What a gift to our family Kate is! My child is autistic and that has made finding beneficial extra curricular activities challenging. When our original piano instructor moved 2 years ago I thought we would have to quit, but she recommended Kate, who was just finishing up her degree in piano performance and was able to take us on. I appreciated that she spent time teaching technique, how to read music and good habits instead of just memorizing pieces. She is patient, kind, encouraging, incredibly talented, and has been able to connect with my child through music and given her the passion to improve. It has meant so much to my daughter and I that Kate has invited us to her own personal performances, it's certainly comforting to know your instructor is an excellent pianist and knows the value of practice and hard work. It would have been enough that she is a gifted teacher, but her love of music and ability to get another person excited to love it as well makes her worth all the gold in the world. We are currently using "My First Piano Adventure" I love that it incorporates learning about composers and keeps the lessons fun! My daughter has enjoyed Beethoven most, but is working on her left hand skills with a Hayden piece this week and I've enjoyed hearing her be able to channel emotion into the way she taps the keys. She has also enjoyed playing a selection from "Sonata for Four Hands" by Mozart. It is important to note that during this pandemic time, Kate has been beyond accommodating with schedule changes (I work in health care) has been conscious and understanding of my daughter's emotional needs as well. We have been doing lessons with Zoom currently, but when we are comfortable with in person instruction again I am confident that Kate will have safety measures in place (this is a perk to having her studio in her residence and private lessons). Cost wise she is extremely reasonable, considering her gift for communicating with younger students and her own musical talents I expect she will have a full schedule soon so if you're on the fence about lessons reach out to her!! read more

Kate is a gift of a musician with multiple talents that enhance all programs I have had the pleasure of working with her in. Kate was my accompanist from 2017-2018 for the Haven Academy of the Arts Children's Choir. Her sight-reading skills, preparation for rehearsals and concerts as well as her flexibility of things changing at the last minute is fantastic. She is a jewel! Kate played during auditions sight reading very difficult music with ease, prepared for rehearsals, helped adapt musical cues needed for a variety of songs and played in our concerts. She made the students and myself feel like we were all one family. I loved her interaction with all our staff as she has a humble and graceful focus while maintaining strong leadership skills as well. Kate is ALWAYS my first choice of accompanists because her ability to adapt to each setting is impeccable. Kate has also played for auditions throughout 2017-2020 and she is a magician at the piano. Students often come with a variety of music and you would never know she didn't have all that music prepared- she is AWESOME! read more

Kate was undoubtedly the best pianist and accompanist our church has ever had, and she blessed us with her incredible skill and a servant's heart for 3 years! Kate was truly a blessing to all of us here at Torrance First Baptist Church and everyone absolutely loved her! We still do! Kate's piano accompaniment for our choir, soloists and congregational singing was truly of the highest calibre. She played with technical expertise, precision, artistry and sensitivity and is truly a master of her instrument. I have been a musician and choral director for more than 40 years and have never seen nor come across a better pianist, soloist or accompanist. She followed my direction as if she knew exactly what I was thinking at each moment! Plus, she can sight read literally anything perfectly and makes it sound beautiful. Yet, in addition to her phenomenal skill and artistry, Kate is also sweet, mature and gracious. She is kind to every person she meets and truly cares about people. She always has a beautiful smile and is simply a good person. Highest recommendation! read more

Kate came highly recommended and I have been more then pleased to have studied piano with her. I started with Kate March of 2019 and I'm one of Kate's adult students. With Kate's patience and very professional attitude beyond her years I have achieved so much in my journey in learning how to play the piano. I am extremely happy with my personal growth with Kate's tutelage. Some of the pieces that I wanted to achieve and knew it would be challenging for me were: 1. The Imperial March 2. Spring by Antonio Vivaldi and 3. Irish Wedding Dance. With Kate's instruction I was able to achieve my personal goal and learned to play each of these pieces. There are many more Kate help me learn and I'm looking forward to continuing with Kate as my piano teacher. If you want to begin to learn how to play the piano or if you want to further your piano skills I highly recommend Kate. You will be very happy to be her student. read more

My 2 boys (now 14 and 17) have been taking piano lessons since they were 6-7 years old. We moved and needed a piano teacher who would come to our home. Kate came highly recommended. She has been teaching my boys since November 2017. Their knowledge in music theory, sight reading and playing ability have improved immensely. My kids can play songs from composers Schumann, Beethoven, Diabelli and Kabalevsky. Kate is responsible, reliable and professional. Something else I really appreciate about her is that she will find what the student is interested in and assign music based on those interests. For example, my son likes a certain video game. So, in addition to the classical music she assigned, she assigned a song from this video game, that she arranged for him. He loves playing that song! read more

The first time I worked with Kate Bode was October 26th, 2017. Kate and I performed at "The Last Bookstore" in Downtown Los Angeles. Kate did a phenomenal job as a accompanist for my violin Recital. There was no piano available at the performance venue so we used a keyboard instead. Kate played on a Keyboard effortlessly with no complaints. During rehearsals, Kate was always on time and communicative. One of the strongest features about Kate is that she can match her tone quality to the person she's accompanying. She has a wide range of musical tone quality palettes which allows me as a violinist to experiment more with my tone expression. Overall, Kate Bode, is a pleasure to work with. Three years later and I'm still calling her up to accompany me. read more

Kate was my accompanist for solo performances off and on from Fall of 2015 until my senior recital in December of 2018. She was great every time we worked together and was always very communicative and on top of things. I never had to worry about whether she would have the music learned or be on time to rehearsals or performances; more often than not she had her part down pat before I had finished learning mine. She was capable of immediately making any stylistic changes that I or either of our teachers suggested and rehearsals with her were always very comfortable. It also wasn't rare for me to implement suggestions of hers in my own playing. Kate is a great musician who I'm glad I got to work with as often as I did. read more

Kate accompanies at Santa Ana College for the Applied Music program and she is amazing. She makes everyone else's job easier by doing her job well. Kate has only been working for us for year, but she has demonstrated that she is a great musician, very organized, and very professional. She is always on time and plays beautifully. I think her most impressive quality though is how she was able to juggle rehearsals with students. This last semester she also made recordings for all of the students because of COVID and she gave us updates constantly. We hope she stays for a long time! read more

I have had the pleasure of working with Kate for about a year; she is currently the accompanist at our church services. Kate is a wonderful person to work with, easy going, flexible, shows up on time, reliable and she is a gifted musician. Her love of music showed in the preludes she shared at the beginning of the service, her selections she played during the time of collection and the pieces she played at the end of the service. Many members stated her selections added to the Sunday's service. We are very blessed to have her in our church. read more

Kate accompanied me for a voice recital in the spring of 2015, and she was such a pleasure to work with! Kate was very flexible in adapting to last-minute changes. She was very knowledgeable and easy to work with, so I had peace of mind and knew the recital would run smoothly. (She was also extremely patient with my lack of musical knowledge). I highly recommend her if you're looking for someone skilled and great to work with. read more

Kate is a fantastic accompanist! She's an exceptionally thoughtful musician and sensitive as an accompanist. I hired Kate to accompany me for a violin recital at Santa Ana College. We performed the first movement of Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole and a movement from a Beethoven Sonata. We had only one day to prepare for the recital. She had the music thoroughly learned and played beautifully. I could not recommend her more. read more

I came to Kate for my senior recital only 2 weeks in advance. She was an excellent accompanist and one of the best sight-readers I've met. I've also seen many of her performances at school and would recommend her for teaching, accompanying, etc. read more