemble works. She edited the Piano Curriculum Guide and its accompanying materials by Dr. Tinka Knopf de Esteban. She edits and produces music for composer Seymour Bernstein.
She lives in Portland, Maine with her husband Mark Manduca. They have two daughters, Maria and Diana. Her non-musical pursuits include writing poetry, writing travel articles for The Vacation Rental Travel Guide, long-distance swimming and gardening.
Mark Manduca
Mark Manduca holds a Bachelor of Science in music education from the University of Maine at Orono and a Master of Music in trombone performance from Boston University. His teachers were Gregg Magnusson, Fred Heath, and Ronald Barron, principal trombone (retired) of the Boston Symphony. Mark is a member of the Portland Symphony Orchestra, Portland Brass Quintet, The Portland Jazz Orchestra, Five Cylinder Jazz, and he freelances with numerous jazz and classical groups. He has played for many pop and jazz artists including Barry Manilow, Anne Murray, Johnny Mathis, and has worked with the Guy Lombardo band. His jazz group, Five Cylinder Jazz has appeared as soloists in two shows with the Portland Symphony Orchestra, featuring the music of Duke Ellington and Count Basie.
Mark has taught low brass, theory and music history, and conducted jazz and concert bands at Bates, Bowdoin and the University of Southern Maine. He adjudicates at festivals and has conducted piano monster concerts festivals throughout the country. He is a member of the International Trombone Association.
He is currently the music director at Old Orchard Beach High School where he conducts concert and jazz bands. He runs a marching band which has won numerous gold medals at state festivals.
In 2014 he was named one of the fifty best band directors in the USA.
He writes and edits music for Manduca Music Publications.
Mark lives in Portland, Maine with his wife Elizabeth. He enjoys carpentry, reading and travel.