• Undergrad:

  Oberlin College, Oberlin

• Grad 1:

  Masters, University of Texas, Austin

• Tutors Out Of:

  Austin, TX

• Travel Radius:

  20 miles

• Tutoring Certifications:

  American history - composition (music) - ear training - English - general music - GRE - Japanese - literature - music history - music theory - SAT reading - SAT writing - sight singing - vocabulary - world history - writing

• Tutor's Fee Per Hour:

  $36.00 * with a 10% discount after purchasing $360

My past is varied and surprising. I grew up in the U.S. and Japan, learning classical music as I went. I'm fluent in Japanese, and I scored a perfect score on the SAT Japanese test. I have also been a translator for artists and professors. I went to one of the best music conservatories in the country. For my first couple of years, I struggled with ear training and theory, but I eventually learned how to teach myself the tricks of these sometimes evasive subjects. I can teach those tricks to you! For graduate school, I was in media studies. I became a TA for writing intensive classes where I graded many term papers. I eventually became a lecturer with a strong focus on writing. I know very well the kind of writing that is expected at the college level and beyond. I am a freelance writer and performer with publications and performances both locally and nationally. Language, reading, writing, and the creative arts sustain me. Teaching is a passion I see going hand-in-hand with my personal and creative development. I hope to teach you, too!

Email this tutor in Austin, TX!

• composition (music)

  I graduated from Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, where I majored in Music Composition. I have studied with established composers such as John Luther Adams, Pauline Oliveros, Benedict Weisser, John MacDonald, Brenda Hutchinson, and Randy Coleman. During my time at Oberlin, I continuously kept an excellent GPA in composition (3.6), where my original music was performed publicly at least once a semester. During my time in college, I tutored students in music theory and worked with non-composition majors on compositional strategies. Since college, I have remained an active composer. I have composed music for a choreographer in Columbus, OH, and for three independent short films. I was also given a grant for emerging composers from the PatsyLu Foundation to compose and original work for Trombonist, Monique Buzzarte. I have also worked with critically acclaimed pop/classical artist, Corey Dargel. I am sited as one of the contemporary composers he has worked with (under the name, k. terumi shorb) in his Wikipedia entry, http://www.answers.com/Corey%20Dargel . I am also a card-carrying member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), the premiere association for professional composers. I am currently working on an opera called "Una Corda." A partial portfolio of my music can be found at: http://ktshorb.com/music.html .

• Japanese

  I graduated from high school in Japan. As such, I am fluent in conversational Japanese and literate in Japanese writing up until the high school level. In college, I was a tutor for the Japanese language program and taught numerous students there. I have also had experience translating social science texts from Japanese to English for a professor at University of Texas. I have also translated a technical blueprint for a lighting designer. In high school, I took the SAT subject test in Japanese and scored a perfect score (800 pts). When I was in high school my mother (who taught Japanese literature as well as Japanese as a second language) would have me grade some of her exams. I also have experience teaching English as a second language to Japanese students since the age of 15, and therefore a long record of teaching a foreign language. Since leaving college, I took a part-time job at a Japanese tech firm based in Austin, TX. In that position, I was expected to interact with both the Japanese and American staff, sometimes translating between the two. My primary responsibility was to create an excel document of our daily sales and send them to the main office in Tokyo. In the course of this job, I was required to interface with the computer in Japanese, as well as speak in Japanese over the phone with the Tokyo office. I currently work part time at the local Japanese grocer, where I must speak fluent Japanese to customers on a regular basis. I must also translate product packaging to customers who cannot read Japanese. If you would like references who can attest to my proficiency in Japanese as well as my teaching abilities, please let me know. Thank you.

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  KT rocks!!

  KT is a wonderful tutor! In the short time I was with her she made me feel very at ease and delivered her criticism in a very polite manner. Thank you for all your help!!

  -Desiree L. from Austin, TX About Katherine L.